Lifeboat Foundation

In hospitals, where many people are treated for life-threatening illnesses, having quality time with your doctor can be the difference between life and death.

However, physicians are often busy, seeing dozens of patients each day. So, then, how can we get more time with them? A.I., says physician and author Eric Topol. In this video, he explains how machine intelligence can free up doctors’ time while they go through their rounds.

Researchers develop new laser microscope that could be ‘revolutionary’ for treatment of diseases such as skin cancer. University of British Columbia researchers have developed a specialized microscope that has the potential ability to both diagnose diseases that include skin cancer and perform incredibly precise surgery – all without cutting skin.

University of British Columbia researchers have developed a specialized microscope that has the potential ability to both diagnose diseases that include skin cancer and perform incredibly precise surgery – all without cutting skin.

The researchers describe the technology in a study published today in Science Advances. “Our technology allows us to scan tissue quickly, and when we see a suspicious or abnormal cell structure, we can perform ultra-precise surgery and selectively treat the unwanted or diseased structure within the tissue – without cutting into the skin,” said Yimei Huang, co-lead author of the study and a former postdoctoral fellow at the department of dermatology and skin science at UBC and BC Cancer.

Continue reading “A New Way of Diagnosing and Treating Disease” »

The World Health Organization ranks Type 2 diabetes among the most common causes of death in the world. Current treatments can help the body use insulin at various stages of the disease, but they can also be expensive and subject patients to lifelong medication regimens and side effects. Thanks to new therapeutic ultrasound technology, one promising alternative looks to reshape how early Type 2 diabetes is managed.

A group of researchers from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., has used ultrasound therapy to stimulate insulin release from mice on demand. After exposing the pancreas, the body’s insulin production center, to ultrasonic pulses, the researchers saw measurable increases in the mice’s blood insulin levels.

The team will present their findings at the 177th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, which takes place from May 13–17, at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky.

Continue reading “Ultrasound used to trigger insulin release in mice shows promise for diabetes therapy” »

In 2018, researchers at the Biogerontology Research Foundation and the International Longevity Alliance submitted a joint proposal to the World Health Organization to re-classify aging as a disease. Months later, 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) officially introduced some aging-related conditions such as age-associated cognitive decline.

This matters because, for the first time in human history, the once natural process of aging is becoming recontextualized as a condition to be treated and prevented. This will gradually lead to pharmaceutical companies and governments redirecting funding to new drugs and therapies that not only extend human life expectancy but reverse the effects of aging entirely.

Thus far, people in developed nations have seen their average life expectancy rise from ~35 in 1820 to 80 in 2003. And with the advances you’re about to learn about, you’ll see how that progression will continue until 80 becomes the new 40. In fact, the first humans expected to live to 150 may have already been born.

Continue reading “Future of human population” »

Besides biological immortality, there is also the possibility of digital immortality. The Human Connectome Project launched in 2010 aimed at mapping the entire human brain and to build its “network map” (connectome) to connect its structure to function and behaviour. Once the neural structure of the brain is completely deciphered, the mind can be uploaded into a computer that could control a robot that replicates a human in every respect.

The quest for eternal life is as old as humanity itself. “Grant us liberation from death for the sake of immortality, as the cucumber is severed from its bondage to the creeper”, runs one of the ancient Hindu prayers in the Mahamrityunjay, or the “great death-conquering” mantra. Death is the ultimate end, mysterious and terrible, against which even the strongest is powerless.

How to conquer death is a question every civilisation has tried to address. Myths have grown around immortal beings like gods in every culture, and of valiant but futile attempts of mortal men to attain immortality. But science may be closer to finding an answer to this ancient quest now more than ever before. In the early history of life, unicellular organisms like prokaryotes, protozoans and algae had ageless bodies and were immortal.

Continue reading “Quest for Immortality” »

SAN LEANDRO (KPIX) — It is the stuff of science fiction and Hollywood movies. The promise: upon your death, your body is frozen until some future medical breakthrough restores you to full health.

Roughly 400 Americans — before they died — decided to bank on the possibility that this will happen. Their bodies are now being held at three facilities in the United States, including one in the East Bay.

“This is like a hospital,” explained Steve Garan, who took KPIX 5 reporter Juliette Goodrich on a tour of Trans Time, a Bay Area Cryonics facility in San Leandro.

Continue reading “Inside TransTime Cryonics Facility: Bodies Frozen, Awaiting A Future Reawakening” »

(HealthDay)—Most folks know that sugary drinks aren’t healthy, but a new study finds fruit juices are not much better.

In fact, consuming them regularly may help shorten your life, researchers say.

“Older adults who drink more sugary beverages, which include fruit juice as well as sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages, may be at risk of dying earlier,” said study author Jean Welsh. She is an associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Continue reading “Sugary drinks and fruit juice may increase risk of early death” »

Do viral videos spread in the same way as infectious diseases?

Clusters of human brain cells can integrate into rat brains, and that’s raising concerns about giving animals some form of human consciousness.

Researchers can grow stem cells into tiny clumps of cells, called organoids, that display similar activity and structure to human brains. To find out more about how exactly that works, read our primer from when we made the technique one of our Ten Breakthrough Technologies of 2015.

Now, though, reports Stat, several labs have inserted those organoids into rat brains and connected them to blood vessels; some of the organoids have even grown physical links with the rat brains. From Stat’s report:

Continue reading “Tiny Human Brains Inside Rats Are Sparking Ethical Concern” »