StemCell Therapy

Theres no way to spend half an hour talking with Jenny Tung and not come away with the unmistakable sense that youve encountered one of the smartest people youll ever meet. Shell speak quickly, words forming in a rapid-fire progression, explaining what are, to her, rudimentary concepts, but, to youif youre a journalist whose academic background is in social scienceare strange and foreign ideas.

Yet you grasp the gravity of what shes saying. Its not so much the granular details that matter. What matters is the fact that the work Tung and her colleagues are doing could fundamentally change how we understand societies and health and longevity.

In September, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Tung, a thirty-seven-year-old evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University, one of twenty-six 2019 fellows, an honor that comes with an unrestricted $625,000 Genius grant. (Tung was one of two North Carolinians to become a fellow this year; the other is an artist in Yancey County.)

The foundation said it awarded Tung the fellowship because her research has important implications for human health. While associations between socially induced stress and negative health outcomes have long been observed in humans, her findings suggest there is a causal link between social and environmental adversity and poor health.

To explain: We know that, on average, wealthier people live longer than poor people. There are a lot of potential causes: They have better health care. They smoke less. Theyre more likely to exercise and have access to more nutritious foods. Theyre less likely to live in environmentally hazardous neighborhoods.

Tungs work flips our notions of causality on their heads. Sure, those factors matter. But, in studies of baboons living in the wild in Kenya and rhesus monkeys in captivity, she and her team have shown that povertydiminished access to resourcesand lower social status actually affect us on the genomic and cellular level.

In essence, the research indicates that those on lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder tend to have poorer immune systems, rendering them more susceptible to adverse health conditions and early death. And research with captive monkeys suggests that the health effects can be reversed by assigning the lower-ranking monkeys to a higher status.

Thats part of the reason why the MacArthur Foundation sees so much promise in her work.

Tung started out as an undergraduate at Duke in 1999. She planned to be a doctor, but those plans were derailed early on, when she took a course on evolution and social behavior. She was drawn to genetics and their role in quality-of-life determinants.

These things were often studied from the perspective of social sciences, she thought. Why not study them through the lens of life sciences?

If there are direct relationships between social conditions and how our organs and tissues and cells function, then thats a biological function, Tung says. Thats the framework. The how and the why.

Unlike social sciences, life sciences allowed for experimentation and the manipulation of social environments (albeit not with humans). Here, baboons proved especially useful. They are social animals that dont live nearly as long as humansabout eighteen years, on average. But thats long enough to track changes in lifespan. And the baboon group in Kenya has been monitored by scientists for decades, which made it ideal for this kind of generational research.

What shes discovered is that baboons born into early-life adversityduring droughts, or whose mothers died, or who were socially isolatedtend to live ten years less than their peers. In most cases, the cause of death isnt clear, nor is it clear whether the baboons died for the same reason.

But what is clear, Tung says, is that social adversity is toxic to all kinds of systems.

The rhesus monkeys might provide a hint as to whats going on. In lower-status and socially isolated monkeys, genes that are involved in the defense against viruses crank up, leading to molecular inflammation and eventually obliterating cellsa defense mechanism gone wild, as Tung puts it.

The work were contributing to helps clarify a lot about how social interactions could be causal to the outcomes we care about, she says.

There are many questions still to be answered, and the practical implications of Tungs work still need to be developed.

A utopian future in which there are no social stressors seems unlikely, Tung says, but improving childrens social environments could have a significant effect on their long-term health. Shes also looking at the UKs recent decision to add a Minister of Loneliness, aimed at giving isolated elderly people someone to talk to.

And she hopes her research might eventually help explain why some people seem more vulnerable to adverse conditions than others.

As for what she plans to do with the Genius money?

My immediate plan is to try to finish this semester without drowning, she told the INDY earlier this month. [The grant] comes with this onus to do something. I need to think about it.

Contact editor in chief Jeffrey C. Billman at jbillman@indyweek.com.

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19 People of 2019: Jenny Tung - INDY Week

Many of us know that long-term stress can affect our health, but did you know that it can also impact aging and longevity?

Welcome to the world of telomeres.

According to an article by The American Institute of Stress, Telomeres are little caps at the end of chromosomes that prevent loss or injury to genetic information during cell division. Each time a cell divides, part of the telomere is lost and it becomes shorter. When a telomere eventually disappears because of repeated cell divisions, chromosomal damage prevents the cell from accurately reproducing itself. This shortening and eventual erosion of telomeres are prevented or reduced by telomerase, an enzyme in cells that preserves their length. Many believe that telomere destruction and reconstruction is related to the balance between aging and cancer and explains why cancer is more common in the elderly.

In addition to cancer, shorter telomeres have also recently been associated with a whole host of other diseases, including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and diabetes.

I first learned about telomeres in 2016, when I worked for a human potential physician that specialized in optimizing health through lifestyle changes. He was one of the first physicians in the country that built his practice around the awareness that lifestyle and behaviors impact ones genetics.

My former boss told me that his high stress levels during his medical training had severely shortened his telomeres and that he was working hard to reverse that by optimizing his own health as well as that of his patients. Not only was I excited to learn about this, but it was also inspiring to learn that there were ways to undo previous damage.

The foundation of his approach was based on measuring stress levels and then teaching people through biofeedback to regulate breathing and heart rate. He then added personalized recommendations based on individual genetics for additional stress-reducing and health-enhancing lifestyle changes, including diet, exercise, meditation, sound therapy, acupuncture, etc.

My former boss was in good company. A number of researchers and physicians were studying how lifestyle changes could reverse telomere shortening. One of the first studies was published in 2013 by Dean Ornish, a physician, best-selling author and head of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute at the University of California in San Francisco.

There is now a lot more information available versus 2013. A best-selling book, The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, was published in 2017 and was co-authored by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who originally discovered the role of telomeres on aging, and psychologist Dr. Elissa Epel. Heres a wonderful passage from the book:

To an extent that has surprised us and the rest of the scientific community, telomeres do not simply carry out the commands issued by your genetic code. Your telomeres, it turns out, are listening to you. They absorb the instructions you give them. The way you live can, in effect, tell your telomeres to speed up the process of cellular aging. But it can also do the opposite.

The book is full of helpful information. For optimal health, the authors recommend a plant-based diet of nutrient-rich foods that are high in antioxidants. In addition, they also recommend focus, mindfulness and meditation as stated here:

One study has found that people who tend to focus their minds more on what they are currently doing have longer telomeres than people whose minds tend to wander more. Other studies find that taking a class that offers training in mindfulness or meditation is linked to improved telomere maintenance.

The benefits of making healthy lifestyle choices are well-known. However, knowing that you can greatly increase your chances of living longer and becoming healthier in the process because youre changing your genetic expression is pretty amazing.

Since were almost at the end of 2019 and about to begin a new year, this might be a perfect time to implement some new lifestyle choices, especially now that you know that your telomeres are listening.

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Why you need to know about telomeres - MultiBriefs Exclusive

Cannadabis Medical INC they intend to create a healthier and more consciously aware environment for the cannabis industry, and its participants, to thrive in.

Did you know that Cannadabis are Partners with us? Discover their featured Partner Page about a healthier, environmentally conscious cannabis industry.

The company is a family run company that was founded in Humboldt, Saskatchewan.

Founders, Alexander Calkins, BSc and Markus Li, P.Chem, MBA, are personally and emotionally invested in the science of cannabis. They each have family members that are dealing with incurable ailments, complications of which can often become fatal.

In the search for natural products that will improve the quality and longevity of life, the founders began working with cannabis. While there is no likelihood of a cure, the symptom management has been very positive for their family members. After witnessing the improvements, Cannadabis founders Calkins and Li, have dedicated themselves to furthering the medical cannabis movement.

Calkins and Li both have backgrounds in technical science and business. They are experienced cultivators and have a strong understanding of energy systems (practically essential for a power-hungry industry), process automation, and large-scale development.

Their familiarity with multi-industry supply chains has leveraged them into a cannabis development that is simultaneously high-tech, old school, and simple.

Through observation of established global industries, Cannadabis is building a multi-faceted business model based on sustainable practices, a strong genetics portfolio, disruptive technologies, hyper-specialisation, and holistic production.

Driven by a passion to help others in need, Calkins and Li took it upon themselves to bring their methods and expertise to the cannabis world. They recognise and praise the patient independence that medical cannabis can provide.

While they champion the practice of homegrown medicine, they have obligated themselves to providing the safest and highest quality medical products to those who are unable to grow for themselves.

Once Cannadabis has perfected its organic growing system, they will build and operate all future cultivation sites according to (EU) GMP and ISO:9001 2015 standards. By adopting these standards, Cannadabis will have the ability to share their cultivated passion with the world.

To meet the sanitary requirements of GMP and processing limitations of an organic certification, Cannadabis will be using a combination of reactive oxygen, electrolysed water, and radio frequency pasteurisation technologies.

Being a medically focused company, Cannadabis recognises that medical consumers have turned to cannabis because they are looking for natural remedies and are becoming increasingly weary of synthetic medicines.

For Cannadabis, producing medical cannabis using anything other than organic methods would transgress the fundamental sentiment that drives the global, medical movement. That is why Cannadabis is committed to attaining internationally recognised organic certifications on expanded production.

The companys flagship facility is intended to be an R&D focused proving ground for state-of-the-art organic cultivation methods. Cannadabis currently uses an inhouse blended soil, made only with organic ingredients. Their living soil has the benefit of creating terpene dense medicine, reducing cost, and simplifying processes.

With all the nutrients available in the soil, the plants require only water from transplant to harvest. Additionally, the growing medium and all organic waste can be recycled through vermicomposting, further reducing long term costs and needless waste.

Cannadabis will adopt various technologies to reduce energy demand and environmental impact. In addition to using LEDs and solar panels, Cannadabis will use combined heat and power (CHP) (or cooling combined heat power (CCHP)) at their cultivation facilities. CHP units burn natural gas to generate power and the waste heat is used to heat water and the workspace. CHPs are quickly becoming popular for reducing carbon emissions. In certain applications, CHPs reduce carbon emissions by 30-40%, compared to when power is taken from the grid.

Cannadabis will also divert the combustion CO2 into the growing space. CO2 supplementing supercharges growth naturally, increasing yield by 30-60%, and further reducing the carbon emissions from power generation. In the future, expanded cultivations may integrate pyrolysis of waste biomass, which will supply power and nutrient dense biochar to the living soil.

Cannadabis is aspiring to build a unique indoor growing system that uses a combination of solar power, water recycling, CHP (CCHP), pyrolysis, CO2 supplementation and vermicompost to create a no waste, carbon neutral, minimal input, self-regenerating nutrient, off grid, medical grade, organic, indoor cultivation.

Calkins and Li hope to validate the system and then apply the techniques to food cultivation; this type of system could revolutionise the food production in remote locations, like the northern territories, Alaska and would deliver food supply independence to small communities or reservations. Where biomass is abundant, this system would produce all year, requires only labour as inputs, self-generate power off-grid, and would also be carbon negative over extended time frames.

On their path to improving growing efficiency, Cannadabis has developed proprietary tissue culture methods specifically for cannabis. These methods are based upon the decades old horticultural practice that has been essential for the sterile propagation of ornamental and food cultivars; non seed propagation.

Developing an inhouse tissue culture system has the following benefits:1

Tissue culture revitalises cultivars and produces more vigorous plants Regeneration from meristem rids systemic disease; Propagation is significantly more efficient; Starting with 100 traditional cuttings; able to produce 70,000 annual clones; Start with 200 tissue culture vials; produce 2 million annual clones; Uses 1/10 the space of traditional cloning; Per square foot, tissue culturing is >100x more efficient; and Two million annual clones could be produced in less than 3000 square feet.

1000 mother cultivars could be stored inside a refrigerator with no care or maintenance for months, sometimes over a year; and Pest invasion would not affect mother cultures (many cultivators without tissue culture have lost their entire genetic inventory to viruses and fungi).

Cannadabis will be sharing its tissue culture methods with industry members who want to stay one step ahead of pests and systemic disease. Following more development, they will also be making their organic formulations available.

Having collected and grown a large variety of cultivars, both through seed and clone, the Cannadabis founders have noticed a distinct lack of quality in the genetics market. Over time, most of the popular cultivars of the world have been slowly degraded by deleterious breeding practices like selfing (feminising), backcrossing, and poor mother plant maintenance which promotes genetic drift.

The current genetics market is rife with breeders that take prized clones and spray them with colloidal silver to produce feminised seed, or they are crossed onto their own cultivars and backcrossed until stable seed is produced.

While these name sake creations may capture some of the qualities of the original strain, like trichome density or terpene profile, the progeny will lack the genetic diversity needed to produce healthy plants. Often, these weakened strains have reduced yield, potency, and pest resistance. In response to this, Cannadabis has focused on breeding their own high yield, high potency, flavour dense strains for commercial production.

The Cannadabis team is eager to unveil their propriety strains to the domestic and international medical markets. Over the past few years, the founders have started breeding their own cultivars. Currently, the team has focused on a selection of stabilised true breeds (landrace or F5+) for creating original F1 breeds.

Where the F1 generation is created by breeding male and female plants that are distinctly unique from each other; traditional F1s are created by crossing landrace indicas with landrace sativas.

These crosses need to be done with highly stable and uniquely different parents to produce a true F1 progeny that has abundant hybrid vigour. A plant with true hybrid vigour will typically have higher potency, increased pest resistance, and a higher yield than both parent plants; on average yield can be as high as 20% more than either parent.

Due to the nature of the F1 progeny, very few breeders release true F1 seeds. If highly stable progenitors are not used, the seedstock will be incredibly variable, which is unfavourable for consumers, who typically want consistency in their seed. However, as commercial cultivators, Cannadabis believes that F1 hybrids are essential for producing at large scale. The breeding and phenotyping can be a long and arduous process, the fruits of labour are not without commercial benefit.

Building upon the tissue culture and breeding practices, Cannadabis is quickly developing polyploidisation methods for creating ultra-premium cultivars. Polyploidisation is another common horticultural practice that Cannadabis expects to apply to their cannabis breeding projects.

Polyploidisation is a naturally occurring mechanism where the chromosomes of the plant cells become doubled within the same nucleus. This mechanism has played a significant role in speciation of crops, occurring frequently in nature, usually due to stress response.

In the 100 years since scientists discovered polyploidy, there has been rapid development of polyploid breeds. It is estimated that up to 80% of all flowering plants have polyploid varieties.2 Common polyploid cultivars includes wheat, coffee, banana, strawberry, potato, etc.

Polyploidy has been researched since the early 1900s. Scientists first used heat and electrical stress to induce those mechanisms. Today polyploidy is more commonly, and consistently, induced with radiation and stressing chemicals. Interestingly, induced polyploidy is explicitly exempt by most organic certification bodies. These types of breeds typically do not fall under genetically modified until foreign, non-similar species, DNA is introduced to the plant cell.

These polyploids are called autopolyploid (same species), and plants made with dissimilar species are called allopolyploids. Cannadabis will also be exploring organic permitted cell fusion; this would allow breeding with two male plants, or two female plants.

In the past, the following horticulture benefits have been derived from polyploidy and cell fusion, which Cannadabis hopes to similarly apply to the cannabis plant:3

The same can apply to cannabis. Strains can be developed that would never seed regardless of direct pollination; massive utility available to outdoor or indoor cultivators with seeding problems.

Cannadabis hopes to release their first polyploid strains in late 2020.

Cannadabis has begun manufacturing premade tissue culture mediums and are currently distributing them to Western Canadian horticulture stores and Amazon Marketplace; the mediums are a standard blend that works on 95%+ of the founders cultivars. The founders tissue culture experience is being provided to the public in both consumer and commercial grade products.

The introductory products show unfamiliar users how to do tissue culture at home, using proven methods that do not require expensive laboratory equipment. Besides what comes in the starter kit, the everyday home grower will usually have all the remaining materials at home. Commercial format mediums are intended for growers that want the best value and space savings.

Cultivators of any background can find information or help on tissue culture through the Cannadabis homepage. They are posting helpful videos and literature on cannabis tissue culture and hope to share the benefits with every grower. All horticulturalists, cannabis or not, can benefit from having their cloning area be 100x more efficient, through stackable containers. Furthermore, their mother plants can easily be maintained with minimal care. 100-1000 mother cultures can be stored within a refrigerator for 4-8 months, no adding nutrient or water. For larger cultivators, Cannadabis provides PGR matrices to more easily troubleshoot difficult cultivars. They also will custom blend and sterilise mediums to customer preference.

Cannadabis has begun developing an automated cell culture process for mass propagation of cultivars. The economies of scale of which are expected to change the supply chain of the entire cannabis industry. Automated cell culturing will provide starting materials to the industry at a fraction of the cost of inhouse cloning. Clones produced through cell culturing will also have the benefit of being totally sterile and free from disease.

Cannadabis has been offered an NRC-IRAP grant for initial developments of the process and are in early negotiations with a Canadian cannabis company to commercialise. The founders are expecting to file patents, mid 2020, and begin construction of a commercial scale process by mid-2021. Cannadabis anticipates that a 5000 sq ft facility will produce 5+ million clones annually, with minimal labour.

The project is looking to possibly incorporate the production of artificial seeds, which would simplify transportation and ease of storage for cultivators. They will also be developing cryogenic preservation methods. Cultivators around the world are encouraged to reach out to Cannadabis if they are looking to simplify their process, access cell culture benefits, and maximise growing space.

Working with Cannadabis cultured clones will be the most affordable, safe, and efficient way of acquiring starting material. Their services would include meristem culturing to remove systemic disease, and long-term storage of genetic inventory. Partners who end up with a pest could rest easy knowing their mother cultures will be perfectly preserved in tissue culture, and fifty thousand clones for the next crop are still on the way.

Cannadabis Medical and Delta 9 Cannabis have teamed up to provide an affordable, turnkey, tissue culture laboratory, complete with operating procedures, equipment, and cannabis medium recipes.

The two companies have co developed this system for their own commercial use and have recently made the system available for other cultivators. Both companies have recognised that the cannabis industry is still reliant on black market methods of propagation, and as a result, there have been countless incidents of crop and genetic loss in the legal industry; many of the stories circulating are understandably refuted by the companies experiencing such loss.

Rather than ignore the inevitable pest problems, the two companies are going toe to toe with mother nature, developing half century old technology and making it specifically for cannabis. Hopefully delivering the same modicum of control to the rest of the industry; cultivators slow to develop tissue culture science may soon find their genetics and crop totally destroyed by a single, often microscopic pest. On a commercial scale, these pests become essentially impossible to remove without the use of tissue culture.

With feet rooted in genuine care, Cannadabis and Delta 9 are prepared and excited to deliver a tissue culturing system to the global cannabis industry. They recognise the value and utility available to growers, and they also recognise that learning tissue culturing can feel out of reach for cultivators with no prior knowledge, or excess funding to hire an inhouse specialist.

Instead of missing out or paying specialists, cultivators can rely on Cannadabis and Delta 9 to deliver a ready to use laboratory, the development of which was based on maximising value for the growers.

The laboratory comes with only bare essentials and extensive, yet simple, operating procedures. Training materials will detail cannabis specific mediums, sanitation protocols, along with troubleshooting methods for finicky cultivars; an inexperienced grower will be comfortably blending and using mediums on the same day of commissioning. The whole system, equipment and all, will be much more affordable than hiring a tissue culture specialist.

Over the next three years, Cannadabis will be working to establish an expanded cultivation with the hope of supplying medical, organic, indoor grown cannabis to domestic and international markets.

They will also pioneer an original cell culture process that expects to be the most affordable source for starting materials in the world; Cannadabis is especially excited to deliver their polyploid cultivars as starting materials to industry members.

Cannadabis would like to offer an open invitation to all scientists, entrepreneurs, and industry professionals for collaboration. We are actively seeking partners who share a similar vision for the cannabis industry. Any professionals who are driven by a sense of genuine care and have a passion for cannabis medicine are encouraged to reach out.

References

1 hempindustrydaily.com/hemp-cultivators-tissue-culture-increase-propagation-preserve-genetics/2 Meyers, L. A., and Levin, D. A. (2006). On the abundance of polyploids in flowering plants. Evolution 60, 11981206. doi: 10.1111/j.0014 3820.2006.tb01198.x3 http://www.slideshare.net/ranganihennayaka/plant-polyploids4 http://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.00476/full5 plantbreeding.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=5._Polyploidy

Alexander CalkinsCEOCANNADABIS Medical INC+1 306 552 4242alexander@cannadabismedical.caTweet @cannadabiscannadabismedical.ca

This article will appear in the first issue ofMedical Cannabis Networkwhich will be out in January.Clickhereto subscribe.

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Cannadabis: tissue culture and the future of cannabis cultivation - Health Europa

It's easy to give thoughtless gifts. This year, give thoughtful gifts: science gifts! They're experimentally validated as wonderful*. This is Massive's 2019 holiday science shopping guide, with cool stuff from all around the science web, for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and beyond.

Illustrated by Matteo Farinella, Designed by Allan Lasser

Massive Science

Oh wow, so weird to see us at the top here. The coolest thing on this list is definitely the Women of Science Tarot deck we made. The deck features is itself a work of art, with beautiful original work from Matteo Farinella. Instead of the traditional face cards of many tarot decks, instead there are portraits of important women in science's history, including Mae Jemison, Rachel Carson, Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace, and more. If the the $75 price tag is too steep, there are also postcard packs with art from the deck and posters!

Genius Games

The geniuses at Genius Games make science-themed board games and card games. In Virulence, take on the role of a virus and replicate. Build atoms in Subatomic. Or, become the world's first programmers in Lovelace & Babbage. Massive has partnered with Genius Games to offer a 20% off coupon, just use the code MassiveScience20!

Courtesy of Genius Games

Two Photon

The undisputed champion of science art, pins, jewelry, and more. Our favorites include the neuroscience section, with brain pins and neuron necklaces, the virus t-shirt, and the nameplate necklaces, with options like "Scientist", "Doctor", and "Programmer."

Stitching Hew

What really sets Stitching Hew apart are their intricate stitch patterns, especially the Brainbrow Pyramidal Neuron Print, detailed enough to make Cajal blush. There are even downloadable stitch patterns or an entire beginner's science hand embroidery kit.

Rachel Ignotofsky

The prolific author and illustrator made one of our favorite books, Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World. But she also has other books, like Women in Art: 50 Fearless Creatives Who Changed the World, along with a whole pile of beautiful art prints to choose from.

Science On A Postcard

If you're looking for an enamel pin to signal your allegiance to a particular scientific field, then this Etsy shop is for you! Packed with notebooks, postcards, stickers and an even a pocket mirror, the Science On A Postcard shop hosts some of our favourite pins, including ones that say science communicator, future scientist and that climate change is real.

Awkward Yeti

You've undoubtedly seen their comics all over the great wide web, but Awkward Yeti's store is packed with goodies. There's tabletop games for the gamer who loves organs, some of the best stuffed organs (okay, the only stuffed organs) we've seen, like a uterus and an irritable bowel, and prints from the comic.

Courtesy of Awkward Yeti

Waterlust

You don't have to be a marine scientist to love their products. Waterlust carries leggings (with pockets!), rashguards and swim tops, board shorts, and more for people who love being in the water. Their products are great on land too the fabric is soft and stretchy, and the leggings and shorts have a wide waistband that makes them incredibly comfortable for lounging around the house or going to the gym. Each pattern is dedicated to a specific marine conservation cause (my favorite is the Floridian Aquifer collection). Their products are partially made from recycled plastic bottles and the gear is shipped in eco-friendly packaging, making Waterlust a great choice for the outdoor enthusiasts in your life!

PurpleLilacAmigurumi

This science crochet shop is run by a PhD student at the University of Toronto, so you know the plushies are accurate. Oh and they're lovely too. Take the crocheted neuron necklace, or our personal favorite, the Islets of Langerhans crochet pattern.

Skype a Scientist

Skype a Scientist is one of the best science outreach organizations we know of and they have the merch to match. If you love snakes and also Greek myths, consider this Medusa-as-a-scientist t-shirt. Or rather, if you're more of an astrobiology person, maybe the hardy tardigrade is more your speed.

The Vexed Muddler

If you're interested in science-themed underwear, this is the store for you. Consider the Maratus volans (aka the peacock spider) boxer briefs, which to be honest are kind of terrifying. If that's not your thing they also have phylogenetic tree skirts, intergalactic space dresses, and oh what the heck here's black widow underwear.

Slow Dance

Perhaps something a bit more...meditative? Slow Dance is a frame that produces slow-motion, real-time movement. The creators say it helps lower stress and is quite good for meditation (we weren't just being cute).

*data not shown

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Researchers who collaborate with top scientists early on do better in their lifelong career - Massive Science

The new dairy proofs boast a revamped genetic index for cattle lifespan, enabling milk producers to identify bulls whose offspring will be more healthy and productive will help predict more accurate longevity in additional days rather than lactations.

Previously expressed in lactations which meant very little difference between the best and worst animals, the indexs scale has now been increased to approximately -305 to +305 days enabling producers to make more precise decisions.

Marco Winters, head of animal genetics with AHDB Dairy, said: The new figures give producers a more meaningful prediction of the extra lifetime expected from a bulls daughters and make a greater distinction between individual bulls.

Lifespan reflects many contributory factors, ranging from fertility and somatic cell counts to legs, feet and udder conformation. The index has a strong correlation with an animals average daily lifetime yield, which is a key contributor to its lifetime profitability.

Producers have made progress in their cows lifespan, which has steadily increased since LS was included in AHDBs Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) in 1999 (see graph).

By helping to differentiate individual sires and moving to a larger and more meaningful scale, we feel confident we can further increase genetic progress for this trait, so cutting a herds replacement rate and its costs of heifer rearing, he said.

Lifespan Index Q and A

1. Why is lifespan so important?

It is estimated to cost more than 1800 to rear a Holstein dairy heifer from birth to the point of calving. Around 70% of farmers pay back this investment during the animals second lactation. More precisely, the average number of days at which payback occurs is a staggering 530 after first calving! Any measures which can therefore be taken to extend an animals productive life beyond this point will help improve its return on the large initial investment. Using the Lifespan Index when breeding cattle can help producers improve their herds survival rates by hundreds of days.

2. How does the new scale work?

The new scale for Lifespan Index (LS) will run from around -305 days to +305 days, with positive figures being desirable. Daughters of a +305 Lifespan Index bull are predicted to live, on average, 305 days longer than daughters of a sire whose index is zero. Equally, they are predicted to live 610 days longer than daughters of a -305 LS bull. As with all UK genetic indexes, zero represents the average.

3. How are Lifespan Indexes calculated?

The Lifespan Index is calculated from actual daughter survival, when that information is available. When it is not, it is either calculated from the animals own genotype (if it has a genomic index), or from predictive traits such as type traits (legs, feet and udders) and Somatic Cell Count Index, all of which are correlated with lifespan. Where necessary, information on ancestors lifespan will also be included in the calculation of the index. This and all other predictors will diminish in their importance as the animal acquires progeny lifespan information of its own.

4. Arent many animals culled for low production rather than survivability?

An important feature of the Lifespan Index is that it predicts involuntary rather than voluntary culling. As there is such a strong relationship between milk production and lifespan (because low producers are generally culled earlier from the herd), Lifespan Index is corrected for milk production. This correction ensures the index is more a measure of daughters ability to survive than of their failure to produce milk, which itself would be apparent from Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) for production.

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Revised genetic index will help boost longevity - The Scottish Farmer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WTHR) Researchers are looking for America's oldest dog.

They don't want to teach him new tricks, but they are hoping he could teach them a few things.

And your dog could be part of their life-long scientific study that's looking to learn from pets nationwide.

More than 40 scientists and researchers from across the United States including one from Purdue University are looking for dogs to participate the national study of the general health and wellness of dogs.

The Dog Aging Project will be looking at dogs of all breeds and mixes from across the nation. This is the first major longitudinal study involving dogs, and it's scheduled to last at least 10 years.

We are going to look at a lot of different aspects of dogs lives that affect their health and longevity, says Audrey Ruple, a veterinary epidemiologist at Purdue.

Dogs are good models for humans, she says. They have similar genetics, share our environment, and they also have similar diseases and health issues. We will be asking, How do dogs age healthfully? in order to help better understand how we can age healthfully, too.

Dogs of all age ranges, breeds and sizes are eligible to participate in the study. Owners go online to register their dogs, then create a personal profile to track health, home life, diet, environment and lifestyle.

Dogs will need to make regular veterinarian visits every year. If a dog is assigned to a specific group, the owners may get a kit for their veterinarian to collect blood, urine or other samples during the annual visit.

Participation is voluntary and there is no cost to participate.

Its important to get dogs from all parts of the U.S. because of the different environmental factors present, Ruple said. And were trying to find the oldest dog in America, as well.

All dogs registered will be eligible to participate in various studies. The group conducted a soft launch with 4,500 dogs registered earlier this fall. Recently, the researchers reached 75,000 dogs for the study.

Our study population just keeps growing and growing and growing, Ruple said.

Researchers hope to find out more details on how genetics, demographics and environmental factors such as chemical exposures and noise pollution impact health and longevity.

Ruple says one goal of the study is to not just improve the health and longevity of dogs, but also extend those findings to improve human health. By studying aging in dogs, we hope to learn how to better match human health span to life span so that we can all live longer, healthier lives, Ruple said.

Funding for the Dog Aging Project comes from the National Institute of Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health, as well as from private donations.

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Purdue taking part in life-long study of dogs health and aging - WTHR

Scientists researching a key aspect of biochemistry in living creatures have been taking a very close look at the tiny Caenorhabditis elegans roundworm. Their latest results show that when these nematodes get put under more biochemical stress early in their lives, they somehow tend to live longer.

This type of stress, called oxidative stress - an imbalance of oxygen-containing molecules that can result in cellular and tissue damage - seems to better prepare the worms for the strains of later life, along the same lines as the old adage that whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

You might think that worm lifespans have no bearing on human life. And surely, until we have loads more research done in this field, it would be a big leap to say the same principles of prolonging one's lifespan might hold true for human beings.

But there's good reason to put C. elegans through the paces. This model organism has proven immensely helpful for researchers trying to better understand key biological functions present in worm and human alike - and oxidative stress is one such function.

The little wriggly creatures are known to have significant variations in their lifespan even when the whole population is genetically identical and grows up in the exact same conditions. So the team went looking for other factors that affect C. elegans' longevity.

"The general idea that early life events have such profound, positive effects later in life is truly fascinating," says biochemist Ursula Jakob from the University of Michigan.

Jakob and her colleagues sorted thousands of C. elegans larvae based on the oxidative stress levels they experienced during development this stress arises when cells produce more oxidants and free radicals than they can handle. It's a normal part of the ageing process, but it's also triggered by exercise and a limited food supply.

One way to measure this stress is by the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) molecules an organism produces - simply put, this measurement indicates the biochemical stress an organism is under. In the case of these roundworms, the more ROS were produced during development, the longer their lifespans turned out to be.

(University of Michigan)

To explain how this effect of ROS might come about, the researchers went looking for changes in the worms' genetic regulation, specifically those genes that are known to be involved in dealing with oxidative stress.

While doing so, they detected a key difference - the nematodes exposed to more ROS during development appeared to have undergone an epigenetic change (a gene expression switch that can happen due to environmental influences) thatincreased the oxidative stress resistance of their body's cells.

There are still a lot of questions to answer, but the researchers think their results identify one of the stochastic or random influences on the lifespan of organisms; it's something that has been hypothesised in the field of the genetics of ageing. And down the line, it may turn out to be relevant for ageing humans, too.

"This study provides a foundation for future work in mammals, in which very early and transient metabolic events in life seem to have equally profound impacts on lifespan," the researchers conclude.

The study has been published in Nature.

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Fascinating Study Finds That Stressed Out Baby Worms Tend to Live Longer - ScienceAlert

The genetic index that predicts dairy cattle lifespan has been revamped to make it more accurate and indicate longevity in additional days rather than lactations.

