Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is impressive, but based on launch photos it can be hard to get a sense of the true scale of the craft. On Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk shared an image that shows himself alongside three figures, standing next to a freshly-landed Falcon 9. The image gives a clear indication of how the craft appears in real life.

Musk shared the image below with the caption “At Falcon LZ-1 Vandenberg on Sunday night with the Base Commander. Support of [United States Air Force] much appreciated.” The image was taken just after Sunday’s launch, which saw the SAOCOM 1A satellite sent up from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, before the first stage booster landed on the firm’s brand new west coast landing pad. The whole craft measures 229.6 feet tall, with a 12-foot diameter. The composite fairing, which houses the satellite entering orbit, measures 43 feet with a 17-foot diameter.

See more: Elon Musk Shares Incredible Photos From SpaceX’s Landmark Falcon 9 Launch.

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Can the origin of life be explained with quantum mechanics? And if so, are there quantum algorithms that could encode life itself?

We’re a little closer to finding out the answers to those big questions thanks to new research carried out with an IBM supercomputer.

Encoding behaviours related to self-replication, mutation, interaction between individuals, and (inevitably) death, a newly created quantum algorithm has been used to show that quantum computers can indeed mimic some of the patterns of biology in the real world.

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Today, we have a talk by Dr. Alvaro Macieira-Coelho, who discusses how aging is a consequence of thermodynamics and entropy. Quite simply, aging is the default for most species.

Earlier this year, we hosted the Ending Age-Related Diseases 2018 conference at the Cooper Union, New York City. The event was focused on bringing the worlds of research and investment in the rejuvenation biotechnology field together and saw a number of talks and panels focused on research and investment.

Dr. Alvaro Macieira-Coelho is a research director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research – INSERM. His talk was about how aging is the default behavior and that life is a balance between entropy and the availability of free energy. Essentially, due to the second law, all species progress through changes, and they age as their ability to resist entropy declines.

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Invariant natural killer T cells might lead to cheaper and more effective immunotherapy.

Researchers at the Imperial College London have discovered that specifically employing invariant natural killer T cells, rather than generic T cells, in cancer immunotherapies based on chimeric antigen receptors might lead to significantly more effective, cheaper, and more easily mass-produced treatments [1].

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor anti-CD19 (CAR19)-T cell immunotherapy-induced clinical remissions in CD19+ B cell lymphomas are often short lived. We tested whether CAR19-engineering of the CD1d-restricted invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells would result in enhanced anti-lymphoma activity. CAR19-iNKT cells co-operatively activated by CD1d- and CAR19-CD19-dependent interactions are more effective than CAR19-T cells against CD1d-expressing lymphomas in vitro and in vivo. The swifter in vivo anti-lymphoma activity of CAR19-iNKT cells and their enhanced ability to eradicate brain lymphomas underpinned an improved tumor-free and overall survival. CD1D transcriptional de-repression by all-trans retinoic acid results in further enhanced cytotoxicity of CAR19-iNKT cells against CD19+ chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells. Thus, iNKT cells are a highly efficient platform for CAR-based immunotherapy of lymphomas and possibly other CD1d-expressing cancers.

Continue reading “Invariant Natural Killer T Cells Might Be The Next Step in Cancer Therapy” | >

“Broadly speaking, a posthuman perspective would call into question the anthropocentric notion that humans are to be privileged over all other forms of life. Posthumanism generally aligns with a more ecological perspective that favors simultaneous coexistence with other species and consideration of the lives and experiences of other species. Posthumanism would thus resist the notion that humans are at the center of any given context and would instead posit that human society is composed of a web of interwoven, entangled relationships of humans, nonhuman animals, organic and inorganic matter, and so on.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/…/conservation-and-compassi… https://paper.li/e-1437691924#/

A new book called “Visualizing Posthuman Conservation in the Age of the Anthropocene” argues against human domination and favors peaceful coexistence with other species.

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A novel technique that nudges single atoms to switch places within an atomically thin material could bring scientists another step closer to realizing theoretical physicist Richard Feynman’s vision of building tiny machines from the atom up.

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Here at LEAF, we engage in a wide range of activities in support of the development of rejuvenation biotechnology in order to end age-related diseases. We report the latest news in aging research, attend conferences and give talks, educate, advocate, and fundraise for research projects on Lifespan.io; recently, we implemented the Longevity Investor Network in order to bring startup companies and investors together.

The Longevity Investor Network

The Longevity Investor Network is a group of investors who meet every month and invite young biotech companies working on aging to pitch their ideas. A successful pitch can often mean funding for a new startup company, helping to get its product developed and into clinical trials.

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