In a world where choices seem endless, could it be that our ‘free will’ is nothing more than an illusion?
When it comes to things like choosing a morning run over an extra hour of sleep, opting for an apple instead of that enticing pint of ice cream, or quitting your job on a whim…
…What’s truly guiding these decisions? Is it willpower, biology, environment, or perhaps a unique strength of character we’ve built over time?
Or… could it be something else entirely, something beyond our control?
Scientists in China have managed to revive brain activity in pigs nearly an hour after circulation ceased, thanks to the surprising involvement of the liver.
If translatable to humans, this finding could have significant implications for extending the critical window in which doctors can resuscitate patients following sudden cardiac arrest.
The research team, led by Dr. Xiaoshun He at Sun Yat-Sen University, experimented with the brains of 17 Tibetan minipigs to investigate how the liver might influence brain recovery.
Humans have suffered from tuberculosis for thousands of years and, even today, the disease kills more than 1 million people each year. Yet diagnosing cases remains a challenge. Why?
They might not make you beautiful, but research suggests exosomes might help us diagnose and treat diseases.
In a rat experiment, researchers publishing in Aging Cell have found that senescent cells and SASP factors are key in regenerating knee cartilage.
Not always negative
Cellular senescence is widely known to have negative effects, to the point that it is one of the hallmarks of aging. In fact, rather than protecting cartilage, cellular senescence has been reported to damage it in the progression of osteoarthritis [1]. However, the idea that senescence is beneficial for regeneration is not a new concept [2], and it has been found to assist wound healing in mice [3]. Understanding everything involved in this complex relationship is not easy, and one of the factors appears to be windows of time [4].
Researchers tracked the health of nearly one thousand mice on a variety of diets to see if these diets would extend the mice’s lifespan. The study was designed to ensure that each mouse was genetically distinct, which allowed the team to better represent the genetic diversity of the human population. By doing so, the results are made more clinically relevant, elevating the study to one of the most significant investigations into aging and lifespan to date.
For nearly a century, laboratory studies have shown consistent results: eat less food, or eat less often, and an animal will live longer. But scientists have struggled to understand why these kinds of restrictive diets work to extend lifespan, and how to best implement them in humans. Now, in a long-awaited study to appear in the Oct. 9 issue of Nature, scientists at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) and collaborators tracked the health of nearly one thousand mice on a variety of diets to make new inroads into these questions.
The study was designed to ensure that each mouse was genetically distinct, which allowed the team to better represent the genetic diversity of the human population. By doing so, the results are made more clinically relevant, elevating the study to one of the most significant investigations into aging and lifespan to date.
A recently developed electronic tongue is capable of identifying differences in similar liquids, such as milk with varying water content; diverse products, including soda types and coffee blends; signs of spoilage in fruit juices; and instances of food safety concerns. The team, led by researchers at Penn State, also found that results were even more accurate when artificial intelligence (AI) used its own assessment parameters to interpret the data generated by the electronic tongue.
The researchers published their results today (Oct. 9) in Nature.
According to the researchers, the electronic tongue can be useful for food safety and production, as well as for medical diagnostics. The sensor and its AI can broadly detect and classify various substances while collectively assessing their respective quality, authenticity and freshness. This assessment has also provided the researchers with a view into how AI makes decisions, which could lead to better AI development and applications, they said.
Imagine doctors being able to predict how a disease might progress in your body based on your genetic makeup, or which treatments would be most effective for you.
This research could bring us one step closer to that reality.
To sum it all up, this new research is shaking up how we think about evolution. Instead of seeing it as a series of random events, the study suggests there’s a level of predictability influenced by gene families and genetic history.
My output on my personal blog has been low lately. That’s largely because I’m pushing hard to finish a complete draft of my book on biostasis. If I can keep up the pace, I expect to finish a draft around the end of the year or in January 2025. The blog entries I have written have been on our group blog for Biostasis Technologies. Subscribers will probably enjoy my October 29 entry:
I look at the origins of effective accelerationism (e/acc) and its unacknowledged roots in extropian transhumanism as well as in several Singularitarian writers. Noah Smith has noted the “extropian enthusiasm” of e/acc. The original essays by the e/acc founders can be difficult to distill down so I outline the basics of e/acc and then survey the many flavors of accelerationism. I point out errors in e/acc’s contrast with transhumanism. That is followed by a critique of the injunction to “follow the will of the universe.” Despite errors and shortcomings I conclude that e/acc is more right than wrong. From the perspective of the central important of life extension, I outline what might be called long/acc or longevity accelerationism.
Researchers connecting pieces of the massive Alzheimer’s puzzle are closer to slotting the next one in place, with yet another link between our guts and brain.
Animal studies have demonstrated Alzheimer’s can be passed on to young mice through a transfer of gut microbes, confirming a link between the digestive system and the health of the brain.
A 2023 study adds further support to the theory that inflammation could be the mechanism through which this occurs.
