Free Republic

Amir Peretz says he is ready to conquer the seat of Prime Minister after he recaptures the Labor party leadership. Peretz spoke to the legal journal Orech Din about his plans to win the premiership. Peretz is convinced that the next Prime Minister will not be Netanyahu and sees himself as a worthy successor. However, he must first garner internal support in the Labor party. "I have begun a new journey, a journey between Afikim, Afeka, and Ofakim", said Peretz, referencing towns representing all strata of Israeli society. "This journey is meant to break the ethnic barriers which have been...

Study of long-lived Ashkenazi Jews may yield longevity genes galore A type of gene mutation long known to extend the lives of worms, flies and mice also turns up in long-lived humans. Researchers found that among Ashkenazi Jews, those who survived past age 95 were much more likely than their peers to possess one of two similar mutations in the gene for insulinlike growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R). The mutations seem to make cells less responsive than normal to insulinlike growth factor 1 (IGF1), a key growth hormone secreted by the liver. In past studies, IGF1 disruption increased the life...

above-average intelligence in Ashkenazi Jews — those of northern European heritage — resulted from natural selection in medieval Europe, where they were pressured into jobs as financiers, traders, managers and tax collectors. Those who were smarter succeeded, grew wealthy and had bigger families to pass on their genes, they suggested. That evolution also is linked to genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs and Gaucher in Jews. The new study was funded by the Department of Energy, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Aging, the Unz Foundation, the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin.