Lifeboat Foundation

Dr. Aubrey de Grey is in the news again, this time he appears on CBS talking about the recent interest in blood plasma as a possible way to combat age-related diseases. To find out more about the work he and the SENS Research Foundation are doing check out www.sens.org

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Blood has always been known as “the Gift of Life” and a growing number of Bay Area researchers are currently trying to isolate a factor in blood that may turn back the hands of time.

“We don’t know how soon we’re going to defeat aging,” proclaimed Aubrey de Grey. “We should be able to keep people truly in a youthful state of health, no matter how long they live and that means the risk of death will not rise.”

Continue reading “Could Blood Plasma Be The Fountain Of Youth?” »

This post is also available in: עברית ( Hebrew )

Boeing announced its investment in Gamma Alloys, which specializes in aluminum alloys focused on developing advanced metal-matrix composites for use in aerospace, automotive and other industries.

This investment by Boeing HorizonX Ventures, which was established earlier this year, is its first in advanced materials and machining development and applications.

One concern some people have about bringing aging under medical control is that it might create an immortal Gerontocracy controlling society.

As I discussed in another article, rejuvenation biotechnology would allow older adults to continue working and producing wealth for much longer than they can today, thus benefiting society in many ways.

However, some people are concerned that this might do more harm than good; imagine all those rejuvenated old farts holding onto their jobs forever, preventing the young from getting jobs themselves! Not to mention the risk of a gerontocratic world, where powerful older people get a touch too attached to their chairs, never allowing younger people a chance!

Changes to the microbiome in the gut may explain why related conditions are linked to different risk levels and types of gastric tumors, according to a new study.

What are the microbiota and microbiome?

The microbiota is an “ecological community of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms” found in and on all multicellular organisms. A microbiota includes various bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, and viruses. The microbiota has been found to be crucial for the immunologic, hormonal and metabolic balance (homeostasis) of its host.

The November SENS Research Newsletter is out if people want to see what Aubrey and Co. are up to.

SENS Research Foundation email newsletter from 1st November 2017.

Researchers, building on findings from work involving the Large Hadron Collider, have found a theoretical new form of energy: quark fusion.

“The Winds of Winter” is already here … sorta.

Science says it’s good to be funny.
via: World Economic Forum

“We need a name for this new belief,” mused Julian Huxley in 1957. “Perhaps transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.”

The twentieth century saw a progression of thinkers begin to grapple with technology’s power to radically transform humanity. Julian and his brother Aldous, author of Brave New World, became two of the most influential thinkers on the subject. On one side, Aldous warned against the dangers of technology by depicting technogenic oppression in his dystopian novel. On the other, Julian preached technological transcendence, coining the term that would come to represent an intellectual movement spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Still in its infancy, transhumanism is not yet entirely coherent as a theory. But there are several distinct beliefs that adherents tend to share. Most transhumanists support the use of technology to radically increase a healthy lifespan and to boost biologically-based capacities such as memory and analytical skills. But they often disagree on how exactly to accomplish these aims.