The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best stories of 2021 from our premium syndicators, including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Times of London and The New Zealand Listener.
Today we look at avoiding ageing, the divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates, the legacy of the Sopranos, rebuilding Japan, and the threat of rising sea levels.
Stopping the clock
The quest for eternal youth is the stuff of sci-fi and legend. For thousands of years,people have been seeking ways to stave off death.
Live a long life though and no matter how healthy your habits, your body will have deteriorated. Many of your cells will have exhausted their ability to divide and will have become senescent. Those that survive will be too worn out to do their job properly.
Treatments to extend a healthy lifespan are already being trialled though, so could we be on the cusp of all that changing?
Will the rich live longer while the poor are destined to die young? Photo / 123RF
The separate worlds of Bill and Melinda Gates
The news in May that power couple of global philanthropy, Bill and Melinda Gates, would be dissolving their marriage sent shock waves through the field.
But for years the couple had already been building out closely connected but different worlds, nurturing their respective — and sometimes overlapping — interests through independent channels.
They built an empire that was essential in the pandemic. Their divorce made personal a shift that confidants say was well underway in their philanthropic roles.
Michael Gandolfini in New York. He pursued acting not because of his father but because he was "craving an answer" about whether he'd be good at it. Photo / Devin Oktar Yalkin, The New York Times
A village erased: Japan still rebuilding 10 years on
The earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, wiped away the ancient Japanese village of Kesen. In the past decade, a small group of survivors has valiantly tried to rebuild the community, but a grim reality has set in: This emptiness will last forever.
Items of clothing salvaged by the Sato family from the rubble of Kesen, Japan, on April 13, 2011. Photo / Hiroko Masuike, The New York Times
Who pays? Rising sea levels and floods an increasing threat
Rising sea levels are an increasing threat to coastal properties around New Zealand, but who pays when the flooding becomes constant and insurance companies baulk at the cost?
