This tractor beam breakthrough means humans are one step closer to levitation. (via Seeker)
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The Defense Department can’t stop the rising river of of digital metadata — or prevent enemies from dipping into it.
The Pentagon has long wrapped Diego Garcia in a veil of secrecy, barring media from the Indian Ocean island even as its base and airfield became a key node in America’s wars in the Middle East. But a hole appeared in the veil last Saturday, when a mobile fitness-tracking app company called Strava posted a heatmap of its subscribers’ activity — including the routes that sailors and airmen take as they jogged.
“What you saw from the running patterns is exactly what I experienced when I was deployed there five times between 1985 and 1999,” Air Force General Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recalled in a breakfast with reporters on Tuesday. A heavily secluded jungle trail runs along the island’s western edge, Selva said, perfect for an ambush. “I’ve run it a thousand times. If I had a FitBit, I would have contributed to the map of Diego Garcia.”
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The rapid development of flexible and wearable electronics is giving rise to an exciting range of applications, from smart watches and flexible displays—such as smart phones, tablets, and TV—to smart fabrics, smart glass, transdermal patches, sensors, and more. With this rise, demand has increased for high-performance flexible batteries. Up to now, however, researchers have had difficulty obtaining both good flexibility and high energy density concurrently in lithium-ion batteries.
A team led by Yuan Yang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the department of applied physics and mathematics at Columbia Engineering, has developed a prototype that addresses this challenge: a Li-on battery shaped like the human spine that allows remarkable flexibility, high energy density, and stable voltage no matter how it is flexed or twisted. The study is published today in Advanced Materials.
“The energy density of our prototype is one of the highest reported so far,” says Yang. “We’ve developed a simple and scalable approach to fabricate a flexible spine-like lithium ion battery that has excellent electrochemical and mechanical properties. Our design is a very promising candidate as the first-generation, flexible, commercial lithium-ion battery. We are now optimizing the design and improving its performance.”
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Results of NR and pterostilbene clinical trial are promising.
A clinical trial of an NR and pterostilbene anti-aging supplement appeared to be safe over the short-term as it increased NAD levels in a sustained way. [This article first appeared on the website LongevityFacts.com. Author: Brady Hartman. ]
A clinical trial of NR and pterostilbene sustainably increased NAD levels and appeared to be safe over the short-term. Moreover, the study suggests that it increased the mobility of the aging test subjects.
Our NAD levels decline as we age, and as the theory goes, boosting NAD will also increase our energy and keep our bodies in better condition.
Could a protein called klotho block aging and dementia?
Summary: More klotho means better cognitive function says a scientist. By injecting the protein Klotho into mice with Alzheimer’s, a UCSF researcher improved their brain function. The researcher hopes to eventually apply the treatment to humans to treat aging and dementia. [Introduction by Brady Hartman, followed by a link to the full article.]
Neurologist and neuroscientist Dr. Dena Dubal wants to prevent dementia and aging with a protein called Klotho. Dr. Dubal, MD, Ph.D. – an associate professor of neurology at UC San Francisco – aims to use this novel approach to battle neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Rather than battle these diseases head-on, professor Dubal aims to block the aging process itself. Dr. Dubal is testing the protein’s potential as a therapeutic. The researcher found that by administering the protein to mice, she gave them a cognitive boost, equivalent to genetically increasing klotho. In fact, after injecting the protein into mice that had a condition similar to Alzheimer’s, Dr. Dubal remarked.
Researchers solved a problem that has been holding back the use of viral vectors for cancer therapy. They re-engineered viruses with a novel stealth technique that enables them to be used to treat cancer.
Up until now, viral vectors couldn’t be used widely in cancer therapy. Researchers just announced that they re-engineered an adenovirus with a novel stealth technique that enables it to be used to fight tumors. [This article first appeared on the website LongevityFacts.com. Author: Brady Hartman. ]
Viral vectors are well-developed tools used by scientists to deliver genetic material into cells. Unfortunately, they haven’t worked well to treat cancer until a group of researchers in Switzerland re-engineered them to enable them to be used in cancer therapy.
Researchers from the University of Zurich have re-engineered an adenovirus for use in cancer therapy. To achieve this, scientists developed a new protein shield that hides the virus and protects it from being eliminated by the body. Moreover, adapters on the surface of the virus enable the reconstructed virus to target and infect tumor cells.
When developing any personal health and longevity strategy it is essential to apply the scientific method.
There is one common public reaction to my talks that bothers me quite a bit. I am worried that after each of my lectures, people will just start taking lots of anti-aging pills without regard for dosage or effectiveness, potentially hurting themselves in the process.
This is because one of the most common reactions to me mentioning any currently available interventions is to search for each and every component and order them all right away. Whatever I say about safety and the need to test before people make any changes in their lifestyles seems ineffective.
So, I want to talk about this problem.