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A group of Spanish researchers, including Dr. Maria Blasco and others at the CNIO, have published a new study that examines the consequences of short telomeres and telomerase deficiency on the brain [1].
This study addresses an aspect of telomere attrition, one of the primary hallmarks of aging. Telomeres are repeating sequences of DNA (TTAGGG) that can can reach a length of 15,000 base pairs and appear at the ends of chromosomes, acting as protective caps. They prevent damage, stop chromosomes from fusing with each other, and prevent chromosomes from losing base pair sequences at their end during cell replication.
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The past year or so has seen an energetic debate over whether or not new neurons are generated in the adult human brain, a process known as neurogenesis. This process is well known and well studied in mice, and thought to be very important in the resilience and maintenance of brain tissue. The human data has always been limited, however, due to the challenges inherent in working with brain tissue in living people, and it was assumed was that the mouse data was representative of the state of neurogenesis in other mammals. In this environment, the publication of a careful study that seemed to rule out the existence of neurogenesis in adult humans produced some upheaval, and spurred many other teams to assess the human brain with greater rigor than was previously the case.
So far, all of the following studies published so far do in fact show evidence of adult neurogenesis in humans. This is the better of the two outcomes, as the regenerative medicine community has based a great deal of work on the prospect of being able to upregulate neurogenesis in order to better repair injuries to the central nervous system, or partially reverse the decline of cognitive function in the aging brain. The study here is particularly reassuring, as it shows that even in very late life there are signs that new neurons are being generated in the brain.
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A new therapy that appears to stop Parkinson’s disease “in its tracks” will begin phase-one clinical trials in humans next year.
The therapy, developed by researchers at the University of Queensland – and partly under-written by the Michael J Fox Foundation – is a world first because it stops the death of brain cells in Parkinson’s sufferers rather than managing symptoms.
If human trials echo the stunning results in animal testing, the inflammation of the brain that causes so much of the progressive damage in Parkinson’s disease (PD) could be halted by taking a single pill each day.
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Luminous Computing, a one-year-old startup, is aiming to build a photonics chip that will handle workloads needed for AI at the speed of light. It’s a moonshot and yet, the young company already has a number of high-profile investors willing to bet on the prospect.
The company has raised $9 million in a seed round led by Bill Gates, NEO’s Ali Partovi and Luke Nosek and Steve Oskoui of Gigafund.
The round also attracted other new investors, including Travis Kalanick’s fund 10100, BoxGroup, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and Emil Michael as well as pre-seed investors Class 5 Global, Joshua Browder, Ozmen Ventures, Schox Investments and Third Kind Venture Capital.
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WOW!
This is the story of SpaceIL — the most amazing private Israeli space project — and the three founders behind it: Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari, and Yonatan Winetraub.
The landing might have not worked, but the spacecraft is ON THE MOON!
NASA: Moon to Mars
Posted in space travel
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is one of the most iconic features of any planet in our Solar System. The colossal, swirling storm has dominated Jupiter for years, and it’s one of the things we always expect to see when new images of Jupiter are published. Unfortunately, the spot is dying a slow and agonizing death, and it’s possible that it could be entirely gone within our lifetimes.
The storm is running out of steam, and while astronomers are always striving to learn more about the mechanics of how Jupiter’s massive storms form and sustain themselves, it’s clear that the Great Red Spot’s days are numbered. Now, observations by veteran Jupiter observer Anthony Wesley seem to reveal the storm lashing out as it rotates in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
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A space suit conceptualized and invented by Filipino students bagged the gold award at an international robotics contest in Turkey last week. Current latest trending Philippine headlines on science, technology breakthroughs, hardware devices, geeks, gaming, web/desktop applications, mobile apps, social media buzz and gadget reviews.
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Editors’ note: This is the first installment in a new series, “Op-Eds From the Future,” in which science fiction authors, futurists, philosophers and scientists write op-eds that they imagine we might read 10, 20 or even 100 years in the future. The challenges they predict are imaginary — for now — but their arguments illuminate the urgent questions of today and prepare us for tomorrow. The opinion piece below is a work of fiction.
DNA tweaks won’t fix our problems.
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