HAS THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH BEEN FOUND JUST WEST OF I-5?

We live in an era in which the focus of the media is the media about as much as it is any other industry or field. Everyone seems eager to share their theses — or conspiracy theories — on how news outlets decide what is, you know, news.

But as complicated as these debates can get, maybe there are also primal factors at play — ones that keep interesting, powerful and even Earth-shaking news from getting the attention it deserves. After two decades using the internet to browse obscure research, I have come to wonder if some stories go nowhere because either 1) their unsettling content makes journalists squeamish or 2) the stories appear so unlikely that cognitive dissonance (how can this be true?) takes over. Like Pinto’s conscience in “Animal House,” a little voice in journalists’ heads jumps in and gets bossy: “Hey, don’t cover this. It’s too weird.”

Here are three examples of this, in ascending order of importance:

A 2021 study at the University of Nottingham in England found an underappreciated reason that germs and infection spread is that drivers can’t keep their hands off themselves: “With little or no conscious selfawareness, drivers were observed to touch on or around their face 26.4 times per hour, with each touch lasting nearly four seconds.” Given the inconsistency with which people wash their hands — and how hurried many are when they do so — it’s easy to see why this is a health menace.

This study is interesting enough in its own right. But if the authors of the Nottingham paper had juxtaposed it with previous research, the results might be radio reports that led people to drive off the road. North Carolina State University researchers found that DNA research showed “two microscopic relatives of spiders and ticks ... wriggle into skin pores and hair follicles, including eyelashes” of the faces of the great majority of adults. Are people compelled to paw at their faces because of their microscopic visitors? I don’t know. But I want to. Do journalists who squirm and think this is too much (gross) information disagree? Maybe.

Excitement also seems to be building only in the scientific world over the evidence that the bacteria, viruses and microbes found in our bodies — known as the microbiome — play a huge role in human health. A University of Washington microbiome fact sheet says, “The bacteria living in and on us are not invaders but beneficial colonizers.” It notes that susceptibility to autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and many others may have much more do with the condition of an individual’s microbiome than DNA inheritance. When it comes to health, the microbiome is “the most important scientific discovery” in decades, according to James Kinross, a scientist and surgeon at Imperial College London.

Yet arguably the biggest fallout from this breakthrough so far has been trivial: the trendy use of hyped “probiotic” supplements — even though there is no proof the pills help gut health or health in general.

So where is the media’s comprehensive coverage and analysis? Maybe the consensus is that “fecal microbiota transplantation” is simply too gross to write about. That’s a proven-effective procedure in which stool from someone with healthy bacteria is introduced into the colon of someone else — by colonoscopy or enema — to improve microbiome health. Can’t wait to see a graphic explaining that.

I conclude with the biggest story by far: the very promising research into human longevity. The narrative for years has been of steady progress toward jaw-dropping advances, at least on obscure blogs, not CNN or AP. For one example of several, in 2020, University of Michigan researchers reported that they had solid clinical evidence showing four different drugs significantly slowed aging and physical decline in mice — the go-to lab animal for testing vaccines and therapies meant for humans because of their similar immune systems. One drug delays or prevents the onset of age-related diseases. Another promotes cardiovascular health.

That’s profound enough. But what if, Benjamin Button-style, there was a way to actually reverse aging? And it wasn’t the plot of a Marvel movie but based on research from a legendary scientific institution with a spectacular track record?

In March, the La Jollabased

Salk Institute issued this stunning claim: “[S]cientists at the Salk Institute, in collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche group, have shown that they can safely and effectively reverse the aging process in middle-aged and elderly mice ... [with] no increase in cancer or other health problems later on.” The effects of “cellular rejuvenation” — which resets cells to more youthful states — suggests it “is not simply pausing aging, but actively turning it backwards.” Backwards! Holy bleep!

Has the Fountain of Youth been found just west of Interstate 5? People may start to wonder about this soon — at least if more journalists realize they’re living in a world that feels more like a mash-up of famous science-fiction novels every day — and start sharing it as fact.

Here’s why stories with weird or gross factors are often ignored.

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