For the first time, scientists have shown that mitochondria — the “powerhouses” of cells — are crucial for aging, after finding that removing mitochondria from human cells reduced levels of markers for cellular aging, triggering a process of rejuvenation.
More info: http://ow.ly/Y5CcB
A study of cadavers reveals a dramatic decrease of vitamin B12 in the brain across the ages but also among young people with autism and schizophrenia.
Post-Human
Radically often it seems like something out of science fiction. But every day that passes we get closer to the technological singularity.
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A rabbit’s brain has been successfully returned from long-term cryogenic storage, marking the first time a whole mammalian brain has been recovered in near-perfect condition.
It marks a significant breakthrough in the field of cryonics and boosts the prospect of one day bringing frozen human brains back to life.
Researchers from 21st Century Medicine (21CM) used a new technique called Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation that filled the vascular system of the rabbit brain with chemicals that would allow it to be cooled to −211 degrees Fahrenheit (−135 degrees Celsius). When it was thawed, the cell membranes, synapses, and intracellular structures remained intact.
Researchers from 21st Century Medicine have developed a new technique to allow long term storage of a near-perfect mammalian brain. It’s a breakthrough that could have serious implications for cryonics, and the futuristic prospect of bringing the frozen dead back to life.
By using a chemical compound to turn a rabbit’s brain into a near glass-like state, and then cooling it to −211 degrees Fahrenheit (−135 degrees Celsius), a research team from California-based 21st Century Medicine (21CM) showed that it’s possible to enable near-perfect, long-term structural preservation of an intact mammalian brain. The achievement has earned not just accolades from the scientific community, but a prestigious award as well; the 21CM researchers are today being awarded the $26,735 Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize, which is run by the Brain Preservation Foundation (BPF).
The Brain Preservation Foundation (BPF) announced that the Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize has officially been won. The spectacular result achieved by 21st Century Medicine researchers provides the first demonstration that near-perfect, long-term structural preservation of an intact mammalian brain is achievable.
A team from 21st Century Medicine, spearheaded by recent MIT graduate Robert McIntyre, has discovered a way to preserve the delicate neural circuits of an intact rabbit brain for very long-term storage using a combination of chemical fixation and cryogenic cooling. Proof of this accomplishment, and the full “Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation” (ASC) protocol, was recently published in the journal Cryobiology and has been independently verified by the BPF through extensive electron microscopic examination conducted by the two official judges of the prize: BPF President Ken Hayworth and Princeton neuroscience professor Sebastian Seung, author of “Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are.”
“Every neuron and synapse looks beautifully preserved across the entire brain,” said Hayworth. “Simply amazing given that I held in my hand this very same brain when it was frozen solid… This is not your father’s cryonics.”
Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute (SBP) have conclusively identified the protein complex that controls the genes needed to repair skeletal muscle. The discovery clears up deep-rooted conflicting data and will now help streamline efforts towards boosting stem cell-mediated muscle regeneration. Such strategies could treat muscle degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophies, and those associated with aging and cancer.
The research, published today in eLife, describes the essential role of a TBP-containing TFIID-protein complex in activating genes that regenerate muscle tissue, and shows that an alternative protein called TBP2 is not involved in this task in adult muscles.
“Our discovery clarifies the identity of the ‘molecular switches’ that control the activation of muscle genes in muscle stem cells (MuSCs),” said Barbora Malecova, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Pier Lorenzo Puri, M.D., professor in the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program at SBP, and first author of the article. “Understanding what drives muscle gene expression gives us insights into molecular targets for regenerative medicine-based interventions (drugs) to treat muscle degenerative disorders.”
The Rise of the Rest and Mars Colonization
The Chinese word for crisis has two characters (危機). The first character represents danger and the second can be interpreted as opportunity, change of time, moment or chance. Even though the meaning of these Chinese characters can vary according to the context and nearby characters, the understanding of crisis (危機) as danger (危) plus opportunity (機) can help us think about the challenges faced by humanity in 2030.
