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As people enter their 80s, and even their mid-to-late 70s, some standard age-related shifts tend to occur, like muscle loss and a drop in bone strength, that make people more prone to disease and injury. Here’s a head-to-toe snapshot of the body and mind of an octogenarian and the potential problems doctors look out for. (Wenner Moyer, 4/25)

For years, doctors and patients thought there was little to do when dementia was diagnosed, even at an early stage. Now, potentially sweeping changes loom. (McGinley, 4/24)

The voice on the phone in 1966 was gruff and abrupt: “Do you want the Chevy, the Cadillac or the Rolls Royce?” A Chevy abortion would cost about $200, cash in hand, the voice explained. A Cadillac was around $500, and the Rolls Royce was $1,000.“You can’t afford more than the Chevy? Fine,” the voice growled. “Go to this address at this time. Don’t be late and don’t forget the cash.” The voice disappeared. (LaMotte, 4/23)

Brenna Gatimu, 34, of Casper, Wyo., was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2020. She quickly had chemoradiation, and both her breasts and ovaries were removed. She now takes a medication that suppresses any remaining estrogen in her body. “I feel as if my body has betrayed me, like all the things that make me biologically a woman — the estrogen, the progesterone, my ovaries and my breasts — everything had to be removed and stopped,” Gatimu said. (Markovitz, 4/24)

Despite decades of advancements in genomics, we still don’t know what most of our DNA does. But an ambitious international research collaboration is providing new answers about how genetics shapes human health and disease, with help from an unlikely source — a menagerie of mammals. (Wosen, 4/27)

Just 3 percent of all Covid-19 vaccine doses delivered in 2021 went to Africa, home to a fifth of the world’s population, according to the World Health Organization. In the vast debacle of global vaccine inequity, it was Africa that was left furthest behind as the pandemic raged, and that had the least leverage to negotiate contracts. African leaders vowed to make sure that never happened again. (Nolen, 4/25)

One of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s has gone from ice cream to ‘blunts,’ promising a line of marijuana products with a social mission. Ben Cohen has started Ben’s Best Blnz, a nonprofit cannabis line with a stated mission of helping to right the wrongs of the war on drugs. The company says on its website that 80% of its profits will go to grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs while the rest will be equally divided between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the national Last Prisoner Project, which is working to free people incarcerated for cannabis offenses. (4/25)

As more states and countries legalize recreational marijuana, incorporating weed into your vacation is becoming as normal as sampling craft beer at a brewery or a flight of wine at a local vineyard. However, unlike bars and wineries, the weed culture is governed by a set of manners and rules that you likely won’t pick up from your grandparents. (Sachs, 4/25)