Learning, Leading, and Living: My December!

Hey!

My classmate the broom kept being late to class, and then I realized: of course! It over-swept.

Welcome back to my newsletter. Hope you had a snowy December.

For those who don't know, I'm Nina Khera. You may have met me during a meeting, or at the latest networking event in Boston. I'm a 17-year-old human longevity researcher who's working on projects in the field of Alzheimer’s, longevity, and brain aging!

This month I’ve finished my first semester of college, worked on Biotein, begun to work on a bio/writing collaboration, and worked on a project focused on Alzheimer’s!

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Biotein

We’re doing our scientific validation study, joined the Harvard Innovation Lab, and are revising scientific plans for our product (we’re reexamining the specific type of test).

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Mindsets and Philosophy

Here are some thoughts I’ve been having!

• I think consistency in anything is so important. Habits form by being consistent. People like you better if your personality is consistent. It is okay to be human, but being generally consistent is so underrated. In our society today, we tend to look for quick fixes and ways to make changes as fast as possible - but those tend to not last very long and aren’t overall all that effective. It sucks though, because we are not evolutionarily wired toward consistency. We aren’t mentally rewarded by doing things day after day. We are mentally rewarded (yay serotonin and dopamine!) by doing the big things - and this is portrayed as what is right (e.g. in every romcom, the love interest makes some grand gesture of love to win the partner over) - but this isn’t what helps us most. Show love in the small ways. In the day to day care. Not in the spontaneous flight to another country.

• The butterfly effect has fascinated me recently. I find that whenever you dislike some small part of your life, it’s really interesting to consider how that small part has influenced some of the rewards/good parts of life for yourself. Alternatively phrased, you can’t switch out one part of a tower without compromising the rest of the blocks built upon it. Of course, this definitely isn’t always applicable - especially when some situations are unlivable (e.g. living in war), but is applicable sometimes!

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Knowledge Bytes

Here are some recommendations from the month!

- Cool math youtube channel: Numberphile! I love their videos, they’re genuinely very engaging and also always feature cool ties to math.

- Great music artist: Gracie Abrams! Her songs all sound sort of similar, but in the best way possible - her voice is so artistic, calming, and beautiful.

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Shoutouts

Here are some fun shoutouts:

• Thank you to Dr. Raju for all your help with the Alzheimer’s project so far - I love the direction we’re going in.

• Thank you to Dr. DiCarlo for your advice about career paths and your thoughts on neuroscience as a whole!

• Thank you to my new friends at university for being so kind and helpful! I love going to school with you guys:-).

Thank you to everyone reading this. Even if I didn't mention you this month. you probably helped me a lot. Thank you!

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Next Month

In January, I’ll be starting my second semester of college, and continuing my work with Biotein, the writing collab, and the Alzheimer’s project (and celebrating my 18th birthday!)!

Reach out to me if you want to talk about human longevity, brain aging, life sciences in general or anything else honestly!

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-khera-115b5a175/

Personal Website: https://ninakhera.com/

Email: kheranina@gmail.com (or just reply to this email)