Lifeboat Foundation

Last week we reported that The Cat Health Company had closed its pre-seed round and is now moving towards identifying and developing new therapeutics for age-related diseases in cats. As the pet longevity field continues to gather momentum, The Cat Health Company aims to join companies like Loyal and Arterra at the forefront of this movement. Founded by Alex Bacita and Alex Voda, the Bucharest-based company is not only focused on improving the lifespan of our feline friends but also on enhancing their overall quality of life by targeting the underlying mechanisms of aging.

Longevity. Technology: Pet longevity is becoming a growing area of interest for both researchers and consumers; as owners increasingly seek solutions to extend the healthspan of their pets, demand for scientifically backed innovations has grown, and it is a trend that mirrors the rising popularity of similar human-focused longevity research, signaling a shift in how we approach aging across species.

We sat down with Alex Voda, cofounder of The Cat Health Company, to discuss the future of feline longevity and how TCHC plans to turn cutting-edge research into practical treatments for the cats we cherish.

UPTON, N.Y. — Efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from transportation fuels are increasing demand for oil produced by nonfood crops. These plants use sunlight to power the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide into oil, which accumulates in seeds. Crop breeders interested in selecting plants that produce a lot of oil look for yellow seeds. In oilseed crops like canola, yellow-seeded varieties generally produce more oil than their brown-seeded counterparts. The reason: The protein responsible for brown seed color — which yellow-seeded plants lack — also plays a key role in oil production.

Now, plant biochemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory — who are interested in increasing plant oil synthesis for the sustainable production of biofuels and other bioproducts — have harnessed this knowledge to create a new high-yielding oilseed crop variety. In a paper just published in The Plant Biotechnology Journal, they describe how they used tools of modern genetics to produce a yellow-seeded variety of Camelina sativa, a close relative of canola, that accumulates 21.4% more oil than ordinary camelina.

“If breeders can get a few percent increase in oil production, they regard it as significant, because even small increases in yield can lead to large increases in oil production when you’re planting millions of acres,” said Brookhaven Lab biochemist John Shanklin, chair of the Lab’s Biology Department and leader of its plant oil research program. “Our nearly 22% increase was unexpected and could potentially result in a dramatic increase in production,” he said.

What methods can be developed to help identify symptoms of myopia and its more serious version, myopic maculopathy? This is what a recent study published in JAMA Ophthalmology hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can be used to identify early signs of myopic maculopathy, as left untreated it can lead to irreversible damage to a person’s eyes. This study holds the potential to help researchers develop more effective options for identifying this worldwide disease, as it is estimated that approximately 50 percent of the global population will suffer from myopia by 2050.

“AI is ushering in a revolution that leverages global knowledge to improves diagnosis accuracy, especially in its earliest stage of the disease,” said Dr. Yalin Wang, who is a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University and a co-author on the study. “These advancements will reduce medical costs and improve the quality of life for entire societies.”

For the study, the researchers used a novel AI algorithm known as NN-MobileNet to scan retinal images and classify the severity of myopic maculopathy, which currently has five levels of severity in the medical field. The team then used deep neural networks to determine what’s known as the spherical equivalent, which is how eye doctors prescribe glasses and contacts to their patients. Combining these two methods enabled researchers to create a new AI algorithm capable of identifying early signs of myopic maculopathy.

https://rdcu.be/dVhCN

Imagine trying to understand the brain’s activity over time—an incredibly complex and dynamic process that happens at different speeds.

To solve this problem, we developed a pipeline called UnitMatch, which operates after spike sorting. Before applying UnitMatch, the user spike sorts each recording independently using their preferred algorithm. UnitMatch then deploys a naive Bayes classifier on the units’ average waveform in each recording and tracks units across recordings, assigning a probability to each match.

Continue reading “Tracking neurons across days with high-density probes” »

Researchers have developed a new architecture for optical computing called diffraction casting, offering power-efficient processing by using light waves.

This method promises better integration and flexibility for high-performance computing tasks and could be used in fields like AI and machine learning.

Optical Computing

Did you know certain seed-heavy fruits like raspberries are actually healthier if you blend them in a smoothie?

I learned this and more while researching for my article on the best longevity recipes:

We took the top anti-aging foods and combined them into a list of the best longevity recipes to help you live a longer, tastier life.

With this success, Synchon is looking to take its experiments to the next level by adding more participants in a larger study. CEO Tom Oxley claims that their future study would focus more on ‘gathering brain data to improve the BCI.

Are Brain-Computer Interfaces the Future of Technology?

Different companies have already begun their developments and clinical trials of their brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) which need to be implanted on human test subjects, centering mostly on paraplegic patients. One of the most famous companies behind this is Elon Musk’s Neuralink, and their first patient, Noland Arbaugh, testified how the implant can help in controlling technology, and in his case, gaming.

“The new funding will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems,” https://openai.com/index/scale-the-benefits-of-ai/” rel=“noopener”>OpenAI said in its announcement of the deal on Wednesday.

The funding comes as the nine-year-old AI startup led by CEO Sam Altman faces increasing competition from the likes of https://fortune.com/company/alphabet/”>Google, Meta, and other AI startups, and at a time when OpenAI is dealing with its own growing pains—most famously, a boardroom coup last year in which Altman was briefly fired and then reinstated in a span of five days.

Since then, the company has been roiled by a https://fortune.com/2024/09/26/mira-murati-exit-openai-altma…ors-coup/”>string of high-level departures as it seeks to https://fortune.com/2024/09/13/sam-altman-openai-non-profit-…ext-year/”>evolve from its roots as a nonprofit research lab to a producer of commercial products capitalizing on the industrywide AI gold rush. Last month, OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati unexpectedly resigned to “create the time and space to do my own exploration.” And as Fortune reported this week, some insiders have voiced concerns that the https://fortune.com/2024/10/01/openai-sam-altman-mira-murati…ent-year/”>company’s commitment to safety has taken a back seat in the rush to release new products ahead of rivals.

A pair of Harvard students successfully rigged Meta-formerly-Facebook and Ray Ban’s smart glasses with facial recognition software.