The change will help dairy cattle breeders identify bulls whose offspring should live more healthy, productive and longer lives in their herds.

Previously, lifespan was expressed in lactations, which meant very little difference between the best and worst animals.

The indexs scale has now been increased to about -305 to +305 days, enabling producers to make more precise decisions.

The update to the lifespan index takes effect from the December AHDB Dairy proof run, which will be published this week (3 December).

See also:How to achieve an efficient dairy breeding programme

Marco Winters, head of animal genetics with AHDB Dairy, said: The new figures give producers a more meaningful prediction of the extra lifetime expected from a bulls daughters and make a greater distinction between individual bulls.

Lifespan reflects many contributory factors, ranging from fertility and somatic cell counts to leg, feet and udder conformation. The index has a strong correlation with an animals average daily lifetime yield, which is a key contributor to its lifetime profitability.

By helping to differentiate individual sires and moving to a larger and more meaningful scale, we feel confident we can further increase genetic progress for this trait, so cutting a herds replacement rate and its costs of heifer rearing, Mr Winters added.

Why is lifespan so important?

It is estimated to cost more than 1,800 to rear a Holstein dairy heifer from birth to the point of calving. About 70% of farmers pay back this investment during the animals second lactation.

More precisely, the average number of days at which payback occurs is a staggering 530 after first calving.

So any measures that can extend an animals productive life beyond this point will help improve its return on the large initial investment.

Using the lifespan index when breeding cattle can help producers improve their herds survival rates by hundreds of days.

How does the new scale work?

The new scale for lifespan index will run from about -305 days to +305 days, with positive figures being desirable.

Daughters of a +305 lifespan index bull are predicted to live, on average, 305 days longer than daughters of a sire whose index is zero.

Equally, they are predicted to live 610 days longer than daughters of a -305 lifespan index bull. As with all UK genetic indexes, zero represents the average.

How are lifespan indexes calculated?

The index is calculated from actual daughter survival, when that information is available.

When it is not, it is either calculated from the animals own genotype (if it has a genomic index), or from predictive traits such as type traits (legs, feet and udders) and somatic cell count index, all of which are correlated with lifespan.

Where necessary, information on ancestors lifespan will also be included in the calculation of the index.

This and all other predictors will diminish in their importance as the animal acquires progeny lifespan information of its own.

Arent many animals culled for low production rather than survivability?

An important feature of the lifespan index is that it predicts involuntary rather than voluntary culling.

As there is such a strong relationship between milk production and lifespan (because low producers are generally culled earlier from the herd), lifespan index is corrected for milk production.

This correction ensures the index is more a measure of daughters ability to survive than of their failure to produce milk, which itself would be apparent from predicted transmitting abilities (PTAs) for production.

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Dairy lifespan index trait updated to improve accuracy - FarmersWeekly

It's that time of year with Thanksgiving just over and Christmas approaching that many of us tend to cut back on our exercise routines in order to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. So how much and how often do you need to work out to improve your health and fitness? There's not a simple answer to that question but there are several guidelines to follow that have been found through research.

First of all, it's important to accept that when it comes to moving, something is always better than nothing. Every rep, set and second that you move will get you much closer to your goals. Many research studies, most recently an August 2019 review published in the British Medical Journal, have shown that any exercise comes with a lower risk of early death. Interestingly, researchers have noted that the dose-response relationship between exercise and longevity is non-linear, meaning that going from zero to 15 minutes of exercise per day is more beneficial than going from 60 to 75 minutes. Moreover, the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans edited its recommendation that physical activity occur in bouts of at least 10 minutes. Now, every single second of activity counts toward its weekly recommendation. That recommendation calls for at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as brisk walking), plus at least two days a week of total body strengthening activities. If activity is more intense, such as running or sprinting on a stationary bike, as little as 75 minutes may be enough. It's important to realize that these guidelines refer to the minimum amount necessary for good health, not to significantly improve fitness.

So how do you know how much your personal bare minimum is for improving fitness? That depends of several factors, including age, gender and genetics. For example, it takes less time and effort to make fitness gains when you're young, a time when your body has higher base levels of muscle, testosterone, growth hormone and bone mass. Fortunately for women, a 2011 study in the American Journal of Human Biology found that even though women have lower base levels of muscle mass, they are able to make similar percentage gains in muscle mass compared with men. In terms of genetics, it is true that some people can improve fitness faster and to a greater extent than others. Hopefully, you won that genetic lottery. It is also true that everyone has a genetic upper limit to their fitness potential. And the closer you are to that limit, the more challenging it is to continue making progress toward it.

In the first few months of a new training program, especially one focusing on strength development, you can expect to make big gains in strength quickly as your neuromuscular system learns how to execute the exercises more efficiently. It's also important to realize that during this time, despite increases in strength, muscle growth isn't as pronounced. After a couple of months though, further increases in strength are mainly due to muscle growth as the neuromuscular system adapts to your exercise routine.

Specifically, if you want to build muscle, as little as two 20 to 30 minute sessions may be enough to start to see some muscle definition. That means training each muscle group twice a week. If you want to maintain the muscle you already have, then once a week may be enough. To get the most out of each session, focus on large multi-joint movements such as squats, deadlifts, rows and push-ups rather than isolation exercises like biceps curls and leg extensions.

If your goal is to keep your heart healthy, lower blood pressure or cholesterol, then the federal guidelines' bare minimum may not be adequate. The American Heart Association recommends at least 40 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity three to four times a week. Before starting such a routine, it is important to check with your health care provider to make sure that it's safe to pursue this level of activity. The good news is that significant improvements in cardiovascular fitness can be expected relatively quickly, in the neighborhood of three to four weeks.

So as you contemplate your exercise routine during the holidays, keep in mind that what you do between Thanksgiving and Christmas is not as important as what you do between Christmas and Thanksgiving.

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What's the minimum amount of exercise I need to do to see results? - Richmond Register

BelleCell in London

Ive seen the future. And its unexpectedly sandwiched between those exuberant bastions of indulgence, the Ritz and Le Caprice. Rather like Harry Potters Platform 9 at Kings Cross, look carefully and theres a spiral staircase to a subterranean world. Once a cellar that housed Winston Churchills wine collection, it is now a series of neon-lit vaulted passages filled with white-coated therapists and space-age machines. This is the home of Londons first biohacking clinic.

BelleCell is the creation of Kasia Zajkowska, a Polish bioscientist and Cambridge graduate who specialised in genetics and molecular biotechnology and who looks as if she could be Bella Hadids sister. Ill have what shes having. Fifteen years ago science was focused on increasing the human life span, Zajkowska says. Now its

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BelleCell: the 'bio-hacking' clinic aiming to shake up wellness - The Times

It's easy to give thoughtless gifts. This year, give thoughtful gifts: science gifts! They're experimentally validated as wonderful*. This is Massive's 2019 holiday science shopping guide, with cool stuff from all around the science web, for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and beyond.

Illustrated by Matteo Farinella, Designed by Allan Lasser

Massive Science

Oh wow, so weird to see us at the top here. The coolest thing on this list is definitely the Women of Science Tarot deck we made. The deck features is itself a work of art, with beautiful original work from Matteo Farinella. Instead of the traditional face cards of many tarot decks, instead there are portraits of important women in science's history, including Mae Jemison, Rachel Carson, Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace, and more. If the the $75 price tag is too steep, there are also postcard packs with art from the deck and posters!

Genius Games

The geniuses at Genius Games make science-themed board games and card games. In Virulence, take on the role of a virus and replicate. Build atoms in Subatomic. Or, become the world's first programmers in Lovelace & Babbage. Massive has partnered with Genius Games to offer a 20% off coupon, just use the code MassiveScience20!

Courtesy of Genius Games

Two Photon

The undisputed champion of science art, pins, jewelry, and more. Our favorites include the neuroscience section, with brain pins and neuron necklaces, the virus t-shirt, and the nameplate necklaces, with options like "Scientist", "Doctor", and "Programmer."

Stitching Hew

What really sets Stitching Hew apart are their intricate stitch patterns, especially the Brainbrow Pyramidal Neuron Print, detailed enough to make Cajal blush. There are even downloadable stitch patterns or an entire beginner's science hand embroidery kit.

Rachel Ignotofsky

The prolific author and illustrator made one of our favorite books, Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World. But she also has other books, like Women in Art: 50 Fearless Creatives Who Changed the World, along with a whole pile of beautiful art prints to choose from.

Science On A Postcard

If you're looking for an enamel pin to signal your allegiance to a particular scientific field, then this Etsy shop is for you! Packed with notebooks, postcards, stickers and an even a pocket mirror, the Science On A Postcard shop hosts some of our favourite pins, including ones that say science communicator, future scientist and that climate change is real.

Awkward Yeti

You've undoubtedly seen their comics all over the great wide web, but Awkward Yeti's store is packed with goodies. There's tabletop games for the gamer who loves organs, some of the best stuffed organs (okay, the only stuffed organs) we've seen, like a uterus and an irritable bowel, and prints from the comic.

Courtesy of Awkward Yeti

Waterlust

You don't have to be a marine scientist to love their products. Waterlust carries leggings (with pockets!), rashguards and swim tops, board shorts, and more for people who love being in the water. Their products are great on land too the fabric is soft and stretchy, and the leggings and shorts have a wide waistband that makes them incredibly comfortable for lounging around the house or going to the gym. Each pattern is dedicated to a specific marine conservation cause (my favorite is the Floridian Aquifer collection). Their products are partially made from recycled plastic bottles and the gear is shipped in eco-friendly packaging, making Waterlust a great choice for the outdoor enthusiasts in your life!

PurpleLilacAmigurumi

This science crochet shop is run by a PhD student at the University of Toronto, so you know the plushies are accurate. Oh and they're lovely too. Take the crocheted neuron necklace, or our personal favorite, the Islets of Langerhans crochet pattern.

Skype a Scientist

Skype a Scientist is one of the best science outreach organizations we know of and they have the merch to match. If you love snakes and also Greek myths, consider this Medusa-as-a-scientist t-shirt. Or rather, if you're more of an astrobiology person, maybe the hardy tardigrade is more your speed.

The Vexed Muddler

If you're interested in science-themed underwear, this is the store for you. Consider the Maratus volans (aka the peacock spider) boxer briefs, which to be honest are kind of terrifying. If that's not your thing they also have phylogenetic tree skirts, intergalactic space dresses, and oh what the heck here's black widow underwear.

Slow Dance

Perhaps something a bit more...meditative? Slow Dance is a frame that produces slow-motion, real-time movement. The creators say it helps lower stress and is quite good for meditation (we weren't just being cute).

