On Anti-ageing and Blood Type Character Analysis

Alright, Immortals of Meluha is finished and Secret of the Nagas is about to begin. Before that, there is an interesting concept I picked up from the former book to be shared. Somras, the drink mentioned in the book, provides near-immortality and life-long agelessness, as in you can remain young until your death, sort of In Time stuff. Shiva, the protagonist, asks Brihaspati, the chief scientist of Meluha, the secret of Somras efficiency. He replies that that the life thrives on energy. The body lives on oxygen, as it helps in metabolism and other such useful stuff. Cool enough. Then, he drops the bombshell. One of the main compounds arising as a result of oxygen's reactions, oxidants, form inside our bodies too. As seen in iron, the oxidants rust the metal and corrode it to death. Exactly the same process happen inside our body; the more oxygen we intake the more oxidants develop and subsequently corrosion-like frailty of organs set in, wearing out ourselves from inside. It is a catch-22 situation. Without oxygen we won't live; with oxygen, we corrode ourselves. And Brihaspati explains the process though which Somras enables body to excrete the toxic oxidants and extend our youth beyond imaginations.

Obviously it left me skeptic. Sounds too good to be real. Initially I felt how could an author propose such ridiculous pseudo-scientific claims. The last page glossary absorbed some of my initial madness. The author, Amish, is not way off the track. He had recommended an article to be read on this hypothesis. Kathryn Brown written A Radical Proposal, published in Scientific American, points finger at oxidants. The article suggests that if we could understand how oxidants cause the ageing-process, probably much increased life expectancy shall become a reality in near future. Later, the article slowly dives into biological mumbo-jumbo, although understandable enough to general audience. Click here to read the preview.

News snippet in Malayalam

In between, I stumbled upon a Facebook post, updated by a Malayalam page, which showed a newspaper snippet. The snip is about a group of Japanese researchers' discovery of human character relative to personal blood groups. Wow! Isn't it? Moving beyond zodiacs, birth dates and horoscopes, seems science has taken on the job of prediction of fate. Anyway, I surfed further on this to find out that the news may be actually true. The website, Asian Lifestyle Design carries the report, titled Japanese Blood Type Character Analysis. As per the website and the snippet, each blood group displays certain character traits:

• A- Hardworking, detail oriented and organised.
• B- Go 'My Way' people and highly individualistic.
• O- They see the 'big picture' and are dependable leaders.
• AB- Difficult to understand, yet creative.

The Rh factor doesn't play a role, apparently, thus blood groups could refer either to positive or negative. What else to say but the sciences and the mysteries they are unveiling are beyond comprehension of my simpleton head. As always, science is thrill, excitement and full of surprises.