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Mar 7, 2020

Age Reversal Update

Posted by in category: biological

An unprecedented human study aims to induce statistically significant and meaningful biological age reversal using multi-model interventions that include metformin, dasatinib, rapamycin, and NAD+ restoration therapy.

By William Faloon.

Mar 7, 2020

Scientists discover strong evidence of life on Mars

Posted by in categories: alien life, evolution

We’ve been expecting aliens from Mars for decades now, but what if life was vanquished on the red planet before evolution ever got the chance to take hold?

A pair of researchers recently published an analysis of 3.5 billion-years-old soil samples from Mars containing chemical compounds called “thiophenes” that could, potentially, be organic. If they are, it would be highly likely that bacteria once lived on the planet.

Terrestrial thiophenes are considered tell-tale signs of life by Earthbound biologists. The presence of these possibly-organic compounds in Martian soil represents the strongest evidence yet that life may have once existed anywhere other than Earth.

Mar 7, 2020

New CDC guidance says older adults should ‘stay at home as much as possible’ due to coronavirus

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Amid a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouraging older people and people with severe chronic medical conditions to “stay at home as much as possible.”

This advice is on a CDC website that was posted Thursday, according to a CDC spokeswoman.

Early data suggests older people are twice as likely to have serious illness from the novel coronavirus, according to the CDC.

Mar 7, 2020

Scientists Finally Observe Long-Predicted Form of Magnetism

Posted by in categories: materials, quantum physics

Scientists believe they’ve made a concrete example of an unusual, theoretical form of ferromagnetism first described by a researcher more than 50 years ago.

Nagaoka ferromagnetism, named for the scientist who discovered it, Yosuke Nagaoka, is a special case of the same magnetic forces that make regular, refrigerator-type magnets work—ferro meaning iron, plus a few other metals that are naturally receptive to magnetism. Identifying it in real life—in this case using a quantum system of electrons—can help scientists understand how spontaneous ferromagnetism works.

Mar 7, 2020

Brain Scientist Witnesses Her Own Stroke, Shares Tips On Life And Career

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor describes a ringside seat to her own stroke and how you can use her experience to sustain hard knocks in the workplace and in life.

Mar 7, 2020

Robot learns to set the dinner table

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

To date, teaching a robot to perform a task has usually involved either direct coding, trial-and-error tests or handholding the machine. Soon, though, you might just have to perform that task like you would any other day. MIT scientists have developed a system, Planning with Uncertain Specifications (PUnS), that helps bots learn complicated tasks when they’d otherwise stumble, such as setting the dinner table. Instead of the usual method where the robot receives rewards for performing the right actions, PUnS has the bot hold “beliefs” over a variety of specifications and use a language (linear temporal logic) that lets it reason about what it has to do right now and in the future.

Mar 7, 2020

Low-carb diet may reverse age-related brain deterioration, study finds

Posted by in categories: life extension, neuroscience

Researchers say brain pathways begin to erode in late 40s, but can be repaired through dietary changes.

Mar 7, 2020

Fujifilm stock rises as Japan considers Avigan for COVID-19 treatment

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Avigan was developed as a flu medicine and also has been used for Ebola virus disease (EVD) treatment. EVD, which causes fatal hemorrhagic fever, resulted in more than 11,300 deaths in the West Africa region between 2014 and 2016. There is currently another outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has seen more than 2,000 fatalities to date.


HONG KONG – Fujifilm Holdings Corp. stock (TYO:4901) jumped 8.8% to ¥5,890 (US$53.48) on Feb. 25, as Japan considers using Avigan (favipiravir), an anti-influenza medication developed by the company’s Toyama Chemical Co. Ltd., to treat COVID-19. The share price ended the day at ¥5,567, for a gain of 2.83%.

The medication attracted market attention when Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato said on Feb. 22 that the country is planning to test Avigan against COVID-19. “We hear from foreign countries that some drugs among those that have been used against influenza may be useful,” Kato said.

Continue reading “Fujifilm stock rises as Japan considers Avigan for COVID-19 treatment” »

Mar 7, 2020

Measuring iron in the brain can point to dementia

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

According to the first author of the study George Thomas, “It’s really promising to see measures like this, which can potentially track the varying progression of Parkinson’s disease, as it could help clinicians devise better treatment plans for people based on how their condition manifests.”

The co-author of the study, Dr. Julio Acosta-Cabronero from Tenoke Ltd. and the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL, also comments on the findings:

Mar 7, 2020

Late-night launch of SpaceX cargo ship marks end of an era

Posted by in category: space travel

Taking aim on the International Space Station, nine kerosene-burning rocket engines powered a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher into a clear sky over Florida’s Space Coast on Friday night to begin the final flight of the first version of the company’s Dragon cargo ship.

Minutes later, the Falcon 9’s first stage booster returned to a site a few miles from its starting point and landed at Cape Canaveral, marking the 50th time SpaceX has recovered a Falcon booster intact since the California rocket maker’s first successful recovery in 2015.

Liftoff of the 213-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket — using a first stage booster that previously launched and landed in December — occurred at 11:50:31 p.m. EST Friday (0450:31 GMT Saturday) from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.