*data not shown

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Watch a Dragon launch towards the International Space Station today! - Massive Science

Spitting intotheplastic test tube, I felt nervous. I was offering up a piece of myself for decoding, and while this timethere was no silver-haired sage, it reminded me of a visit to a fortune teller when I was 21.

Then, I offeredthepalm of my hand in a bid to divine what fate had planned for me. Now, it wasDNA, with my saliva destined for a laboratory in southwest China, totheheadquarters ofChengdu 23Mofang Biotechnology Co., a startup thats seeking to tap a boom in consumer genetics intheworlds most populous nation.

Rising awareness of genetically-linked diseases like Alzheimers and a natural human curiosity for insight intothefuture is fueling a global market for direct-to-consumerDNAtesting thats predicted totripleoverthenext six years. In China, wherethegovernment has embraced genetics as part of its push to become a scientific superpower,theindustry is expected to see US$405 million in sales by 2022, according to Beijing research firm EO Intelligence, an eight-fold increase from 2018. Some 4 million people will send away test tubes of spit in China this year, and I had just become one ofthem.

Not only was I entering a world where lack of regulation has spawned an entire industry devoted to identifyingthefuture talents of newborn babiesthroughtheir genes, I was handing over my genetic code to a country wherethegovernment has been accused of usingDNAtesting to profile minority groups a concern that hit home whentheresults showed I was a member of one.

I wanted to see whethertheburgeoning industry delivered on its claims in China, where scientists have gained international attention and criticism for pushingtheboundaries of genetics. And as a child of Vietnamese immigrants totheUS, Ive long been curious about my ancestry and genetic makeup.

To get an idea of how this phenomenon is playing out intheworlds two biggest consumer markets, I comparedtheDNAtesting experience of 23Mofang withthefirm CEO Zhou Kun says it was inspired by:23andMe Inc., one ofthebest known consumer genetics outfits intheUS.

PushingtheEnvelope

Thedifferences betweenthetwo companies are stark.

23andMe was co-founded byAnne Wojcicki, a Wall Street biotech analyst once married toGoogleco-founderSergey Brin.TheMountain View, California-based firm has more than 10 million customers and has collected 1 billion genetic data points, according to itswebsite. Brin and Google were early investors.

By contrast, 23Mofang is run out oftheChinese city of Chengdu, and Zhou, 36, is a computer science graduate who createdthecompany after becoming convinced Chinas next boom would be inthelife sciences sector. 23Mofang expects to have 700,000 customers bytheend of this year, a number he projects will at least double in 2020.

Thedivergence betweenthetwo countries andtheir regulation oftheindustry is just as palpable. Chinas race to dominate genetics has seen it push ethical envelopes, with scientistHe Jiankuisparking a global outcry last year by claiming to have editedthegenes of twin baby girls.Theexperiment, which He said madethem immune to HIV, put a spotlight on Chinas laissez-faire approach to regulating genetic science andthebusinesses that have sprung up around it.

When my reports came back, 23Mofangs analysis was much more ambitious than its American peer. Its results gauged how long I will live, diagnosed a high propensity for saggy skin (recommending I use products including Olay and Estee Lauder creams) and gave me an optimist not prone to mood swings a higher-than-average risk of developing bipolar disorder. 23andMe doesnt assess mental illness, which Gil McVean, a geneticist at Oxford University, says is highly influenced by both environmental and genetic factors.

Thefortune teller who pored over my palm told me I would live to be a very old woman. 23Mofang initially said I had a better-than-average chance of living to 95, before revisingtheresults to say 58% of clients hadthesame results as I did, making me not that special, and perhaps not that long-living.

When I ranthefinding pastEric Topol, a geneticist who foundedtheScripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, he laughed. Ninety-five years old?Theres no way to put a number on longevity, he said. Its a gimmick. Its so ridiculous.

Zhou saidtheaccuracy ofthelongevity analysis, based on a 2014 genetics paper, is not too bad, thoughthecompany plans to updatetheanalysis with research thats being undertaken on Chinese elderly.

But when it comes to disease,theresults of both companies showed howthescience of genetics, particularly attheconsumer level, is still a moving target.

Its All AbouttheData

After claiming I had a 48% greater risk thanthegeneral population of developing type 2 diabetes, both 23Mofang and 23andMethen revisedtheresults.

First, 23andMe cuttherisk figure from its analysis, posted in an online portal I accessed with a password.Theoverview analysis that I have an increased likelihood of developingthedisease never changed. But a few months later,thefigure was back, with a slightly different explanation: Based on data from 23andMe research participants, people of European descent with genetics like yourshave an estimated 48% chance of developing type 2 diabetes at some point between your current age and 80.

Shirley Wu, 23andMes director of health product, saidthecompany occasionally updates its analysis. My risk figure might have changed if I indicated my ethnicity and age, she said. I hadnt given any biographical details or filled out any surveys on 23andMes site.

Your risk estimates will likely change over time as science gets better and as we have more data, Wu said. We are layering in different non-genetic risk factors, and that potentially updates our estimates.

Algorithms and data underpintheanalysis of both companies, asthey do for other genetic testing firms, so it apparently isnt unusual forDNAanalysis to shift as more research and data into diseases becomeavailable. Still, I was confused.

I reached out to Topol, who said that 23andMes diabetes finding likely didnt apply to me sincethevast majority of people studied forthedisease are of European descent. Wu saidthe American company does have a predominantly European database but has increased efforts to gather data for other ethnicities as well.

23Mofang, meanwhile, also revised my diabetes risk to 26%. My genes hadnt changed, so why hadtheresults? CEO Zhou saidthecompany is constantly updating its research and datasets, and that may changetheanalysis. As time goes by,there will be fewer corrections and greater accuracy, he said.

For now, theres a possibility you can later get a result thats opposite oftheinitial analysis, said Zhou.

Additionally,theaccuracy of genetic analysis varies hugelydepending onthetraits and conditions tested because some are less genetically linkedthan others.

Zhou isnt deterred by criticism. He said 23Mofang employs big data and artificial intelligence to findthecorrelations to diseases without relying on scientists to figure it out.

While its impossible to get things 100% right,thecompanys accuracy will get better with more data, he said.

Ancestry Mystery

You might assume thatthetwo companies would offer similar analysis of my ancestry, which Ive long thought to be three-fourths Vietnamese and one-fourth Chinese (my paternal grandfather migrated from China as a young man). Born in Vietnam and raised intheUS, I now live in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.

23andMes analysis mirrored what I knew, but my ancestry according to 23Mofang? 63% Han Chinese, 22% Dai an ethnic group in southwestern China and 3% Uyghur. (It didnt pick up my Vietnam ancestry becausetheanalysis only compares my genetics to those of other Chinese, according tothecompany.)

That led me tothebig question in this grand experiment: How safe is my data afterthesetests?

Human Rights Watch said in 2017 that Chinese authorities collectedDNAsamples from millions of people in Xinjiang,thepredominately Muslim region thats home totheUyghur ethnic group. Chinas use of mass detention and surveillance intheregion has drawn international condemnation. What if Beijing compelled companies to relinquishdata on all clients with Uyghur ancestry? Couldthedetails of my Uyghur heritage fall into government hands and put me at risk of discrimination or extra scrutiny on visits to China?

23Mofangs response tothese questions didnt give me much solace. Regulations enacted in July gavethegovernment access to data held by genetics companies for national security, public health and social interest reasons.Thecompany respectsthelaw, said Zhou. Ifthelaw permitsthegovernments access tothedata, we will give it, he said.

Theauthorities havent made any requests for customer data yet, Zhou pointed out. Chinas State Council, which issuedtheregulations, andtheMinistry of Science & Technology didnt respond to requests for comment.

Over intheUS, 23andMe said it never shares customer data with law enforcement unlesstheres a legally valid requestsuch as a search warrant or written court order.Thecompany said its had seven government requests for data on 10 individual accounts since 2015 and has not turned over any individual customer data. It uses all legal measures to challenge such requests to protect customers privacy, said spokeswoman Christine Pai.

No Protection

New York Universitybioethics professorArt Caplansays privacy protections on genetic information are poor in most countries, including in the USand China.

I dont think anyone can say theyre going to protect you, he said. In China, its even easier for the government. The government retains the right to look.

23andMe appeals to potential customers with the lure of being able to make more informed decisions about your health, but after taking tests on both sides of the Pacific and realizing how malleable the data can be, as well as the myriad factors that determine diseases and conditions, I am left more skeptical than enlightened.

I gave away something more valuable than a vial of spit the keys to my identity. It could become a powerful tool in understanding disease and developing new medicines, but in the end its entrepreneurs like Zhou who will ultimately decide what to do with my genetic data. He plans to eventually look for commercial uses, like working with pharmaceutical companies to develop medicines for specific diseases.

We want to leverage the big database we are putting together on Chinese people, Zhou said. But first, we need to figure out how to do it ethically.

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How do consumer DNA tests from the US and China stack up? - Abacus

A thousand seemingly insignificant things change as an organism ages. Beyond the obvious signs like graying hair and memory problems are myriad shifts both subtler andmore consequential: Metabolic processes run less smoothly; neurons respond less swiftly; the replication of DNA grows faultier.

But while bodies mayseem to just gradually wear out, many researchers believe instead that aging is controlled at the cellular and biochemical level. They find evidence for this in the throngof biological mechanisms that are linked to aging but also conserved across species as distantly related as roundworms and humans. Whole subfields of research have grown up around biologists attempts to understand the relationships among the core genes involved in aging, which seem to connect highly disparate biological functions, like metabolism and perception. If scientists can pinpoint which of the changes in these processes induce aging, rather than result from it, it may be possible to intervene and extend the human life span.

So far, research has suggested that severely limiting calorie intake can have a beneficial effect, as can manipulating certain genes in laboratory animals. But recently in Nature, Bruce Yankner, a professor of genetics and neurology at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues reported on a previously overlooked controller of life span: the activity level of neurons in the brain. In a series of experiments on roundworms, mice and human brain tissue, they found that a protein called REST, which controls the expression of many genes related to neural firing, also controls life span. They also showed that boosting the levels of the equivalent of REST in worms lengthens their lives by making their neurons fire more quietly and with more control. How exactly overexcitation of neurons might shorten life span remains to be seen, but the effect is real and its discovery suggests new avenues for understanding the aging process.

In the early days of the molecular study of aging, many people were skeptical that it was even worth looking into. Cynthia Kenyon, a pioneering researcher in this area at the University of California, San Francisco, has described attitudes in the late 1980s: The ageing field at the time was considered a backwater by many molecular biologists, and the students were not interested, or were even repelled by the idea. Many of my faculty colleagues felt the same way. One told me that I would fall off the edge of the Earth if I studied ageing.

