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Sep 6, 2016

Brain circuit that drives sleep-wake states, sleep-preparation behavior is identified

Posted by in categories: food, neuroscience

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have identified a brain circuit that’s indispensable to the sleep-wake cycle. This same circuit is also a key component of the reward system, an archipelago of interconnected brain clusters crucial to promoting behavior necessary for animals, including humans, to survive and reproduce.

It makes intuitive sense that the reward system, which motivates goal-directed behaviors such as fleeing from predators or looking for food, and our sleep-wake cycle would coordinate with one another at some point. You can’t seek food in your sleep, unless you’re an adept sleepwalker. Conversely, getting out of bed is a lot easier when you’re excited about the day ahead of you.

But until this study, no precise anatomical location for this integration of the ’s reward and arousal systems has been pinpointed, said Luis de Lecea, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

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Sep 6, 2016

Intel to Acquire Movidius: Accelerating Computer Vision through RealSense for the Next Wave of Computing

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, robotics/AI, virtual reality

Combined with Intel’s Existing Assets, Movidius Technology – for New Devices Like Drones, Robots, Virtual Reality Headsets and More – Positions Intel to Lead in Providing Computer Vision and Deep Learning Solutions from the Device to the Cloud.

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Sep 6, 2016

New CERN LHC Experiments –“Predict a Boson Beyond the Higgs That Could Unlock Clues to Existence of Dark Matter”

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

Two separate experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, on the French-Swiss border, appear to confirm the existence of a subatomic particle, the Madala boson, that for the first time could shed light on one of the great mysteries of the universe — dark matter.

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Sep 6, 2016

Stable nuclear expression of ATP8 and ATP6 genes rescues a mtDNA Complex V null mutant

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, engineering, genetics, life extension

The SENS Research Foundation has finally published this anticipated and important paper on mitochondrial gene transfer which has ramifications for mitochondrial diseases and more importantly one of the processes of aging. It is great to see that finally after a decade of criticism Aubrey de Grey has proven his approach is viable.


We explore the possibility of re-engineering mitochondrial genes and expressing them from the nucleus as an approach to rescue defects arising from mitochondrial DNA mutations. We have used a patient cybrid cell line with a single point mutation in the overlap region of the ATP8 and ATP6 genes of the human mitochondrial genome. These cells are null for the ATP8 protein, have significantly lowered ATP6 protein levels and no Complex V function. Nuclear expression of only the ATP8 gene with the ATP5G1 mitochondrial targeting sequence appended restored viability on Krebs cycle substrates and ATP synthesis capabilities but, failed to restore ATP hydrolysis and was insensitive to various inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation. Co-expressing both ATP8 and ATP6 genes under similar conditions resulted in stable protein expression leading to successful integration into Complex V of the oxidative phosphorylation machinery. Tests for ATP hydrolysis / synthesis, oxygen consumption, glycolytic metabolism and viability all indicate a significant functional rescue of the mutant phenotype (including re-assembly of Complex V) following stable co-expression of ATP8 and ATP6. Thus, we report the stable allotopic expression, import and function of two mitochondria encoded genes, ATP8 and ATP6, resulting in simultaneous rescue of the loss of both mitochondrial proteins.

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Sep 6, 2016

Quantum Computers Are Coming, and the World Might Not Be Ready

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, finance, quantum physics

Computadores qu nticos estão chegando. O mundo pode não estar pronto.
A mec nica qu ntica, Carl Sagan observou certa vez, é tão estranho que o “senso comum é quase inútil em se aproximar dela.” Os cientistas ainda não entendem exatamente por que a matéria se comporta como faz no nível qu ntico. No entanto, eles estão ficando melhor a exploração dos seus din mica peculiar — de maneiras que podem em breve revolucionando o negócio tecnoloco.

Não é surpresa, então, o investimento no campo está crescendo. IBM, Microsoft e Google são todos construção de laboratórios de pesquisa qu ntica. Startups estão se preparando. Os bancos estão muito interessados na verdade. Governos ver aplicações para a exploração espacial, a investigação médica e de coleta de inteligência. Agência de Segurança Nacional dos Estados Unidos, na verdade, foi discretamente tentando construir um computador qu ntico, durante anos, na esperança de que ele iria fazer um código-breaker imparável.

Via Bloomberg.

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Sep 6, 2016

Entering the Final Days of the SENS Universal Cancer Treatment Fundraiser

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics, life extension

For cancer research, meanwhile, the situation is more akin to an economic revolution, or disruptive advance in technology. Because all cancers must lengthen their telomeres, and because telomere lengthening is governed by a small number of processes, there is the opportunity to change the focus of cancer research from an endless procession of expensive new therapies, each targeting a tiny number of the hundreds of subtypes of cancer, to one single therapy that can effectively suppress all cancers.


The last few days have arrived for this year’s SENS Research Foundation crowdfunding campaign, focused on important groundwork to establish a universal therapy for all types of cancer. There are still a few thousand dollars left in the matching fund, so donations are still being matched. Cancer is just as much a part of aging that must be ended, brought completely under control, as all of the other line items in the SENS rejuvenation research portfolio, and this year is the first time that the SENS Research Foundation has run a fundraiser for this program.

Hopefully there is no need to remind the audience here that the SENS Research Foundation, and important ally the Methuselah Foundation, have in recent years achieved great progress in the field of rejuvenation research on the basis of our donations and our support. Some of the high points you’ll find mentioned here and there at Fight Aging!: support and ongoing expansion of the mitochondrial repair technologies now under development at Gensight; seed funding Oisin Biotechnologies for senescent cell clearance; unblocking efforts to clear glucosepane cross-links that stiffen tissues; running the lauded Rejuvenation Biotechnology conferences; and many more. If only all charities produced as great an impact with as few resources — and if only we were further along in the bootstrapping of an industry focused on the development of rejuvenation therapies.

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Sep 6, 2016

Robo-tractor: Slick self-driving concept tractor wants to revolutionize farming (VIDEO)

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

Autonomous Solutions Incorporated has revealed Case IH – the concept robo-tractor at The Farm Progress Show – showing off its nifty extras including cameras, radar and sensors that allow the farmer to control the tractor remotely using a tablet.

via GIPHY

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Sep 6, 2016

Google may have just created artificial intelligence for real because the future is here

Posted by in categories: computing, robotics/AI

If you think you’re computer doesn’t know you better than anybody in your life, then you’re very, very wrong.

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Sep 5, 2016

AI Lawyer “Ross” Has Been Hired By Its First Official Law Firm

Posted by in categories: computing, law, robotics/AI

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y_cqBP08yuA

Ross, the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney, has its first official law firm. Baker & Hostetler announced that they will be employing Ross for its bankruptcy practice, currently comprised of almost 50 lawyers.

Law firm Baker & Hostetler has announced that they are employing IBM’s AI Ross to handle their bankruptcy practice, which at the moment consists of nearly 50 lawyers. According to CEO and co-founder Andrew Arruda, other firms have also signed licenses with Ross, and they will also be making announcements shortly.

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Sep 5, 2016

Star Possibly Housing a ‘Dyson Sphere’ Discovered

Posted by in categories: alien life, habitats

European and American scientists discover a star that may possibly be orbited by alien megastructures.

Senior Astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)  Institute says that receiving messages from alien civilizations would have profound consequences for human civilization on earth.

© Flickr/ encouragement.

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