A possible solution for some of the problems associated with aging has both literally and figuratively come to a head. However, one word of warning — what follows may be unsettling to some people. It might also remind others of Jonathan Swift’s "Modest Proposal," when the author suggested eating small children in times of famine. Case Western Reserve University researchers have revealed that cockroaches do not age gracefully. After the crawly creatures have lived about 60 weeks, they get stiff joints (necessary for climbing), and hardened footpads, making it impossible for them to stick to vertical surfaces. According to the Journal of Experimental Biology, one of the researchers, noticing that aged roaches seem incapable of escaping predators, reasoned that the problem might be brain-based. He tested his hypothesis by removing a roach’s head (along with the brain), and the roach once again was able to flee like a youngster. If we take the study one step further, we might clearly see that decapitation, or voluntary beheading, may be the answer to arthritis and the other conditions that keep us from being as active as we once were. Granted, it’s extreme and it may make us look shorter, but anything is worth a try. We may not want to stick to vertical surfaces, but living without stiff joints and being able to give predators the slip admittedly sound good. Before any of us do the Marie Antoinette thing and jump headfirst into this new solution, we should consider all of its possible side effects. On the negative side, we may not survive the ordeal. If we do, people will no longer say we’re a head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. That’s it, plain and simple. However, surviving in an acephalous (fancy talk for headless, a word which might tend to make people squeamish) condition could improve our lives rather dramatically. We will no longer have to worry about paying for expensive makeup and face care products, losing earrings, balding or experiencing split hair ends. We will suddenly weigh less than we did before. Whether or not to have a facelift will no longer be a major decision in our lives. Headaches and head colds will be health problems and miseries of the past. We will no longer be expected to carry on half of a conversation in social situations. We may not be able to instinctively head off trouble before it happens, but we will definitely never find ourselves in problems over our heads. People will never be able to say that we’re headstrong. Not headstrong perhaps, but we may be out of our heads. Although we may never again be given a head start or have the possibility of winning by a nose, we will be able to dance and run like youngsters. When we think about it, there must be something to the well-worn expressions, "Losing one’s head" and "Running round like a chicken with its head cut off." However, there’s one thing we might really miss, in spite of the many headless benefits — falling head over heels in love. We would really miss that.