That was because many scientists thought that aging (more specifically, growing old) must be a fairly boring, passive process at the molecular level nothing more than the natural result of things wearing out. Evolutionary biologists argued that aging could not be regulated by any complex or evolved mechanism because it occurs after the age of reproduction, when natural selection no longer has a chance to act. However, Kenyon and a handful of colleagues thought that if the processes involved in aging were connected to processes that acted earlier in an organisms lifetime, the real story might be more interesting than people realized. Through careful, often poorly funded work on Caenorhabditis elegans, the laboratory roundworm, they laid the groundwork for what is now a bustling field.

A key early finding was that the inactivation of a gene called daf-2 was fundamental to extending the life span of the worms. daf-2 mutants were the most amazing things I had ever seen. They were active and healthy and they lived more than twice as long as normal, Kenyon wrote in a reflection on these experiments. It seemed magical but also a little creepy: they should have been dead, but there they were, moving around.

This gene and a second one called daf-16 are both involved in producing these effects in worms. And as scientists came to understand the genes activities, it became increasingly clear that aging is not separate from the processes that control an organisms development before the age of sexual maturity; it makes use of the same biochemical machinery. These genes are important in early life, helping the worms to resist stressful conditions during their youth. As the worms age, modulation of daf-2 and daf-16 then influences their health and longevity.

These startling results helped draw attention to the field, and over the next two decades many other discoveries illuminated a mysterious network of signal transduction pathways where one protein binds another protein, which activates another, which switches off another and so on that, if disturbed, can fundamentally alter life span. By 1997, researchers had discovered that in worms daf-2 is part of a family of receptors that send signals triggered by insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar, and the structurally similar hormone IGF-1, insulin-like growth factor 1; daf-16 was farther down that same chain. Tracing the equivalent pathway in mammals, scientists found that it led to a protein called FoxO, which binds to the DNA in the nucleus, turning a shadowy army of genes on and off.

That it all comes down to the regulation of genes is perhaps not surprising, but it suggests that the processes that control aging and life span are vastly complex, acting on many systems at once in ways that may be hard to pick apart. But sometimes, its possible to shine a little light on whats happening, as in the Yankner groups new paper.

Figuring out which genes are turned on and off in aging brains has long been one of Yankners interests. About 15 years ago, in a paper published in Nature, he and his colleagues looked at gene expression data from donated human brains to see how it changes over a lifetime. Some years later, they realized that many of the changes theyd seen were caused by a protein called REST. REST, which turns genes off, was mainly known for its role in the development of the fetal brain: It represses neuronal genes until the young brain is ready for them to be expressed.

But thats not the only time its active. We discovered in 2014 that [the REST gene] is actually reactivated in the aging brain, Yankner said.

To understand how the REST protein does its job, imagine that the network of neurons in the brain is engaged in something like the party game Telephone. Each neuron is covered with proteins and molecular channels that enable it to fire and pass messages. When one neuron fires, it releases a flood of neurotransmitters that excite or inhibit the firing of the next neuron down the line. REST inhibits the production of some of the proteins and channels involved in this process, reining in the excitation.

In their new study, Yankner and his colleagues report that the brains of long-lived humans have unusually low levels of proteins involved in excitation, at least in comparison with the brains of people who died much younger. This finding suggests that the exceptionally old people probably had less neural firing. To investigate this association in more detail, Yankners team turned to C. elegans. They compared neural activity in the splendidly long-lived daf-2 mutants with that of normal worms and saw that firing levels in the daf-2 animals were indeed very different.

They were almost silent. They had very low neural activity compared to normal worms, Yankner said, noting that neural activity usually increases with age in worms. This was very interesting, and sort of parallels the gene expression pattern we saw in the extremely old humans.

When the researchers gave normal roundworms drugs that suppressed excitation, it extended their life spans. Genetic manipulation that suppressed inhibition the process that keeps neurons from firing did the reverse. Several other experiments using different methods confirmed their results. The firing itself was somehow controlling life span and in this case, less firing meant more longevity.

Because REST was plentiful in the brains of long-lived people, the researchers wondered if lab animals without REST would have more neural firing and shorter lives. Sure enough, they found that the brains of elderly mice in which the Rest gene had been knocked out were a mess of overexcited neurons, with a tendency toward bursts of activity resembling seizures. Worms with boosted levels of their version of REST (proteins named SPR-3 and SPR-4) had more controlled neural activity and lived longer. But daf-2 mutant worms deprived of REST were stripped of their longevity.

It suggests that there is a conserved mechanism from worms to [humans], Yankner said. You have this master transcription factor that keeps the brain at what we call a homeostatic or equilibrium level it doesnt let it get too excitable and that prolongs life span. When that gets out of whack, its deleterious physiologically.

Whats more, Yankner and his colleagues found that in worms the life extension effect depended on a very familiar bit of DNA: daf-16. This meant that RESTs trail had led the researchers back to that highly important aging pathway, as well as the insulin/IGF-1 system. That really puts the REST transcription factor somehow squarely into this insulin signaling cascade, said Thomas Flatt, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Fribourg who studies aging and the immune system. REST appears to be yet another way of feeding the basic molecular activities of the body into the metabolic pathway.

Neural activity has been implicated in life span before, notes Joy Alcedo, a molecular geneticist at Wayne State University who studies the connections between sensory neurons, aging and developmental processes. Previous studies have found that manipulating the activity of even single neurons in C. elegans can extend or shorten life span. Its not yet clear why, but one possibility is that the way the worms respond biochemically to their environment may somehow trip a switch in their hormonal signaling that affects how long they live.

The new study, however, suggests something broader: that overactivity in general is unhealthy. Neuronal overactivity may not feel like anything in particular from the viewpoint of the worm, mouse or human, unless it gets bad enough to provoke seizures. But perhaps over time it may damage neurons.

The new work also ties into the idea that aging may fundamentally involve a loss of biological stability, Flatt said. A lot of things in aging and life span somehow have to do with homeostasis. Things are being maintained in a proper balance, if you will. Theres a growing consensus in aging research that what we perceive as the body slowing down may in fact be a failure to preserve various equilibria. Flatt has found that aging flies show higher levels of immune-related molecules, and that this rise contributes to their deaths. Keeping the levels in check, closer to what they might have been when the flies were younger, extends their lives.

The results may help explain the observation that some drugs used for epilepsy extend life span in lab animals, said Nektarios Tavernarakis, a molecular biologist at the University of Crete who wrote a commentary that accompanied Yankners recent paper. If overexcitation shortens life span, then medicines that systematically reduce excitation could have the opposite effect. This new study provides a mechanism, he said.

In 2014, Yankners laboratory also reported that patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers have lower levels of REST. The early stages of Alzheimers, Yankner notes, involve an increase in neural firing in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that deals with memory. He and his colleagues wonder whether the lack of REST contributes to the development of these diseases; they are now searching for potential drugs that boost REST levels to test in lab organisms and eventually patients.

In the meantime, however, its not clear that people can do anything to put the new findings about REST to work in extending their longevity. According to Yankner, REST levels in the brain havent been tied to any particular moods or states of intellectual activity. It would be a misconception, he explained by email, to correlate amount of thinking with life span. And while he notes that there is evidence that meditation and yoga can have a variety of beneficial effects for mental and physical health, no studies show that they have any bearing on REST levels.

Why exactly do overexcited neurons lead to death? Thats still a mystery. The answer probably lies somewhere downstream of the DAF-16 protein and FoxO, in the genes they turn on and off. They may be increasing the organisms ability to deal with stress, reworking its energy production to be more efficient, shifting its metabolism into another gear, or performing any number of other changes that together add up a sturdier and longer-lived organism. It is intriguing that something as transient as the activity state of a neural circuit could have such a major physiological influence on something as protean as life span, Yankner said.

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Longevity Linked to Proteins That Calm Overexcited Neurons - Quanta Magazine

I mightve died fearing the ageing process about as much as everyone else. Unfortunately, about two drags into my fourth cigarette a friend of mine relayed an anecdote about his dying grandfatherunprompted.

So its his ninety-eighth birthday and were watching him try to blow out candles on a cake he probably cant eat anywayfor like an hour.Eventually, I get bored and blow it out for him before asking what he wished for. To which he says: I accidentally peeped the expiration date on the carton of milk in the fridge and it dawned on me that I didnt know which one of us had more time left.

In an instant, I quit smoking and took up gerascophobia. In defense of the soon-to-be-dead-party-pooper, the older we get the louder minute hands become. We try to dull the racket by route of cosmetics, pop culture, copulation and fairy-tales; all to distract ourselves from the inevitable frog march into nothingness. If were honest, every year after 50 extends a catalog of things we cant do anymore. The list begins innocuously enough with things like fit into my favorite pair of whatevers or comprehend the cultural significance of this or that, but then the whole thing ends tragically nuanced.

Were all familiar with the odd way time seems to speed up every year after 21? It makes sense that time adopts the illusion of expedience as we run out of milestones but the reasoning behind this phenomenon is actually even less abstract than that. According to a new paper published in the scientific journalEuropean Review, as wrinkles begin to appear, and our postures sag, our neurons grow larger, increasing the amount of time it takes us to process an image.

People are often amazed at how much they remember from days that seemed to last forever in their youth, explained the new studys author Adrian Bejan, the J.A. Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University in a pressrelease.Its not that their experiences were much deeper or more meaningful, its just that they were being processed in rapid-fire.

Interestingly enough, almost all of the psychological conditions that narrate our morph into maggot food are effected by well-documented physiological precursors.

Little mutations join forces to pen an aggressive eviction notice apostrophized by medical abnormalities that condemn life on planet earth to be less and less pleasant.This is especially relevant right now because Americas global age is increasing at an exponential rate.

When a society attains economic and agricultural excellence the death rate decreases alongside birthrate, which leads to a larger and older population.James Fries, professor of medicine at Stanford University, indexed the sociological fine-print that punctures this developmental achievement back in 1998. What Fries calls the compression of morbidity dictates that denizens of a thriving nation enjoy healthy lives for most of it until a series of health setbacks plague them all at once toward the final stretch. This is often in the form of chronic illness that appears in tandem with natural biological regressions. As far as the perversion of our mind clocks are concerned, organic changes in saccades frequency, body size, and pathway degradation have been studied to be the primary culprits. This is what physics more discreetly refers to asthe constructional law of low architecture. Elderly people simply receive fewer images in the same amount of time as younger people, drastically decelerating their integration of information. The mechanisms that animate this process are fairly identical to a cameras shutter speed.

The human mind senses time changing when the perceived images change, Bejan adds. The present is different from the past because the mental viewing has changed, not because somebodys clock rings. Daysseemed to last longerin your youth because the young mind receives more images during one day than the same mind in old age.

Overall somatic decline is ensured by similar physiological defects. New data published by researchers at Yale University revealed that our ability to obtain energy by burning belly fat also reduces as we grow older. This impairment is a direct cost of medical and agricultural preferments that have allowed us to defy our intended life expectancy.

