Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 10401

Summary: Recent scientific advances in anti-aging science are bringing the dream of the fountain of youth closer to reality. More than just extending our lifespans, the field hopes to significantly reduce the chronic diseases of aging, such as cancer, heart disease, and dementia. [This article first appeared on the website LongevityFacts.com. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

A fountain of youth has been the dream of humanity throughout history.

Recent scientific advances are bringing that dream closer to reality.

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Summary: Why the bowhead whale lives 200 years and rarely gets cancer. This article is part 2 of a 3-part series, covering the role of telomere length in cancer and part of a new extensive study. Part 1 on the accuracy of telomere length is here, Part 3 on the role of telomere length in chronic diseases is here. [This article first appeared under the title ‘Top Journal Discovers Key to These 200-Year-Old Whales Who Avoid Cancer’ on the website LongevityFacts.com. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

Related: A brief overview of why whales don’t get cancer is in this companion video.

In a comprehensive study published a little more than a week ago in a highly respected journal of the Royal Society of the UK, authors Abraham Aviv and Jerry W. Shay (see author bios here) report on the role of telomere length. In this segment, the authors describe the role of telomere length in protecting us from cancer and explain why whales have low rates of cancer, despite large cell counts, long lives, and relatively short telomeres.

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Summary: A recently announced parabiosis trial in humans – the practice of transfusing young blood to old – may have profound implications for treating the chronic diseases of old age, including metabolic changes, frailty, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other forms of dementia. However, some geroscientists say that variations of the procedure could cause severe side effects. [This article first appeared on the website LongevityFacts.com. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

The idea that youthful blood might rejuvenate our aging bodies has lingered in the popular imagination for centuries, fueled by recent experiments in which these transfusions revitalized aging mice.

Last week, Bill Faloon of the Life Extension Foundation (LEF) in partnership with the Young Blood Institute (YBI), announced a bold new human trial of the rejuvenating effects of the young blood / old blood swap, saying.

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Five technologies in development – including senolytic drugs, rapamycin, stem cell therapy, NAD supplementation and gene therapy – could dramatically slow down aging in the next few years. This report updates the latest developments in these promising and potentially lifespan-extending treatments. [This article first appeared on the website LongevityFacts. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

The longevity science field has made enormous progress in recent years, and human trials of anti-aging compounds have already started, with more to begin soon. The lifespan-extension research field is gaining the attention of mainstream medicine.

The specialists who populate the field, called geroscientists, are developing several technologies that might benefit people who are alive today and aim to bring them to the clinic. These lifespan-extending technologies include stem cell therapy, rapamycin, gene therapy, senolytic drugs, and NAD supplementation.

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Image: Stratolaunch Billionaires are taking to space the way wistful young men take to the sea in 19th Century novels. Last week, Elon Musk launched his Tesla Roadster at the astroid belt using the world’s most powerful rocket currently in operation. Not to be outdone, Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen also has a big plan (and a big plane) for going to space. In December of last year, the Stratolaunch performed its first taxi at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, CA. While that doesn’t seem terribly exciting, it’s the first step to getting the Stratolaunch, the world’s largest plane eve…

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MIT 6.S099: Artificial General Intelligence class takes an engineering approach to exploring possible research paths toward building human-level intelligence. The lectures introduce our current understanding of computational intelligence and ways in which strong AI could possibly be achieved, with insights from deep learning, reinforcement learning, computational neuroscience, robotics, cognitive modeling, psychology, and more.

Lex Fridman

Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists, with a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions. Called “the restless genius” by The Wall Street Journaland “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, Kurzweil was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc. magazine, which described him as the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison.” PBS selected him as one of the “sixteen revolutionaries who made America.”

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