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Category: policy – Page 54

Guest writer Dr. Asimina Pantazi gives her impressions of the recent Berlin Undoing Aging Conference from the point of view of someone working in research.

As a millennial with limited orientation abilities but expertise with digital tools, I used Google Maps to find the venue, fearing that I would have no data and would get lost in Berlin, only to find out that I was only a couple of meters away from to the venue entrance.

The Undoing Aging 2019 conference took place on May 28–30 at Umspannwerk Alexanderplatz: a multi-level industrial setting, with metal stairs, funky lights, and a balcony overlooking the minimal conference hall. This gave me my first positive vibes.

Aubrey de Grey of the SENS Research Foundation and Michael Greve of the Forever Healthy Foundation organized a three-day event that focused on the cellular and molecular repair of age-related damage in order to medically control aging. The conference brought together a diverse audience from all corners of the world: scientists, doctors, students, biotechs, startups, pharma, investors, the media, government representatives, policy makers, and anti-aging research enthusiasts; many of them were Russians, and their country was impressively represented there!

Continue reading “Undoing Aging 2019: Highlights and Impressions” | >

For the association between nutrient intake and the risk of death, the researchers found:

Adequate intake of certain nutrients is associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality when the nutrient source is foods, but not supplements, according to a new study. There was no association between dietary supplement use and a lower risk of death.

In addition, excess calcium intake was linked to an increased risk of cancer death, which the researchers found was associated with supplemental doses of calcium exceeding 1,000 mg/day. The study was published on April 9 in Annals of Internal Medicine.

“As potential benefits and harms of supplement use continue to be studied, some studies have found associations between excess nutrient intake and , including increased risk of certain cancers,” said Fang Fang Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and senior and corresponding author on the study. “It is important to understand the role that the nutrient and its source might play in , particularly if the effect might not be beneficial.”

Continue reading “Nutrients from food, not supplements, linked to lower risks of death, cancer” | >

The European Commission recommends using an assessment list when developing or deploying AI, but the guidelines aren’t meant to be — or interfere with — policy or regulation. Instead, they offer a loose framework. This summer, the Commission will work with stakeholders to identify areas where additional guidance might be necessary and figure out how to best implement and verify its recommendations. In early 2020, the expert group will incorporate feedback from the pilot phase. As we develop the potential to build things like autonomous weapons and fake news-generating algorithms, it’s likely more governments will take a stand on the ethical concerns AI brings to the table.

The EU wants AI that’s fair and accountable, respects human autonomy and prevents harm.

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Japan is hoping to play a lead role in crafting international rules on what has been called lethal autonomous weapons systems or LAWS.

Japan is planning to give its backing to international efforts to regulate the development of lethal weapons controlled by artificial intelligence at a UN conference in Geneva late this month, government sources said Saturday.

It would mark a departure from Japan’s current policy. The government was already opposed to the development of so-called killer robots that could kill without human involvement. But it had called for careful discussions when it comes to rules so as to make sure that commercial development of AI would not be hampered.

With the policy shift, Japan is hoping to play a leading role in crafting international rules on what have been called lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS, the sources said.

Continue reading “Japan to back int’l efforts to regulate AI-equipped ‘killer robots’” | >

And Vetek Association present their list of the top 60 Longevity Influencers in Israel, whose efforts in science, technology, industry and policy are driving the growth of the Israeli Longevity Landscape.

Link to the Report: https://www.aginganalytics.com/longevity-in-israel

Aaron Ciechanover Anat Ben-Zvi, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist Boaz Misholi Dov Chernichovsky — דב צ’רניחובסקי Ehud Cohen Eyal banin Idan Segev Ilia Stambler Israel Issi Doron Itamar Harel Itamar Raz Jonathan Mandelbaum Michael Neeman Mooly Eden Nir Barzilai MD Rafi Eitan Raphael Gorodetsky Ruth Arnon Uri Alon Valery Krizhanovsky Yael Sorek-benvenisti Yechezkel Barenholz Yosef Gruenbaum.

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Presents its list of the top 30 Longevity Influencers in Singapore, whose efforts in science, technology, industry and policy are driving the growth of the Singaporean Longevity Landscape.

Link to the Report: https://www.aginganalytics.com/longevity-in-singapore

Dr Finian Tan Brian Kennedy #DannySoon #GaryKhoo #BussarawanTeerawichitchainan #ChongHockSia #JaniceChia #JeffreyLu #CarlFirth #KanwaljitSoin #ChristianiJeyakumarHenry #ColinStewart #HweePinkTan Kenneth Noonan MD #LimChweeTeck #LokSheeMei #MelisTay #NeoKahYean #NgHuckHui #PaoloRampichini #PaulSi #PennyWan #JudithSwain #VishalDoshi #WallaceToores #WilfBlackburn #YuCai #LimXinhong WanJin Hong Birgit Lane.

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Circa 2012

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Artist’s concept of a Kardashev Type 2 civilization (credit: Chris Cold)

Lt Col Garretson — one of the USAF’s most farsighted and original thinkers — has been at the forefront of USAF strategy on the long-term future in projects such as Blue Horizons (on KurzweilAI — see video), Energy Horizons, Space Solar Power, the AF Futures Game, the USAF Strategic Environmental Assessment, and the USAF RPA Flight Plan. Now in this exclusive to KurzweilAI, he pushes the boundary of long-term thinking about humanity’s survival out to the edge … and beyond. — Ed.

Continue reading “What our civilization needs is a billion-year plan” | >

However, a shortage of hi-tech research capacity in the region is turning into a hindrance, according to analysts, with most of China’s top-notch science and engineering schools located in the northern and eastern provinces. Although Hong Kong has several universities in the world’s top 100, only a few of them have a science and technology focus.

China’s ‘Greater Bay Area’ plan aims to erase barriers between cities in the region in terms of policy, financing, logistics and talent.

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I remember the #DotCom crash all too well.

The publication record of health-care start-up companies doesn’t seem to matter to investors, according to an analysis of nearly 50 biomedical ‘unicorns’ — venture-capital-backed companies valued at more than US$1 billion. The analysis, led by health-policy researcher John Ioannidis at Stanford University in California, finds no correlation between a company’s market valuation and its publication record — defined as the number of peer-reviewed papers authored directly by a firm. That’s a cause for concern, the authors say.

Firms can achieve fêted ‘unicorn’ valuations without publishing much peer-reviewed science. Health-care start-ups can reach billion-dollar valuations without publishing in peer-reviewed journals, but skipping that step can catch them out.

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Oxfam’s director of campaigns and policy, Matthew Spencer, said: The massive fall in the number of people living in extreme poverty is one of the greatest achievements of the past quarter of a century but rising inequality is jeopardising further progress.

It said the widening gap was hindering the fight against poverty, adding that a wealth tax on the 1% would raise an estimated $418bn (£325bn) a year – enough to educate every child not in school and provide healthcare that would prevent 3 million deaths.

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