Several mechanisms in the body are not selected for longevity,explained the papers lead researcher, Vishwa Deep Dixit. Normally the B cells produce antibodies and defend against infection. But with aging, the increased adipose B cells become dysfunctional, contributing to metabolic disease. This predisposes an animal to diabetes and metabolic dysfunction like inability toburn fat.

Thankfully, successful aging is no longer a consideration beholden to science fiction. Genetics may draft the treatment, but our lifestyle choices govern how gracefully we interpret the consequential beats. Presbycusis for instance (gradual degeneration of the cochlea consequenced by bilateral symmetrical aging) is by all accounts unavoidable. It is the leading cause of hearing loss and affects just about one and two individuals over the age of 75. However, there are cumulative environmental predictors that can worsen the condition and even accelerate its development. Prolonged exposure to headphone frequencies causes the hair cells in the cochlea to bend beyond the point of repair. Uniformly, we all have a reserve capacity of cells, each of which dies without fanfare throughout a given day.

Of course, as we age, this process, which is calledapoptosis, picks up momentum. What you might not know though is our state of mind mandates how quickly and violently this program transpires.

Having a good attitude is very important. We know that stress plays a key role in how we will age. We have these hormones, these stress hormones, that actually play a role in how our cells will die. When we become under stress we have an accelerated loss of cells. So this over a lifetime plays a major role in how functional we will be, explainedSteven Gambert, MD.

Even more consistently than this is the role our diet plays in the pace of our weathering. Diets like the Mediterranean, a regimen rich in vegetables and olive oil, low in meat ingestion, and moderate in alcohol consumption, slackens the agents of aging by checking their pawns, namely chronic maladies associated with old age. A recent study conducted on 23,349 men and women confirmed what previous literature had intimated in years prior. Medical journalist, Caroline Wilbert reports:

During the study period, there were 652 deaths among 12,694 participants who had lower Mediterranean diet scores of 0-4 and 423 deaths among the 10,655 participants who had higher scores of at least 5. In general, those with higher scores were more likely to still be alive at the end of the study.

Similarly, earlier this year a team of European researchers disclosed that routine coffee consumption contributes to DNA integrity and overall longevity. This is earned by the antioxidants residing in dark roasted beans, a compound that helps cells repair themselves more effectively in the wake of the damage done by free radicals. Free radicals, birthed by sunlight, oxygen, and pollution, deteriorate the collagen fibers in the skin. The microbial properties in coffee help staff off these very same germs. Its caffeine acid boosts collagen levels which in turn brakes the aging process.

When it comes to confronting the aspects of aging that we cannot outwit, its important to distinguish a superficial fear of growing old, alternatively phrased as literal molecule deterioration, from a philosophical fear of death; the metaphysical cessation of being. Though Im not deaf to the terror of either, the attenuating of the former cant really refute the latter in and of itself. In other words, extending life for its own sake wont do you any good without some kind of moral equipment to boot. However you go about securing this is valid enough so long as it doesnt infringe on the fundamental rights of others. Rabelais lived for ambiguity, Plath was vitalized by the unreal and dangerous, Van Gogh was energized by lifes series of small things, Hitchens lived for irony (and died for it too), and Camus made a point not to think about any of it too intensely.

Chronological age is the most literal translation of our time here, our biological age is the most honest projection of how much of it weve got left, and our reservoir of purpose judges how successfully we spent it. Ultimately, appealing to your temple and the candles that emblazon it, is a good way to neuter the urge to cry over expired milk, whether the curtain falls when youre 25 or 98.

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The biological defects that come with age and how to prevent them - Ladders

Studies have found that a long lifespan may be linked to a number of factors with genetics being one of the main ones. One study from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine looked at 500 individuals who had lived to 95 or older and identified common genotypes, rather than lifestyle variables, that caused them to outlive others. For those who dont have the best genetics, fear not, studies have proven that doing this type of exercise could help.

Researchers have identified certain behaviours that can increase longevity.

Diet is of course strongly linked to longevity and it has been advised to follow a Mediterranean diet which includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and healthy fats.

When it comes to food, the ones to avoid include processed snacks, fried foods and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Exercise can also play a big role in life longevity, in particular a certain type.

READ MORE: How to live longer: Best diet to boost life expectancy - three foods to eat

Strength in the muscles and body has also been aligned with living longer.

A study of more than a million Swedish teenage boys supports concluded that "low muscular strength in adolescents is an emerging risk factor for major causes of death in young adulthood.

Those who scored about average during initial muscular strength tests were at a 20-35 percent lower risk of early death from any cause, including cardiovascular disease.

DONT MISS

Exercise regularly

Working out is highly beneficial not only for physical health but for mental health too.

Exercise boosts everything from cardiovascular fitness to mood and energy so its no surprise it can also extend ones life.

Federal physical activity guidelines recommend aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity each week, plus twice-weekly muscle-strengthening sessions.

Benefits of team sports

Opting for a more vigorous workout, leading health experts recommend partaking in more team sports such as tennis and football.

Its believed that team sports help boost longevity as they encourage social interaction as well as exercise.

A study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that the social interaction one gets from working out with someone else such as participating in team sports can actually be more beneficial than working out alone, adding years to ones life.

Study co-author, Dr James OKeefe, a cardiologist at Saint Lukes Mid America Heart Institute said: If youre interested in exercising for health and longevity and well-being, perhaps the most important feature of your exercise regimen is that it should involve a playdate.

Professor of psychology and logopedics at the University of Helsinki, Finland added: It would be important to maintain existing relationships by meeting family members or friends face-to-face and exercising together.

If your social network isnt where you want it to be, consider looking for recreational sport leagues you can join or group fitness classes where you might meet some new, friendly faces.

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How to live longer: This type of exercise found to be best for increasing life expectancy - Express

JERSEY CITY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ceremony to host Bonnie Bassler, molecular biologist and microbe fighter; Robert J. Hariri, stem cell and human longevity expert; and David Rosenberg, world leader in urban vertical farming

Plus a special honoree from California whom LSC is feting because hes a tech badass: AI giant Sebastian Thrun, the godfather of the self-driving car

New Jersey is home to some of the worlds most accomplished innovators in applied science. Three of them who are pioneering research and solutions in antibacterial therapies, genetics, human life extension, and food production are being honored by Liberty Science Center at its inaugural The Genius of NJ celebration on Monday, December 2.

The celebration starts at 5:30 pm with cocktails and unique technology demonstrations: a full-body 3D scanner from Lenscloud that can scan a person in half a second with 120 cameras and create a realistic 3D avatar; bomb-disposing robots and an autonomous fighting robot from Picatinny Arsenal; and Flyer, a personal aerial vehicle from Kitty Hawk, headquartered in Mountain View, CA.

The New Jersey honorees are Bonnie Bassler, Chair of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, who is developing novel antimicrobial therapies to render pathogenic bacteria harmless; Dr. Robert J. Hariri, Chairman, Founder & CEO of Celularity, Inc. who is pioneering the use of stem cells to cure disease and slow aging; and David Rosenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of AeroFarms, the worlds leader in mass-scale vertical indoor farming.

Our inaugural Genius of NJ Award Winners represent the best this state and the world have to offer in harnessing science for the betterment of humanity, said Liberty Science Center President and CEO Paul Hoffman. Each is using his or her exceptional intellect and creative abilities to disrupt and innovate both in their respective fields and in their commitment to making the world healthier and safer.

Bonnie Bassler is the Squibb Professor of Molecular Biology and Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, as well as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Professor Bassler deciphered the chemical language bacteria cells use to communicate by studying a harmless marine bacterium called Vibrio fischeri, known to bioluminesce, or make light, like fireflies do. She is a winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant and is now developing therapies that disrupt communication among harmful bacteria and strengthen communication among helpful bacteria. At a time when an increasing number of bacteria are resistant to traditional kinds of antibiotics, Dr. Bassler offers a promising new approach to antimicrobial therapy.

The Chairman, Founder and CEO of Celularity, Inc., in Warren, NJ, and Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Human Longevity, Inc., Dr. Robert Hariri is the quintessential renaissance man. Hes a neurosurgeon, a medical researcher, and a serial entrepreneur in two technology sectors: aerospace and biomedicine. Dr. Hariri has advised the Vatican on genetics, and in 2018, Pope Francis bestowed on him the Pontifical Key Award for Innovation. Dr. Hariris path to discovering that the placenta, a temporary organ discarded after birth, was a potent source of stem cells began in the 80s when he viewed a first trimester ultrasound of his oldest daughter and wondered why the placenta was so large. Today Dr. Hariri is working to use placental stem cells to cure disease, slow aging, and augment healthy human lifespan.

Prominent entrepreneur David Rosenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of AeroFarms, set out to reinvent one of the most basic aspects of food production, farming. AeroFarms has grown 800 species of plants indoors and can grow them 365 days a year without sun or soil, achieving yields 130 times greater than conventional farming. His system uses 95 percent less water than field farming and no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. Rosenbergs adoption of cutting-edge technology has been a cornerstone of AeroFarms, which set up its first indoor vertical farms in abandoned warehouses in Newark. He employs plant biologists, microbiologists, geneticists, systems engineers, and data scientists. AeroFarms innovations in indoor vertical farming have improved not just plant yields but also taste, texture, nutritional density, and shelf life.

Story continues

Additionally, LSC will honor non-New Jersian Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Kitty Hawk, a company spun off from a Google moonshot effort to free the world from traffic. Kitty Hawk is developing all-electric, vertical take-off flying machines for everyday use. Known as the godfather of self-driving cars, as a Stanford professor in 2005, Thrun led a team that won the $2-million Defense Department Grand Challenge to build an autonomous vehicle which drove itself unassisted on a 132-mile course across the Mojave Desert. His winning entry, Stanley, is now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. While at Stanford, in 2011 he and colleague Peter Norvig offered their Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course online to anyone, for free. Over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled! The MOOC (which stands for Massive Open Online Course) was born, and Thrun founded the online education company Udacity, with the goal of democratizing education. Thrun relinquished his tenured Stanford professorship to join Google and founded the companys semi-secret R&D division called Google X (now called simply X) to develop breakthrough technologies, such as self-driving cars, that make the world a radically better place.

Ticket prices for The Genius of NJ start at $750 per guest with options for table sponsorship from $12,500 to $50,000. For more details, please visit The Genius of NJ online. All proceeds from this event will support LSCs mission to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

About Liberty Science Center

Liberty Science Center (LSC.org) is a 300,000-square-foot nonprofit learning center located in Liberty State Park on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated to inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers and bringing the power, promise, and pure fun of science and technology to learners of all ages, Liberty Science Center houses the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, 12 museum exhibition halls, a live animal collection with 110 species, giant aquariums, a 3D theater, live simulcast surgeries, a tornado-force wind simulator, K-12 classrooms and labs, and teacher-development programs. More than 250,000 students visit the Science Center each year, and tens of thousands more participate in the Centers off-site and online programs. Welcoming more than 750,000 visitors annually, LSC is the largest interactive science center in the NYC-NJ metropolitan area.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191125005713/en/

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Liberty Science Centers Inaugural Genius of New Jersey to Honor Innovators Who Make the State a World Leader in Cutting-Edge Applied Science - Yahoo...

