Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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From the beginning of time, humankind has searched for the secret to a long life. Now science may have found an answer, in the form of molecular augury. The pattern of chemical chains that attach to the DNA in your cells—on-off switches known as epigenetic markers—can reveal how swiftly you are aging, and perhaps even how much longer you will live. While genetic testing might tell you where you came from, epigenetics promises a glimpse into the future. Now, a handful of companies are offering commercial blood or saliva tests based on the science of epigenetics—a chance to find out how old you truly are.

Companies claim they can now easily calculate your biological age. Should you take them up on it?

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With everything from cars, to trucks, to even airplanes going electric, the demand for batteries is going to continue to skyrocket in the coming years—but the availability of the materials currently used to make them is limited. So scientists at IBM Research have developed a new battery whose unique ingredients can be extracted from seawater instead of mining.

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To that end, Fields decided to ask a Florida judge to grant him a warrant that would override the new policy, allowing him to search GEDmatch’s entire database, including users who hadn’t opted in — and Judge Patricia Strowbridge did just that, the detective announced at a recent police convention, according to the NYT.

Legal experts told the NYT that this appears to be the first time a judge has approved a DNA website warrant this broad, with New York University law professor Erin Murphy calling it “a huge game-changer.”

“The company made a decision to keep law enforcement out, and that’s been overridden by a court,” Murphy told the newspaper. “It’s a signal that no genetic information can be safe.”

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Objective Failing to properly repair damaged DNA drives the ageing process. Furthermore, age-related inflammation contributes to the manifestation of ageing. Recently, we demonstrated that the efficiency of repair of diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced double-strand breaks (DSBs) rapidly declines with age. We therefore hypothesised that with age, the decline in DNA damage repair stems from age-related inflammation.

Design We used DEN-induced DNA damage in mouse livers and compared the efficiency of their resolution in different ages and following various permutations aimed at manipulating the liver age-related inflammation.

Results We found that age-related deregulation of innate immunity was linked to altered gut microbiota. Consequently, antibiotic treatment, MyD88 ablation or germ-free mice had reduced cytokine expression and improved DSBs rejoining in 6-month-old mice. In contrast, feeding young mice with a high-fat diet enhanced inflammation and facilitated the decline in DSBs repair. This latter effect was reversed by antibiotic treatment. Kupffer cell replenishment or their inactivation with gadolinium chloride reduced proinflammatory cytokine expression and reversed the decline in DSBs repair. The addition of proinflammatory cytokines ablated DSBs rejoining mediated by macrophage-derived heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor.

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Rejuvenation Roundup November 2019

Quite a number of readily understandable reviews were published this month, along with an X10 episode on epigenetic alterations; if you’re new to the biology of aging or want to introduce someone else to the topic with new material, this is a great time to start.

LEAF News

We will be returning to New York in 2020 for our third conference focused on aging research, investment, and biotech business. Judy Campisi, Aubrey de Grey, Hanadie Yousef, Steve Horvath, Andrei Gudkov, and Polina Mamoshina are among the speakers confirmed so far. Join the conference mailing list to stay informed as more details are announced.

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When Russian nuclear inspectors traveled to the U.S. in the early 2000s, they were not allowed to directly examine classified nuclear weapon components, Professor Alex Glaser said. Instead, the inspectors were shown a radiation detector’s green light as confirmation that components were real.

The Russians were not convinced, Glaser said, noting that one said the only thing the test proved was that the Americans had a green LED with a battery connection.

Details about remain among the world’s most highly guarded secrets. An expert dismantling a weapon, or even witnessing its destruction, can learn much about the warhead. On the other hand, without examining the weapon, it’s difficult to convince inspectors that a real weapon was destroyed. This has long been considered a problem for disarmament —how can countries convince others that a nuclear weapon is gone without revealing details about its arsenal?

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