Lifeboat Foundation

NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos have announced a new partnership for human exploration of the moon and deep space. Both agencies signed a joint statement on cooperation today (Sept. 27) at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia.

The decision to partner with Russia on human missions to the moon and beyond came about as NASA continues to flesh out ideas for its “deep-space gateway” concept, a mission architecture designed to send astronauts into cislunar space — or lunar orbit — by the 2020s. Traveling to and from cislunar space will help NASA and its partners gain the knowledge and experience necessary to venture beyond the moon and into deep space.

A crewed mission to the moon and ultimately deep space would likely involve NASA’s gigantic new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion space capsule. “This plan challenges our current capabilities in human spaceflight and will benefit from engagement by multiple countries and U.S. industry,” NASA officials said in a statement. [Photos: NASA’s Space Launch System for Deep Space Flights].

Continue reading “NASA and Russia Partner Up for Crewed Deep-Space Missions” »

Lockheed Martin has revealed plans to set up a ‘Mars base camp’ orbiting the red planet — and says it hopes to launch it within ten years.

Using NASA’s Orion spacecraft as the command deck, the orbiting outpost could give astronauts the ability to operate rovers and drones on the surface in real time, helping us better understand the Red Planet and plan for manned missions.

Continue reading “Lockheed Martin reveals ‘Mars base camp’ to orbit red planet in 2028” »

(Natural News) A rigorous new study conducted at the The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and published in the science journal Human Reproduction Update finds that human sperm production has declined 59.3% from 1973 to 2011, trending toward a collapse of human population.

Via Science Daily:

…The researchers found …a 59.3 percent decline in total sperm count, among men from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand who were not selected based on their fertility status. These findings strongly suggest a significant decline in male reproductive health that has serious implications beyond fertility and reproduction, given recent evidence linking poor semen quality with higher risk of hospitalization and death.

Continue reading “HUMANITY ALERT: Sperm count plunges 59% due to mass chemical feminization of men” »

Some of my work in this new funny story on AI and politics: http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/28/6-reasons-why-robots-would-mak…s-6924685/ #transhumanism

A quarter of people in the UK believe robots would be better than human politicians.

Well, I’m here to persuade the other three-quarters that having a robot in Parliament would be better than having Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson.

Continue reading “6 Reasons Why Robots Would be Better Rulers Than Politicians” »

Drawing a roadmap to combat the spread of deserts worldwide. It’s the mission of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in the Inner Mongolian city of Erdos. The host country, China, was praised for a law it passed in 2002 — the world’s first integrated law dedicated to combating desert expansion. With this goal in mind, China has carried out several projects that have been successful, including at one desert in northern China. CGTN’s Frances Kuo reports.

Very recently, the World Health Organization, which is essentially the United Nations’ agency for coordinating international health-related efforts, has launched The Global Online Consultation on Research Priority Setting for Healthy Aging. A corresponding survey is available on the WHO website and can be filled until September 30. As WHO is the main source of policy recommendations for the UN member states, its position can significantly influence the allocation of state funding to different areas of scientific research.

This is why we at LEAF urge you to step in and fill out the WHO survey; our community needs to demand more focused efforts to understand the basic mechanisms of aging, to develop innovative therapies to address these mechanisms, and to remove the barriers delaying the implementation of rejuvenation technologies into clinical practice.

Summary: Without DNA repair, the damage in our genome builds up, which in turn causes disease and aging. Repairing DNA damage is one of the holy grails of anti-aging medicine. As a review earlier this month shows, scientists have made headway in understanding our DNA repair mechanisms. While researchers haven’t found a way to repair DNA damage, they have found potential ways to mitigate some of its effects.

For those us wanting to live in good health to the age of 120, the damaged DNA in our bodies is keeping us from reaching our goal.

Research has shown that our DNA repair mechanisms decline as we get older. Unless we are lucky to be among the tiny percentage of centenarians who are blessed with superb DNA repair mechanisms, the odds are that unrepaired DNA damage will strike us down with chronic diseases before we reach our goal.

Continue reading “How Our Damaged DNA Kills Us” »

The jagged geological ridges, found at the highest elevations located close to Pluto’s equator, soar hundreds of feet into the sky and are as high as some of the tallest skyscrapers on Earth.

According to an article in the latest issue of planetary science journal, Icarus, the colossal “ice-scrapers” observed on Pluto’s surface are vestiges from the last Ice Age that occurred on the dwarf planet millions of years ago.

Scientists believe that the “ice blades” are the result of solid methane evaporation that formed the towers of ice on the mountain peaks along Chile’s Chajnantor plain.

Continue reading “Pluto’s Gargantuan Glacial ‘Skyscrapers’ Reveal Their Secrets” »

Only two years ago, when I launched my advocacy website Rejuvenaction, I didn’t think I would read a book like Juvenescence so soon; yet, the topic of rejuvenation biotechnologies has already become mainstream enough to lead investors of the calibre of Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi to devote a whole book to it.

As Juvenescence is a book aimed at potential new investors in rejuvenation biotechnologies, I expected it to be an extremely technical and detailed account of things I don’t understand, such as finance, markets, and funds. To my delight, this was not the case. Rather, the details Juvenescence dives into are primarily those of the emerging field of rejuvenation science (alas, still something whose details I don’t fully understand).

The book explains the paradigm shift that is currently taking place and changing the way science sees aging—no longer as an inevitable fact of life but rather as a disease to be eradicated like any other—and goes through a biology 101 crash course for the benefit of readers who might be not too well versed in the science of life.