Fruit Baby Comparison

[Sorry about the accidental partial draft that went up earlier. Had the publication dates mixed up. It was a late night! -Gail]

I realize that my blog already meanders quite a bit, but I read an article recently that I feel compelled to share. I may decide later that I was way off base with this, but it’s rare for me to see science articles so well-written, well-illustrated(!), and, well, interesting. It was written by Robert Krulwich, Science Correspondent for NPR. In it, Krulwich declares:

Aging = Drying

Say what? This correlation had never crossed my mind, but it’s such a novel idea. And apparently the evidence is pretty straightforward. Here’s a water baby to look at while I explain.

The basic premise is that babies are composed of about 75% water. Adults, on the other hand, tend to be in the 55% – 60% range. By old age we dry out to only about 50%. That’s a pretty significant difference over one lifetime. The article explains that there are variations, of course.

Muscle has a higher moisture content than fat, so more muscular people are “wetter”. Krulwich also points out that all that water might not be where you think it is. In fact,  “most of the water inside us is stored, not in our veins, but in our 100 trillion teeny cells.” He also touches on the importance of water for our health, which mostly made me want to go hydrate and lift a lot of weights.

Call it end-of-semester exhaustion, but this is the best article I’ve read in a long time for three reasons:

1. I learned something interesting. Babies are wetter than old people!

2. The pictures are brilliant.

3. The analogies between fruit and babies are even more brilliant.

How can you go wrong with a fruit-baby comparison? (Disclaimer: I may only think that because “fruitbaby” rolls off the tongue so nicely.)

If you were running low on conversation starters and were worrying what you would do as we enter the holiday party season, worry no more. This one definite falls into the “Things to know to be the most interesting person at the cocktail party” category.

(All illustrations here are from the article, which you should totally read for the full effect!)