In the coming years, China will have the largest economy of the planet, dethroning the USA to number two, both economically and scientifically. India will also be catching up fast as the third largest economy in the world, and its population will continue increasing after overtaking that of China in 2025. The re-emergence of Asia, as represented by China and India, will create a dramatic shift in power and geopolitics from what has been called the West to the East. The international hegemony enjoyed by the West during the last half millennium will move back to the East, which already led the world in many areas before the European Renaissance.
Fortunately, during the next two decades, the world economy will keep expanding and human conditions will get better throughout the whole planet. Indeed, a rising tide lifts all boats. Poverty will be substantially reduced and the environment will be significantly improved thanks to a growing global conscience and continuous advances in technology. Even Africa, the historic cradle of civilization, but considered a basket case during the last few centuries, will experience its own re-emergence in the world stage. After experiencing growth of 5% during the 2010s, and even higher during the 2020s, most African countries will be joining the rapid development of China and India, like most of the rest of the world.
The world in 2030 will be radically different from the world today. Rapid economic growth and convergence will have lifted the conditions of the bottom of the pyramid, and many people will raise their eyes into outer space. The colonization of Mars will start during the 2020s according to different plans by many governments (like those of China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia, and the USA) and even some private enterprises (for example, MarsOne, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic).
Exponential Technologies and Immortality
Change is not constant, in fact, change is accelerating very fast. We will see more transformations in the next 20 years than in the past 200 years. Some technologies are radically changing humanity, in general, and also changing human beings, in particular. Many experts now talk about the four sciences and technologies of the future: NBIC (nano-bio-info-cogno). The NBIC fields are converging at an accelerating rate and they will help to transcend many human limitations in order to improve lives all around the world, and eventually beyond our tiny planet.
We might think of nano and bio as the hardware of life, and info and cogno as the software of life. In the next two decades, we will be able to replicate and improve the complexity of both the hardware and software of human beings. The complexity of our hardware is embodied in the human genome and its 3 gigabits of data, while the complexity of our software is implied by the human brain and its 1017 operations per second.
According to some technology trends, we might achieve physical immortality by copying, reproducing, augmenting, and enhancing our current hardware and software. In medicine, some scientists say that aging is actually a disease, but a curable disease. In fact, some cells do not age, for example, bacteria, germinal cells, stem cells, and cancer cells do not go through the aging process. It is fundamental to understand why this happens and use that knowledge to stop aging in more complex organisms like us. By so doing, our hardware might live indefinitely thanks to longevity discoveries related to genetic treatments, regenerative medicine, and stem cell therapies, for example.
We might also reach immortality through backing up our software. Thanks to research like the Human Brain Project in Europe and the BRAIN Initiative in the USA, we will be able to reengineer our brains. As computer-to-brain interfaces keep improving, some scientists believe that we will eventually be able to upload our brains into machines. In the next two decades, we might well see the “death of death”.
Humanity is fast approaching what some people call the “Singularity”: the moment when artificial intelligence will reach human intelligence levels, and then quickly overtake it. Perhaps then some humans might become transhumans and posthumans, changing forever life on Earth and the universe.
José Luis Cordeiro, MBA, PhD (www.cordeiro.org)
Visiting Research Fellow, IDE-JETRO, Tokyo, Japan (www.ide.go.jp)
Director, The Millennium Project, Venezuela Node (www.Millennium-Project.org)
Adjunct Professor, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia (www.mipt.ru)
Founder and President Emeritus, World Future Society, Venezuela Chapter (www.FuturoVenezuela.net)
Founding Energy Advisor/Faculty, Singularity University, NASA Research Park, California, USA (www.SingularityU.org)
Count of St. Germain; a mystery to still be solved. Ever since I was 7 yrs old, I have found this man as a great mystery. He was a true Renaissance man like Di Vinci; however, know one knew his real age, where he truly came from, and his real story. I hope to pick up my own research again on this man; I have always loved solving puzzles and mysteries.
IS IT POSSIBLE that a man can achieve immortality – to live forever? That is the startling claim of a historical figure known as Count de Saint-Germain. Records date his birth to the late 1600s, although some believe that his longevity reaches back to the time of Christ. He has appeared many times throughout history – even as recently as the 1970s – always appearing to be about 45 years old. He was known by many of the most famous figures of European history, including Casanova, Madame de Pampadour, Voltaire, King Louis XV, Catherine the Great, Anton Mesmer and others. Who was this mysterious man? Are the stories of his immortality mere legend and folklore? Or is it possible that he really did discover the secret of defeating death?
