A lot of progress has been made on delaying the serious symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, but there is still no cure. Add the Baby Boom generation growing older and medical breakthroughs helping us live longer, and it’s a perfect storm for caring for men and women with the disease. In part two of our series on Alzheimer's, we'll look at whether we'll be ready to provide assistance for the growing number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease.

Guests

• Lindsay Brennan, manager of Helpline Services for the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire
• Meg Curtis, co-owner of the Stonewall Bed and Breakfast in Hillsboro; she currently cares for her husband, Skip, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2006
• Keith Shields, Executive Producer for The Exchange; in 2006 his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease

We’ve all heard of Tom Thumb, the Elephant Man, the bearded lady and the Siamese twins. Legendary entrepreuner P.T. Barnum charged admission to catch a glimpse of them at his traveling carnivals. Audiences also flocked to theaters in 1932 for Tod Browning’s film Freaks, considered a masterpiece of the grotesque. People marvelled at the sight of an armless woman using her feet to eat with a fork, or Prince Randian using only his mouth to light a cigarette.

We’ve become a more compassionate society since then – we no longer lock people up and force them to parade around for our own amusement. Yet our fascination with nature’s flukes hasn’t diminished. Mark Blumberg says we shouldn’t look away from them – in fact, we could learn a lot about ourselves from studying these so-called freaks. Blumberg is a professor of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience and developmental science at the University of Iowa, and is editor-in-chief of the journal Behavioral Neuroscience. His new book is called Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution.

The scientist Charles Stockard, who studied the development of bird embryos in the early part of last century, wrote that the “important matter of a few hours’ difference in egg-laying time lies between the successful class of birds and a hopelessly unfit monstrous condition.” So even extreme anomalies, like two-headed animals, can be produced with just subtle adjustments.

Blumberg writes that “the embryo’s potential to produce two heads is no less ancient, and no less fundamental, than its potential to produce just one.” So basically, if our species finds it useful to have babies with two heads, our bodies can begin to do that. Also, we try to “correct” what we see as abberations, like fitting a three-legged dog with a prosthetic leg, which is often times not the best soultion. These questions arise when babies born with both make and female genital organs. Often, doctors and parents will make a choice for the baby. But in the animal world, sexual ambiguity and plasticity are just an ordinary way of life.

And while we have made strides in preventing some developmental anomalies, new environmental conditions could make these anomalies more likely. Chemical dumping, climate change, and nuclear accidents like Chernobyl could lead to a world in which mutations are more widespread.

Also, we travel with producer Caitlyn Kim to New York’s Coney Island, where she found that the sideshow freaks of today have a little more say in how they're treated than the residents of Victorian-era freak shows. She produced this piece for B-Side radio. Click here to listen and click here to visit B-Side Radio.

Roughly 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s. It affects about 1 in 20 people over the age of 65 and that number greatly increases as one gets older. Scientists know a lot about its causes, though it’s hard to diagnose while one is alive. And there's no cure, only drugs that delay the onset of symptoms. In part one of our series exploring Alzheimer’s Disease, we look at what we do and don't know about Alzheimer's, as well as what we’re learning and how we’re treating it.

Guests

• Dr. Robert A. Stern, Associate Professor of Neurology and Co-Director, Alzheimer's Disease Clinical and Research Program at Boston University’s School of Medicine
• Dr. Paul Raia, Vice President for Patient care and family support for the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Liquor commission says selling hard alcohol where people shop everyday would boost state revenues, and make life easier for consumers. The suggestion comes amid repeated calls from Governor Lynch for liquor officials to find new ways to make money.

Here’s a way to cut down on energy: food you don’t need to cook. Imagine how much fuel we’d save by eating only salads of raw fruits and vegetables served at room temperature.

It might not sound all that appetizing, but the movement to eat only raw, vegan food has been around for a while, and now it’s spreading beyond California and New York. Raw food restaurants have sprouted up everywhere from Saint Augustine, Florida, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raw packaged foods are even hitting the shelves at upscale grocers like Whole Foods, much to the dismay of purists. Gourmet raw food, like lasagna made from ground nuts, sprouted buckwheat and cashew cheese, has traditional raw foodies crying foul.

Lessley Anderson has followed the growth of the raw food movement. She’s senior editor at the food website CHOW.com, and she joins us now from San Francisco. Click here to read her article.

(Photo of raw pizza by francistoms)