While the mental has often played second fiddle to the physical when it comes to longevity research, this is changing – and not a moment too soon.
The physical and mental aspects of aging are interconnected, and given the strong connection between psychology and the physical pace of aging, poor mental health is starting to be recognised as a major driver of aging.
A raft of developments have demonstrated that physical lifespan and healthspan can be extended and improved, and now it is time for the longevity industry to achieve similar success when it comes to mental health. Sergey Jakimov, the CEO of Swiss investment group LongeVC agrees, and tells us why it’s time for VCs to get excited about backing startups delivering cutting-edge solutions for mental healthcare.
Elon Musk/courtesy of Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images
In 2022, Elon Musk’s Neuralink tried – and failed – to secure permission from the FDA to run a human trial of its implantable brain-computer interface (BCI), according to a Reuters report published Thursday.
Citing seven current and former employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity, Reuters reported that the regulatory agency found “dozens of issues” with Neuralink’s application that the company must resolve before it can begin studying its tech in humans.
Conor russomanno, founder and CEO of openbci eva esteban, embedded software engineer at openbci
Galea is an award-winning platform that merges next-generation biometrics with mixed reality. It is the first device to integrate a wide range of physiological signals, including EEG, EMG, EDA, PPG, and eye-tracking, into a single headset. In this session, Conor and Eva will provide a live demonstration of the device and its capabilities, showcasing its potential for a variety of applications, from gaming to training and rehabilitation. They will give an overview of the different hardware and software components of the system, highlighting how it can be used to analyze user experiences in real time. Attendees will get an opportunity to ask questions at the end.
Summary: After discovering the importance of cell metabolism in neurogenesis, researchers were able to increase the number of neurons in the brains of adult and elderly mice.
Source: University of Geneva.
Some areas of the adult brain contain quiescent, or dormant, neural stem cells that can potentially be reactivated to form new neurons. However, the transition from quiescence to proliferation is still poorly understood.
The Big Bang is the name we have given to the moment at which the Universe began. While the idea is well known, it is often badly misunderstood. Even people with a good grasp of science have misconceptions about it. For instance, a common question is, “Where did the Big Bang happen?” And the answer to that question is a surprising one. So, let’s dive into it and try to understand where the misunderstanding arises.
When people are told of the Big Bang, they are commonly told that “all of the mass of the universe was packed into a point with zero volume called a singularity.” The singularity then “exploded,” expanding and cooling and eventually resulting in the Universe we see today. People draw from their own experience and analogize the Big Bang with something like a firecracker or a grenade — an object that sits in a location, then explodes, dispersing debris into existing space. This is a completely natural and reasonable mental image. It is also completely wrong.
Researchers have created a roadmap for how to build tiny biocomputers out of human neurons or brain cells.
“We can use a culture of the human brain to show something which is not just living cells. We can show that this is learning, this is memorising, this is making decisions, it is possibly even at some point, ‘sentient’ in the sense that it can sense its environment,” Professor Thomas Hartung, a Johns Hopkins ‘organoids’ researcher, told Cosmos.
“We are the explorers who have stumbled into a completely new field.”