ORIGINS
When the man who first became known as Saint-Germain was born is unknown, although most accounts say he was born in the 1690s. A genealogy compiled by Annie Besant for her co-authored book, The Comte De St. Germain: The Secret of Kings, asserts that he was born the son of Francis Racoczi II, Prince of Transylvania in 1690. Other accounts, taken less seriously by most, say he was alive in the time of Jesus and attended the wedding at Cana, where the young Jesus turned water into wine. He was also said to be present at the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. What is almost unanimously agreed on, however, is that Saint-Germain became accomplished in the art of alchemy, the mystical “science” that strives to control the elements. The foremost goal of this practice was the creation of “projection powder” or the elusive “philosopher’s stone,” which, it was claimed, when added to the molten form of such base metals as lead could turn them into pure silver or gold. Furthermore, this magical power could be used in an elixir that would impart immortality on those who drank it. Count de Saint-Germain, it is believed, discovered this secret of alchemy.
COURTING EUROPEAN SOCIETY
Saint-Germain first came into prominence in the high society of Europe in 1742. He had just spent five years in the shah of Persia’s court where he had learned the jeweler’s craft. He beguiled the royals and the rich with his vast knowledge of science and history, his musical ability, his easy charm and quick wit. He spoke many languages fluently, including French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and English, and was further familiar with Chinese, Latin, Arabic – even ancient Greek and Sanskrit. It might have been his extraordinary learnedness that led acquaintances to see that he was a remarkable man, but an anecdote from 1760 most likely gave rise to the notion that Saint-Germain could be immortal. In Paris that year, Countess von Georgy heard that a Count de Saint-Germain had arrived for a soiree at the home of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France. The elderly countess was curious because she had known a Count de Saint-Germain while in Venice in 1710. Upon meeting the count again, she was astonished to see that he hadn’t appeared to age, and asked him if it was his father she knew in Venice. “No, Madame,” he replied, “but I myself was living in Venice at the end of the last and the beginning of this century; I had the honor to pay you court then.” “Forgive me, but that it impossible!” the perplexed countess said. “The Count de Saint-Germain I knew in those days was at least forty-five years old. And you, at the outside, are that age at present.” “Madame, I am very old,” he said with a knowing smile. “But then you must be nearly 100 years old,” said the astonished countess. “That is not impossible,” the count told her matter-of-factly, then continued to convince the countess that he was indeed the same man she knew with the details of their previous meetings and of life in Venice 50 years earlier.
EVER PRESENT, NEVER AGING
Saint-Germain traveled extensively throughout Europe over the next 40 years – and in all that time never seemed to age. Those who met him were impressed by his many abilities and peculiarities:
I have nothing against the idea of designer babies. Why not better ourselves through science? There will always be a baseline version of humanity kicking around, even if it’s in cold storage,thus ensuring that any mistakes made early on don’t destroy the species. Besides, the same technology that allows us to make ourselves better could just as easily be used to repair us if we do make a mistake of some kind. TOO much red-tape, as always.
Room: B-3245.
Recent discoveries and advances in medicine are setting the bioethical world on fire. Some technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9 and fast DNA sequencing techniques, have tremendously increased our control over our own genome. GMOs, Gene Therapy and life extension are examples of applications of our new gained knowledge in genetics. For more than a few, the thought of scientists playing with the fundamental building blocks of life brings an uneasy feeling. Yet, what are the scientists really doing?
As technologies keep on advancing, it is crucial to question ourselves on the implications of genetic research, and the first step to do so is to understand what is being done in the laboratories. The goal of this presentation is to convey reliable information on the field of genomics to non-experts so that they can take on a rational stance on the issues at hand. Simultaneously, in the spirit of Philopolis, the presentation revolves around the philosophical question of what is natural and what is not.
Christophe Lachance-Brais and @[601985428:2048:Philippe Castonguay] will give the talk and animate the discussion.
The 1h presentation will be followed by a 30 minute discussion.