Paws for thought

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. NASA overhauls the Artemis program, higher altitudes appear to minimize diabetes risk, and Robert Plant steers clear of the Stairway 🤘

Let’s get into it!

A study published in Cell Metabolism searched for missing clues as to why people who live at higher altitudes seem to have a much lower rate of diabetes. After years of confoundment within the scientific community, researchers believe they finally have an answer.

Working off a hypothesis based on observations that mice living in low-oxygen (hypoxic) environments exhibited significantly lower glucose levels, the research team gave mice sugar and then looked for areas of the body where the glucose might have gone.

70% was unaccounted for, prompting the team to look in unconventional areas with the capacity to store so much missing glucose.

They found that red blood cells of both mice and humans ravenously consume glucose when oxygen is limited. They also found that when oxygen levels are normal but red blood cell count increases, glucose levels decline.

When oxygen is low, hemoglobin—a protein that carries oxygen to muscles and tissue—changes molecular structure, releasing enzymes from red blood cells that allow the faster glucose metabolism.

In other words, it’s possible that a byproduct of the body adapting to high altitudes may be lower blood sugar levels, which could help explain why diabetes is less common among people living in those places.

NASA announced last week that the Artemis program is getting a makeover that includes the introduction of a new mission and a delay to what would be the first moon landing since 1972.

Artemis I launched in 2022 and sent an uncrewed spacecraft around the moon and back to Earth.

Artemis II was supposed to launch a few weeks ago, but issues arose during the dress rehearsal of the launch sequence, pushing the mission back to what could be only a few weeks from now. The mission will be similar to Artemis I, except it will feature the first crewed flight to the moon in 54 years.

Artemis III was initially intended to be a crewed moon landing in 2027, but the program has been overhauled to establish a launch cadence NASA believes is more appropriate for the stability, success, and consistency of future missions to the moon and Mars.

“Launching a lunar rocket every three years is not a strategy consistent with success,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a video posted Feb. 27 on X.

Artemis III is still slated for 2027, as a low‑Earth‑orbit flight, and will allow astronauts to test the spacesuits being designed for lunar walks ahead of the planned 2028 moon landing during Artemis IV.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational begins tomorrow morning at Bay Hill, kicking off what many consider the greatest stretch on the professional golf calendar.

While a hefty purse will certainly be on the mind of the PGA Tour’s best when they tee off, there’s another special prize the winner has received each year since 2017: their very own red cardigan.

While Arnie wasn’t the first on tour to wear a cardigan (credit for that goes to Ben Hogan), he sure did make it popular and a signature staple of his attire when he was on top, including during victories at the 1960 and 1964 Masters. The cardigan he wore for the latter sold for $15,000 a couple years before he passed and would likely fetch a lot more today.

“I remain proud of the style, high quality, and functionality that came out of the Arnold Palmer clothing of that era,” Palmer wrote in his autobiography, A Golfer’s Life. “I still own half a closet full of Arnold Palmer alpaca cardigan sweaters myself! Wouldn’t sell them for anything, either.”

By Sunday night, someone at Bay Hill will be introducing a new one to their closet, too.

Stairway to Heaven was a signature hit not just for Led Zeppelin, but for the mythological history of rock ‘n’ roll itself.

Part of the band’s monumental success and storied history is owed to the song but, as often happens with hits of such magnitude, it went from being a highlight of Robert Plant’s night throughout the 1970s to something he couldn’t wait to get away from.

By the time the band broke up in 1980, Plant had basically resigned himself to never to play the tune again.

“I’d break out in hives if I had to sing that song in every show. I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. “But 17 years later, I don’t know. It’s just not for me.”

By 2002, he’d developed so much disdain for the song that he paid KBOO—a Portland, Ore., radio station—$10,000 to prevent them from ever playing it again.

"I was driving along in my car, heading for Lincoln City, which is out on the coast. I wanted to drive down to Eureka,” he told NPR. “And just before the black-and-white [the highway patrol] caught me doing 90mph, [I was listening to] KBOO.

“The guy came on saying they were looking for sponsorships. You know, ‘Please send in $10’ or $15 or whatever, and if people in the area did that, KBOO would promise never to play Stairway to Heaven. So I called him up and pledged my money. I was one of the KBOO sponsors."

Asked why he made the $10,000 donation, he simply said because he’d heard the song before.

Movie magic

Today we’re taking a look at the epic catalogue of iconic actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner. We’ve got 10 questions that cover it all, from early sitcom stardom to Academy Award nominations, with today’s trivia.

Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified on Thursday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder! *