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Mar 8, 2018

Suicide Gene Therapy Works to Kill Cancer Cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

Some cancer cells express some of the same genes that senescent cells do, so it makes sense that drugs that destroy senescent cells may also destroy cancer cells. This was what the researchers in this new study set out to test.

However, in this experiment, the researchers discovered that the chosen senolytic drugs were not effective at destroying cancer cells with senescence-associated gene expression. While cancer cells and senescent cells do share some common properties, they are also quite different at an epigenetic level.

The researchers did, however, demonstrate that a so-called “suicide gene therapy” that causes both senescent cells and cancer cells to kill themselves worked by targeting senescence-associated p16Ink4a. This approach is similar to that of SENS spin-off company Oisin Biotechnologies, which is using a suicide gene therapy to eliminate senescent cells.

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Mar 8, 2018

Where Blade Runner began: 50 years of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Ananyo Bhattacharya toasts Philip K. Dick’s prescient science-fiction classic.

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Mar 8, 2018

Can humans live to be 1,000 years old?

Posted by in categories: futurism, life extension

And what the media and scientists think of it.


Aubrey de Grey, Ph.D., Vice President of New Technology Discovery at AgeX Therapeutics, discusses the “Methuselarity” — the point at which technology enables humans to live to more than 1,000 years of age. Dr. de Grey believes this could happen within the coming decades and posits that some people born today may live to be 1,000 years of age. He further states that people who are 30 years old today have a 50/50 chance to live to be 1,000 years old. Dr. de Grey bases his assumptions on the research into aging that companies like Agex Therapeutics are pursuing. This video is the third in a series from AgeX about the future of aging and its impact on humanity. For more information on the company, please visit www.agexinc.com.

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Mar 7, 2018

Bioquark Inc. — Conferences on Death / Death Reversal — Ira Pastor

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, biotech/medical, cryonics, disruptive technology, DNA, futurism, genetics, health, life extension

Two pivotal conferences on the topic of “death” coming up!!

First at the INSERM Liliane Bettencourt School on March 16–18 will be “Death: From Cells to Societies — Aging, Dying, and Beyond” -

Then, April 11–13 at Harvard Medical School, will be “Defining Death: Organ transplantation and the 50-year legacy of the Harvard report on brain death”

Continue reading “Bioquark Inc. — Conferences on Death / Death Reversal — Ira Pastor” »

Mar 7, 2018

Should We Seed Life through the Cosmos using Laser-Driven Ships

Posted by in categories: innovation, space

Our galaxy may contain billions of habitable worlds that don’t host any life. Should we attempt to change that?Claudius Gros at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, thinks we should. He believes in directed panspermia: deliberately seeding life throughout the cosmos. And to do that, he proposes we use a laser propulsion system that may not be technically out of reach.

Breakthrough Starshot is a project with ambitious aims to use such systems to send tiny, lightweight probes to Alpha Centauri. The goal is to take pictures of our nearest star, but these systems could also deliver much larger payloads into orbit around nearby stars, says Gros.

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Mar 7, 2018

San Franciscans keep attacking driverless cars

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Kind of funny, but probably a sign of what will come in the mid 2020’s.


Technology and automotive companies touting self-driving cars as the future of transportation may have some work to convince San Franciscans, who keep attacking the vehicles.

A third of traffic collisions involving autonomous vehicles in 2018 so far featured humans physically confronting the cars, according to data released by California.

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Mar 7, 2018

Weapons of the future: Here’s the new war tech Lockheed Martin is pitching to the Pentagon

Posted by in categories: engineering, military, robotics/AI

Yet several defense contractors are developing these engineering concepts for the U.S. military, hoping to get a piece of what is surely going to be a lucrative and lengthy contract.

Speaking to reporters at Lockheed Martin’s media day on Monday, CEO Marillyn Hewson touted investments in hypersonics, laser weapons, electronic warfare and artificial intelligence.

“Lockheed Martin has taken a leadership role in these four technology areas, and many others, to build an enterprise that can successfully support our customers’ rapidly evolving technology needs well into the future,” Hewson said.

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Mar 6, 2018

Bill Gates Says We Shouldn’t Panic About Artificial Intelligence

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI

In a recent interview, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates told The Wall Street Journal he disagrees with Elon Musk’s assertions that artificial intelligence is a significant threat to humanity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of today’s hottest topics. In fact, it’s so hot that many of the tech industry’s heavyweights — Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. — have been investing huge sums of money to improve their machine-learning technologies.

Continue reading “Bill Gates Says We Shouldn’t Panic About Artificial Intelligence” »

Mar 6, 2018

Bioquark Inc. — Creative Futurism — Ira Pastor

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, biotech/medical, cosmology, cryonics, DNA, futurism, health, military, science

http://www.creativefuturism.com/bioengineering-superhumans-fact-not-fiction/

Mar 6, 2018

Terrawatch: Montserrat’s volcano remains a risk

Posted by in category: futurism

Instruments show that Montserrat’s volcano is still inflating underground, despite no sign of it on the surface.

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