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Rejuvenation Roundup June 2019

There’s only a few days left before our second conference in New York City takes place, and June has brought a lot of exciting news, such as the results of UNITY’s senolytic human trial, as well as a number of episodes of LifeXtenShow, our new YouTube show that is now a little over a month old already. Let’s dig into the details!

LEAF News

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps ‘In Bloom’ Spiral Galaxy in Space

The Hubble Space Telescope recently spotted a gorgeous “in bloom” spiral galaxy and it shows vibrant star formation pockets that look like red flowers.

The spiral galaxy, which is named NGC 972, was shared by the Hubble Space Telescope on Monday, July 1. NGC 972’s orange-pink glow comes from hydrogen gas reacting to intense light beaming outwards from neighboring newborn stars, said a Hubble Space Telescope press release. These bright patches, which are scattered near various cosmic dust streams, are “blooming” like roses in NGC 972.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

DARPA-funded chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have devised a way to rapidly synthesize and screen millions of novel proteins that could be used as drugs against Ebola and other viruses. The team supports DARPA’s Fold F(x) synthetic chemistry program.


MIT News OfficeBuilding 11–400 Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA 02139–4307.

First proof-of-concept demonstrates genetic sex selection in mammals

Certain plants, insects, crustaceans and fish possess the uncanny ability to change the sex of their offspring before they are born. Mammals have never before demonstrated this genetic skill, until now.

A new Tel Aviv University study reveals a genetic system in that enables two animals to mate and produce only females. A similar system based on identical principles would produce only males.

Research for the breakthrough study was led by Prof. Udi Qimron, Dr. Ido Yosef and Dr. Motti Gerlic and conducted by Dr. Liat Edry-Botzer, Rea Globus, Inbar Shlomovitz and Prof. Ariel Munitz, all of the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at TAU’s Sackler School of Medicine. The research was published on July 1 in EMBO Reports.

Wired Bacteria Form Nature’s Power Grid: ‘We Have an Electric Planet’

At three o’clock in the afternoon on September 4, 1882, the electrical age began. The Edison Illuminating Company switched on its Pearl Street power plant, and a network of copper wires came alive, delivering current to a few dozen buildings in the surrounding neighborhood.


Electroactive bacteria were running current through “wires” long before humans learned the trick.

Monster kauri log recovered deep in the ground near Kaikohe to shed light on mysterious ancient event

The log, which is 16m long and weighs 60 tonnes, was found during excavation for a new geothermal power station near Ngāwhā Springs earlier this year.

Last week, scientists completed a radiometric analysis to reveal the kauri stood between 41,000 and 42,500 years ago – making it the only tree found anywhere in the world that was alive during a mysterious shift in the world’s magnetic field.