Once again telomeres are shown to be key players in aging.
The secret to living long, healthy lives and ageing beyond 100 has finally been cracked, according to a new study.
Scientists at Newcastle University say they have identified the key to longevity and good health amongst centenarians and how they pass that gift onto their offspring.
“I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” — Winston Churchill
Death still enjoys a steady paycheck, but being the Grim Reaper isn’t the cushy job that it used to be.
August 3, 2015 The question of why we age is one of the most fascinating questions for humankind, but nothing close to a satisfactory answer has been found to date. Scientists at the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie in Berlin have now shown, for the first time, that the ER loses its oxidative power in advanced age, which shifts the reducing/oxidising equilibrium — redox for short — in this compartment. This leads to a decline in the capacity to form the disulphide bridges that are so important for correct protein folding. As a consequence, many proteins can no longer mature properly and become unstable.
Serendipity has as much a place in science as in love. That’s what Northeastern physicists Swastik Kar and Srinivas Sridhar found during their four-year project to modify graphene, a stronger-than-steel infinitesimally thin lattice of tightly packed carbon atoms. Primarily funded by the Army Research Laboratory and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, the researchers were charged with imbuing the decade-old material with thermal sensitivity for use in infrared imaging devices such as night-vision goggles for the military.
What they unearthed, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, was so much more: an entirely new material spun out of boron, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen that shows evidence of magnetic, optical, and electrical properties as well as DARPA’s sought-after thermal ones. Its potential applications run the gamut: from 20-megapixel arrays for cellphone cameras to photo detectors to atomically thin transistors that when multiplied by the billions could fuel computers.
Bioviva a Seattle, WA, based biotech is ambitiously moving forward with gene therapy in people to mitigate the consequences of aging. They have not gone for the low hanging fruit either, they are being supported by Maximum Life Foundation to raise enough to run a clinical trial to try to cure Alzheimer’s! They are targeting the supporting Microglia cells in the brain to help regenerate them and hopefully reverse the effects of the disease. A worthy cause if ever I saw one and if it works could translate to other similar conditions like Parkinson’s and ALS. Lets hope they can get this vital work underway. This will then be the first example of regenerative medicine in a person that treats the dysfunction of aging.
RIP = “Return If Possible” is an excellent meme for Singularity, Cryonics & Longevity enthusiasts. [NB: phrase/acronym attributed to India’s former President, late Dr.A P J Abdul Kalam;- (15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015)].
Let’s formulate the task of life extension slightly differently. Something like this…How can we extend sex appeal?
Gyms and beauty salons are in charge of this question now. There is some success, but it’s mostly superficial. Plastic surgery only masks, but doesn’t delay the processes of aging.
Expanding sex appeal is a complex task. Its aspects include both beauty and the activity of the brain. To be sexually attractive we have to be smart and fun. One cannot solve the problem of dementia with makeup.
More interesting developments on the regenerative medicine front this time from UCSF and Villeda. B2M is a downstream consequence of too much TGF-b1 as demonstrated in the recent Conboy regeneration test. This is more validation that cell and tissue regeneration is very near future and should translate to humans.
At UC San Francisco, we are driven by the idea that when the best research, the best teaching and the best patient care converge, we can deliver breakthroughs that help heal the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=192&v=cIJ2GRWCCyE
Will humans ever live forever? With these technological advancements maybe one day. From Robot Avatars to Scientists Manipulating Molecules Alltime10s proudly presents 10 Technologies That Could Make Humans Immortal.
An interview on transhumanism, Transhumanist Party, and longevity science in Quartz, which is the business site of Atlantic Media:.
