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Jan 8, 2020

Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Laws of War

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

A race in autonomy poses a particular danger because the consequences of investing machines with increased intelligence and decision-making authority are largely unknown and could prove catastrophic. In their haste to match the presumed progress of likely adversaries, states might field robotic weapons with considerable autonomy well before their abilities and limitations have been fully determined, resulting in unintended fatalities or uncontrolled escalation.”


I salute the Arms Control Association … for its keen vision of the goals ahead and for its many efforts to identify and to promote practical measures that are so vitally needed to achieve them.

– Amb. Nobuyasu Abe

Jan 8, 2020

Kurds call on US to block Turkish military drones from Syrian air space

Posted by in categories: drones, military, robotics/AI, space

Many times now, I have pointed out that the use of Killer Robots should be a war crime. It might not be a theoretical occurrence anymore.

“Syrian Kurds are asking the Pentagon to block US-controlled air space over north-eastern Syria to Turkish armed drones which they claim are causing significant civilian casualties.”


Unmanned weapons ‘targeting anything they wish to’ as Kurds say Turks have killed 509 civilians and 412 troops.

Continue reading “Kurds call on US to block Turkish military drones from Syrian air space” »

Jan 8, 2020

How To Innovate In Biomedicine With Limited Resources For Big Results

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, drones, engineering, mobile phones, robotics/AI

STEM Bootstrapping in Bio-Medicine! — On this recent ideaXme (https://radioideaxme.com/) episode, I was joined by 24 year old Malawian inventor, Sanga Marcarios Kanthema, founder and CEO of two companies, Dolphin Health Innovations and QubiX Robotics, who’s bringing health tech innovations to one of the world’s poorest countries — #Ideaxme #Malawi #Robotics #EKG #Stethoscope #Prosthetics #MobileHealth #SmartPhones #Telemedicine #MedicalDrones #Health #Wellness #Longevity #IraPastor #Bioquark #Regenerage


Ira Pastor, ideaXme exponential health ambassador and founder of Bioquark, interviews Sanga Kanthema, 24 year old electronics specialist and founder and CEO of two Malawi-based companies, Dolphin Health Innovations and QubiX Robotics.

Continue reading “How To Innovate In Biomedicine With Limited Resources For Big Results” »

Jan 8, 2020

A US $30 million fund to promote bold ideas for aging populations: Dr Victor Dzau

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

US$30 Million to Seed Hundreds of Bold, Innovative Ideas for Human Longevity! — On this ideaXme (https://radioideaxme.com/) episode, I am joined by Dr. Victor Dzau, President of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (https://nam.edu/initiatives/grand-challenge-healthy-longevity/) to talk about the potential of their Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge — eNag #ideaXme #VictorDzau #Wellness #Health #NationalAcademyOfMedicine #NAM #NAS #NIH #FDA #Duke #Cardiology #Longevity #Biotechnology #Regeneration #LifeExtension #Aging #Challenges #Prizes #Competitions #IraPastor #Bioquark #Regenerage


Ira Pastor, ideaXme exponential health ambassador and founder of Bioquark, interviews Dr. Victor Dzau, President of the United States National Academy of Medicine (NAM)and of the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Continue reading “A US $30 million fund to promote bold ideas for aging populations: Dr Victor Dzau” »

Jan 8, 2020

7-Ketocholesterol in disease and aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

7-Ketocholesterol is a harmful oxidized byproduct of cholesterol, it is highly toxic with no redeeming qualities and serves no purpose in our bodies aside from allowing heart disease to develop. Check out Underdog Pharma’s recent review at Science Direct to learn more!


Oxidative stress has long been causatively implicated in the aging process [219,220]. As described in section 2, 7KC is the most common stable product of a reaction between cholesterol and a free radical. This is a vicious cycle as 7KC also leads to increased free radical production and release, seemingly by plasma membrane permeabilization. As discussed above, mitochondrial dysfunction and free-radical formation are also strongly implicated in the aging process and so while the precise mechanistic links between mitochondria, 7KC, and aging are still being elucidated they seem likely to be intertwined.

Is 7KC a biomarker of aging? As discussed in section 4, 7KC accumulation is directly implicated in many diseases of aging, including atherosclerosis, heart failure, AMD, NAFLD, and AD. It is thus reasonable to hypothesize that when otherwise unrelated diseases of aging share a common cause, that this cause is likely to be a part of the biological aging process. 7KC is known to accumulate in phagocytic cells such as macrophages (promoting the formation of foam cells), RPE cells, and microglia. It has also been suggested that c. elegans subjected to 7KC could be a good model of 7KC-dependent aging [221]. As 7KC is broadly toxic, and most cells seem to have difficulty metabolizing it, it may be that, with age, 7KC is bioaccumulating and impairing functional activity of the cells and tissue.

Continue reading “7-Ketocholesterol in disease and aging” »

Jan 8, 2020

Intel Maps Out a Foldable, AI-Infused PC Future

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

The company’s latest chips—and the bending gadgets they power—are learning to think for themselves.

Jan 8, 2020

White House proposes guidelines for regulating the use of AI

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI, security, transportation

The Trump administration is proposing new rules to guide future federal regulation of artificial intelligence used in medicine, transportation and other industries.

But the vagueness of the principles announced by the White House is unlikely to satisfy AI watchdogs who have warned of a lack of accountability as computer systems are deployed to take on human roles in high-risk social settings, such as mortgage lending or job recruitment.

The White House said that in deciding regulatory action, U.S. agencies “must consider fairness, non-discrimination, openness, transparency, safety, and security.” But federal agencies must also avoid setting up restrictions that “needlessly hamper AI innovation and growth,” reads a memo being sent to U.S. agency chiefs from Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Jan 8, 2020

Here Are 5 Science-Backed Ways to Make Your Microbiome Healthier in 2020

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, health, science

It’s common for people to focus on their health at the start of the year.

But few consider the well being of the microbes that live inside the human gut – the microbiome – which are vital to an individual’s good health.

How important are these bacteria? There are as many bacterial cells in us as there are human cells, and they help control everything from inflammation and the development and treatment of cancer to how much energy we get from our foods and perhaps even what foods we crave and our moods.

Jan 7, 2020

How a chunk of human brain survived intact for 2600 years

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Unusual protein aggregates could have preserved the Iron Age brain.

Jan 7, 2020

NASA’s TESS Planet Hunter Finds Its 1st Earth-Size World in ‘Habitable Zone’

Posted by in categories: solar power, space

For the first time, the agency’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a roughly Earth- planet in the habitable zone of its host star, the zone of orbital distances where liquid water could be stable on a world’s surface.

NASA’s TESS Planet Hunter Finds Its 1st Earth-Size World in ‘Habitable Zone’ : Read more

Interesting, perhaps pushing the paradigm limits here. 86% of solar energy is similar to Precambrian earth during the Faint Young Sun, a snow ball earth. Part of the report that is a bit confusing to me is the comment “One of the other planets is a red dwarf about 40% as massive, 40% as wide and 50% as hot as Earth’s sun.” I think this is about the host star being a red dwarf star. Red dwarfs can be flaring stars and cause problems for *habitable* exoplanets. The Sun spins about 2 km/s at the its equator, red dwarf stars can spin faster like 4 km/s or faster, rotation periods 1 day to 10 days so red dwarfs can emit more flares. The report does comment “In 11 months of data, we saw no flares from the star, which improves the chances TOI 700 d is habitable and makes it easier to model its atmospheric and surface conditions,” discovery team leader Emily Gilbert, a graduate student at the University of Chicago, said in the same statement.