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Sep 21, 2023

Will psychedelics produce the next longevity drug?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

This November, researchers, clinicians, and investors will descend on Miami, Florida for the annual Wonderland conference. This year, the world’s leading psychedelics conference is expanding its focus to include longevity for the first time, welcoming top speakers from across the field, from Bryan Johnson to Aubrey de Grey.

Through a series of keynotes, round table and panel discussions, and town hall open mic sessions, the event aims to explore the increasingly linked topics of psychedelic medicine, mental health, and longevity medicine.

Longevity. Technology: Every month it seems, more and more research is highlighting the connection between mental health and longevity – from accelerated biological aging to reduced life expectancy. With psychedelics simultaneously demonstrating compelling results in the treatment of mental conditions, from depression to PTSD, the synergies between longevity and psychedelic medicine are clear. We caught up with leading longevity physician Dr Halland Chen to tap into his views on recent developments in longevity medicine and its links with the psychedelic world.

Sep 21, 2023

The putative role of gut microbiota in cancer: Cysteine is a pivotal coin

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Tumor metabolism is mandatory for the proper adaptation of malignant cells to the microenvironment and the acquisition of crucial cellular skills supporting the systemic spread of cancer. Throughout this journey, the contribution of the gut microbiota to the bioavailability of nutrients supporting the bioenergetic and biosynthetic requirements of malignant cells is an issue. This review will focus on the role of cysteine as a coin that mediates the metabolic crosstalk between microbiota and cancer. The key points enclose the way cysteine can be made available by the microbiota, by degradation of more complex compounds or by de novo synthesis, in order to contribute to the enrichment of the colonic microenvironment as well to the increase of cysteine systemic bioavailability. In addition, the main metabolic pathways in cancer that rely on cysteine as a source of energy and biomass will be pointed out and how the interspecific relationship with the microbiota and its dynamics related to aging may be relevant points to explore, contributing to a better understanding of cancer biology.

In the human organism, several interspecific relationships are constantly in operation, which are established between the different species that make up the microbiota and the human cells of the various organs where it resides. These interspecific relationships are mainly symbiotic in which both partners benefit. This is the case in health, but in disease, there are still some doubts about the role of the microbiota in the pathophysiology, namely, in the context of cancer, at both the organ and systemic levels. Currently, new clues have been proposed, and several studies have been developed to determine the influence of microbiota in cancer initiation, progression, and therapy, as it is extensively reviewed (17).

Metabolic adaptation in cancer is undoubtedly an essential requirement for the establishment, growth, and spread of a malignant neoplasm. Cellular plasticity is crucial for the adaptation of the tumor cell to the microenvironment of the organ where carcinogenesis occurs and to the emergence of stress conditions, such as drug exposure. Recent studies prove that cysteine metabolic circuits are a relevant component of the metabolic network, sustaining biosynthesis and bioenergetics and allowing chemoresistance (as reviewed in 8 10). This review intends to confront some of the most recent findings in the field of cysteine metabolism in cancer and the role of the intestinal microbiota in the dynamic balance of the control of cysteine bioavailability and its putative impact on the progression of oncological disease.

Sep 21, 2023

Tiny implanted devices give insights for treating brain tumors

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

A tiny device implanted during brain surgery could help provide personalized information about a tumor’s potential responses to cancer-fighting drugs.

Sep 21, 2023

Scientists Discover That the Genes for Learning and Memory Are 650 Million Years Old

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, genetics

A team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Leicester has determined that genes responsible for learning, memory, aggression, and other complex behaviors emerged approximately 650 million years ago.

The research spearheaded by Dr. Roberto Feuda, of the Neurogenetic group within the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Leicester and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), has recently been published in the journal Nature Communications.

<em>Nature Communications</em> is a peer-reviewed, open-access, multidisciplinary, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It covers the natural sciences, including physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, and earth sciences. It began publishing in 2010 and has editorial offices in London, Berlin, New York City, and Shanghai.

Sep 21, 2023

Can You Speak Chicken Language? New AI May Translate What These Fowls Are Saying, Scientists Claim

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

A team of Japanese researchers claims that they were able to use AI to translate the clucks and noises of chickens.

AI Chicken Language Translator?

Continue reading “Can You Speak Chicken Language? New AI May Translate What These Fowls Are Saying, Scientists Claim” »

Sep 21, 2023

Genetically modified silkworms produced spider silk six times tougher than the Kevlar

Posted by in category: genetics

Spider silk is spun by silkworms for the first time, offering a green alternative to synthetic fibers.

Sep 21, 2023

Natural Killer Cells Could be the Key to New Treatment Options for Blood Cancers

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Natural killer (NK) cells represent an important class of immune cells involved in anti-tumor immunity. Once identifying a tumor cell, NK cells use small particles to kill the cancer cell.

Our understanding of the role of NK cells in anti-tumor immunity has led to the development of techniques that transfer NK cells from a healthy individual into a cancer patient. Such approaches, known as allogeneic NK cell adoptive transfer, have effectively treated certain types of leukemia and lymphoma. While such strategies can induce remission, clinical challenges about the survival and function of the transferred NK cells exist. Thus, research focused on enhancing the ability of transferred NK cells to survive and maintain their ability to function has become highly valuable in an effort to provide new, efficacious therapeutic options.

A new report published in Science Translational Medicine finds that a vitamin supplement could effectively improve the efficacy of NK cell adoptive transfer treatment. Supported by pre-clinical studies, the investigators conducted a phase 1 clinical trial to test a new method for processing NK cells before transferring them to a patient.

Sep 21, 2023

Superglue alternative made from soya is strong but biodegradable

Posted by in category: sustainability

Most adhesives are made from fossil fuels and take thousands of years to biodegrade, but a new alternative derived from soya plants bonds metal, wood and synthetic surfaces just as strongly.

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Sep 21, 2023

AI now generates music with CD-quality audio from text, and it’s only getting better

Posted by in categories: media & arts, robotics/AI

Imagine typing “dramatic intro music” and hearing a soaring symphony or writing “creepy footsteps” and getting high-quality sound effects. That’s the promise of Stable Audio, a text-to-audio AI model announced Wednesday by Stability AI that can synthesize stereo 44.1 kHz music or sounds from written descriptions. Before long, similar technology may challenge musicians for their jobs.

Now Stability and Harmonai want to break into commercial AI audio production with Stable Audio. Judging by production samples, it seems like a significant audio quality upgrade from previous AI audio generators we’ve seen.

Sep 21, 2023

New self-cleaning membranes developed by researchers dramatically improve efficiency of desalination technologies

Posted by in categories: chemistry, engineering

A team of NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) researchers has developed a new kind of self-cleaning, hybrid membrane that provides a solution that overcomes significant challenges that have, until now, limited desalination technologies.

The most energy-efficient desalination technologies are based on membrane desalination. However, the membranes used for desalination are prone to fouling, the accumulation of scale that results in decreased membrane performance, shorter lifespan, and the need for chemical cleaning, which has unknown environmental consequences.

Researchers at NYUAD’s Smart Materials Lab and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials, led by Professor Panče Naumov and Research Scientist Ejaz Ahmed, together with their collaborators from the Institute for Membrane Technology in Italy, created a unique hybrid membrane by utilizing stimuli-responsive materials, thermosalient organic crystals, embedded in polymers. The thermosalient crystals are a new class of dynamic materials that are capable of sudden expansion or motion upon heating or cooling.