Lawmakers in Massachusetts have introduced a law that would ban children in the seventh grade or younger from playing tackle football (冲撞式橄榄球). The Act for No Organized Head Impacts to Schoolchildren, or the NO HITS Act, was introduced last month in an effort to protect children’s heads from blows (重击) while at a particularly fragile age.

The bill would cause fines of up to $ 2,000 for each time the law is broken. People who frequently break the law, or those whose actions cause physical harm, would face bigger fines.

“It’s all about kids’ health and we have a number of studies that say that repeated contacts to the head are very bad for you and the younger that starts, the worse it is,” said Paul, who introduced the bill with House Minority Leader Bradley Jones .

According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers examining 111 brains belonging to former NFL (National Football League) players found the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, in 110 of them. The disease is associated with repeated head injuries, not just concussions (脑震荡), and is generally found in athletes, retired soldiers and others with a history of repetitive brain injuries, according to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to study, treat and prevent future cases of brain injuries among athletes and other at-risk groups.

Similar laws have been considered elsewhere in the country, including California and Illinois last year, though they didn’t secure enough votes to become law. Those against previously proposed (提议的) bans have argued that adequate progress has been achieved to make the sport safer and that the sport offers too many benefits for children to totally avoid it.

Several former NFL players, who have been directly or indirectly affected by CTE, have argued differently, however. “I made the mistake of starting tackle football at 9 years old. Now, CTE has taken my life away.Youth tackle football is all risk with no reward,” Nick Buoniconti, a former NFL player, told CNN last year.

An ageing population is a global phenomenon. Countries are looking for the balm to address the demands of a swelling elderly community.

Many nations are threatened by a shortage of healthcare workers because of unenviable tasks such as bathing, feeding and changing the diapers. Advancements in technology now present an innovative solution to this. Japan has now developed carebots, specially-designed robots, to replace human caregivers. Japan is also working at more coordinated care for the elderly within the community which includes the integration of hospitals, homecare, elderly care centres and nursing homes. Putting in place a system that can effectively track and retrieve the medical history of every elderly person, Japan leverages technology to provide quality healthcare for the seniors.

The unique feature about Sweden is that most of the elderly live in their own homes where they continue to enjoy living independently. Local governments allocate funds and manage services while citizens have the freedom to choose the type of home services and their service provider. They can apply for homecare services including delivering meals to homes, hanging curtains, changing light bulbs etc. In Sweden, the focus is also on preventive care—keeping the elderly healthy. The elderly who are ill are not just given medicines but also a specific type of physical activity, where their doctors also monitor the outcome.

Singapore also provides more homecare services and day-care centres where the older people can go for rehabilitative and social activities. Besides, the government is creating more dementia-friendly communities, where support comes from the community. Various people within a community like policemen, shopkeepers and other volunteers are trained to assist the elderly with dementia (痴呆). With greater community awareness and support, it is more plausible for a dementia sufferer to stay at home instead of a nursing home.

In our search for the best model to meet the demands of a burgeoning ageing population, let us keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. What is important is shouldering the responsibilities of caring for them and ensuring them to age well and comfortably.

Playing basketball isn’t ladylike. That’s what Jewell Chapman’s high school headmaster told her in 1961 when he was against the girls’ basketball program.

“We were very discouraged,” said Chapman, a forward (前锋) for her high school team of Des Moines.

Nearly 50 years later, Chapman is back on the playground. She’s 62 and plays for “Hot Pink Grannies”, joining about 10 other women on a team whose uniforms are black trousers and hot pink socks. They play in the Iowa Granny Basketball League.

It’s one of dozens of basketball leagues for women over 50 that have arisen across the country. For some, it’s a chance to exercise and meet people; for others, it’s a once­refused chance to make up.

“You see more and more elderly women’s teams taking part in state and national competitions,” said Michael Rogers, a professor in sports studies at Wichita State University. “In the future it will be something common to have leagues like this.”

Yearly surveys by the National Sporting Goods Association show the number of women aged 55 and older who play basketball at least 50 times a year has grown from 16,000 in 1995 to nearly 131,000 ten years later.

The women on the Hot Pink Grannies are good­natured but competitive when game time comes.

“I think I’m tough,” says Colleen Pulliam, 69, showing off her strong arms at her challengers in a game against “Strutters”, known for their bright yellow socks.

Granny Basketball Leagues and similar groups spread quickly through much of the country, including California, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.