Japan has the worlds oldest population, with 28 percent of all citizens comprising of elderly people above the age of 65. The secret to longevity lies not only in their healthy diet and lifestyle choices, but is influenced by a specific set of genes. Yes, the reason the country has 146 people over the age of 110 (referredto as supercentenarians) is simply good genes. This factor enabled them to stave off cancer and other deadly diseases for more than a century.

A new study conducted by the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Science (IMS) and Keio University School of Medicine in Japan sought to understand the genetics behind aging in supercentenarians by analyzing single-cell RNA sequencing.In the paperthat was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists investigated the immune cells of seven supercentenarians and made comparisons to the five subjects with ages between 50 and 80 years.

Researchers looked at 41,208 cells altogether from the elders with ages over 110, and 19,994 cells in the control group. The two cells part of the bodys immune response, which are B-cells and T-cells, were studied.It was found that B-cells had a lower count in the supercentenarians, while T-cells were at the same number in both groups.

However, the major finding was that supercentenarians had more of a particular subset of T-cells, namely CD4 T-cells that are capable of killing harmful cells, which wasonly possible by cytotoxic CD8 T-cells until then. In fact, 80 percent of the T-cells were composed of CD4 markers, whereas 10 to 20 percent of the T-cells had the marker in people of ages between 50 and 80.

The secret to aging may lie in your genes. Photo courtesy of Pexels

Since T-cells with CD8 markers are known to be cytotoxic, this means the CD4 markershad changed to acquire the new function, as per the researchers. This was not the case with the relatively younger subjects, this was the single most unique genetic characteristic of supercentenarians.

"This research shows how single-cell transcription analysis can help us to understand how individuals are more or less susceptible to diseases. CD4-positive cells generally work by generating cytokines, while CD8-positive cells are cytotoxic, and it may be that the combination of these two features allows these individuals to be especially healthy," Piero Carninci, IMS Deputy Director, said.

To understand the unusual phenomenon better, the researchers further studied the cells of two older participants, only to find another interesting fact about the CD4 T-cells: They had descended and multiplied from a single ancestral cell.

"We believe that this type of cells, which are relatively uncommon in most individuals, even young, are useful for fighting against established tumors, and could be important for immunosurveillance. This is exciting as it has given us new insights into how people who live very long lives are able to protect themselves from conditions such as infections and cancer," Carninci added.

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The Secret To Longevity Could Be Genetics - Medical Daily

Aging Analytics Agency

Co-authoring this article with me is my colleague Dmitry Kaminskiy, at Deep Knowledge Group.

People over 50 are the fastest growing demographic group worldwide. This creates both opportunities and challenges for the global economy and healthcare systems. The Longevity Industry, which provides products and services for those aged over 50 is becoming a multi-trillion-dollar industry. There are currently 260 companies, 250 investors, 10 non-profits, and 10 research labs in the Longevity Industry in the UK alone. In the next decade, Longevity policies enacted by governments, and changes in the financial industry will transform society. Achieving small but practical results in Longevity distributed at scale will have enormous and multiplicative effects on society. Extending the functional lifespan of humans by just one year will decrease suffering for tens of millions of people and will improve the quality of life for billions of people.

Despite having more potential to increase healthy Longevity in the short term than any other sector, AI for Longevity is an underrepresented sector in the Longevity Industry. AI holds enormous potential to rapidly accelerate the implementation of longevity research and development. To address this, Ageing Research at King's (ARK) in collaboration with the Biogerontology Research Foundation, Deep Knowledge Ventures (at which Dmitry and I are Managing Partners), along with others has established the Longevity AI Consortium at Kings College London. The Consortium will use King's world-leading advances in genetics, AI and ageing research to develop advanced personalized consumer and patient care. The Consortium will help accelerate advances in Longevity using a unique academic-industry focus on preventive and personalized physical, mental and financial health. The establishment of the AI Longevity Consortium and AI Longevity Accelerator at Kings College has the potential to help make the UK the worlds leading AI for Longevity Hub and creates an opportunity for huge advances in Longevity research which will benefit people all around the world.

Over the next few years, the Longevity AI Consortium plans to expand to include centers in Switzerland, Israel, Singapore and the US. This collaborative effort involves sophisticated methods for translating advanced AI for Longevity solutions, along with the development of advanced frameworks and technologies including novel applications of life data for insurance companies, pension funds, healthcare companies, and government bodies. These new technologies and instruments at the forefront of the rising Longevity Financial Industry provide practical applications of preventive medicine and precision health.

Sophisticated Analytical Frameworks for Precision Medicine and Longevity Diagnostics, Prognostics ... [+] and Therapeutic Benchmarking.

The Longevity AI Consortium will serve as a leading R&D hub and industry-academic hotspot for advanced AI-driven personalized preventive diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics. This represents a paradigm shift from treatment to prevention and a new frontier - from precision medicine to precision health, enabling the UK to become the leading global hub for the application of AI to Longevity and Precision Health. The Longevity AI Consortium plans to dedicate resources to R&D in other niches where the science is ahead of the funding: e.g. microbiome diagnostics and therapeutics, recent advancements and innovations in advanced cosmetics in particular. The Consortium aims to identify novel longevity and healthy ageing biomarkers, accelerate diagnosis of age-related health decline, develop personalised physical, mental and financial health to better implement and promote effective healthy lifestyles for longevity, such as modifying patterns in sleep, nutrition, physical activity, environmental exposure and financial planning.

The Longevity AI Consortium will use sophisticated and multidimensional analytical frameworks developed by Aging Analytics Agency to perform industry benchmarking in precision health and personalized preventive medicine clinics in order to construct the ideal diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic pipeline using the most advanced market-ready methods and technologies. The Consortium will develop a comprehensive cloud computing platform to enable the development of minimum viable and most comprehensive panels of biomarkers of aging, creating an ecosystem that incentivizes the participation of doctors, clinics, data providers, AI companies and corporate partners, and which enables efficient and streamlined commercialization and clinical implementation of both validated and experimental biomarkers of ageing as a framework for the extension of national Healthy Longevity in the UK.

This mind map provides an overview of the Longevity Industry UK Landscape including 260 companies, ... [+] 250 investors, 10 non-profits, and 10 research labs. (Image source Aging Analytics Agency).

Kings College London is the logical choice of location for the first Longevity AI Consortium, due to their unique combination of resources, departments and technologies for both AI and Longevity. Kings is also an ideal location for the AI Consortium because it has dedicated divisions and resources both for AI and for Longevity. Furthermore, being located in London, it is in an ideal physical location to engage in cross-sector and industry-academic collaboration. The AI Longevity Consortium is currently designing a complementary AI Consortium for Financial Wellness which will utilize financial and behavioural data to develop products and services to enable UK citizens to maintain financial stability, social activity and psychological well-being across extended periods of Healthy Longevity.

Currently there are only three centers in the world actively working to apply AI to precision health for healthy Longevity. These include the US based Buck Institute for Research on Aging, US based Y Combinator, and the US based AI Precision Health Institute (AI-PHI) at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. Only the AI-PHI has actually succeeded in practice. Now that the Longevity AI Consortium has been established at Kings College London, the UK can immediately leverage its existing resources, including its very well-developed AI industry and its reputation for extremely strong industry, academic, and governmental cooperative initiatives, to become the number one global hub for the application of AI to Longevity and Precision Health.

There are currently four major AI Centres for Healthcare in major industry, academic and metropolitan hubs in the UK, but none of them have a specific focus on Longevity, precision health and preventive medicine. While these centres serve as a precedent and proof-of-concept for the viability of an AI Centre for Longevity, they do not adequately address the need for a leading AI for Longevity R&D nexus within the UK capable of developing leading solutions, products and services that leverage the power of AI to implement practical, real-world product, services and solutions to extend citizens Healthy Longevity.

Sophisticated Analytical Frameworks for Precision Medicine and Longevity Diagnostics, Prognostics ... [+] and Therapeutic Benchmarking

2020 and Beyond

In 2020, following the completion of several key development milestones, the Longevity AI Consortium plans to launch an AI Longevity Accelerator Program that will serve as a much-needed bridge between startups focusing on AI for Longevity research and drug development and major UK investors. While the UKs AI and Longevity industry ecosystems are very developed individually, the number of longevity startups utilizing AI in a major way for their internal R&D is comparatively small. The potential impact presented by the synergy of these two sectors is huge. The UK government has heavily prioritized the separate sectors of AI and Longevity, including both sectors in the top 4 Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges. However, by uniting the AI and Longevity verticals in unique and convergent ways the UK could leverage the nations strengths in these industries to their maximum potential.

AI Longevity Accelerator at Kings College aims to develop an infrastructure to promote increased investments and developments in the AI for Longevity sector to provide AI for Longevity startups with relevant levels of funding. Startups selected for inclusion in the accelerator will also receive mentorship and incubation resources, and will gain access to a global network of experts in the areas of scientific R&D, business development and investment relations. The AI Accelerator will also provide startups with the tools necessary to grow, expand and evolve following their time in the Accelerator, and will equip them with the skills required to develop further through later-stage venture capital and government grants. Longevity companies that prove capable of achieving tangible results may become the next Googles, and investment firms that invest in those companies may become the SoftBanks and Vision Funds of tomorrow. AI holds enormous potential to rapidly accelerate the implementation of Longevity research and development. The establishment of the AI Longevity Consortium and AI Longevity Accelerator at Kings College has the potential to make the UK the worlds leading AI for Longevity Hub and creates an opportunity for huge advances in Longevity research which will benefit billions of people all around the world.

Click the box below for more information on the Longevity AI Consortium.

Click the box below for information on the AI Longevity Accelerator.

Click the box below for in-depth information about the Global Longevity Industry and explore a book that Dmitry and I co-authored: Longevity Industry 1.0 - Defining the Biggest and Most Complex Industry in Human History.

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Leveraging AI To Accelerate Precision Health For Longevity - Forbes

Feliciano Lpez got married to Sandra Gago earlier this year. Asked if they planned to have children, the Spanish player replied: "There are guys who take care of every detail and follow their routines while others travel with their family in tournaments.

I may become a father in a too far away future and I would like my child to come to see me play." On his longevity, Lopez added: "I did not expect to compete at the level I am. Turning 30, many of my friends were getting injured, dropping on the rankings and this age seemed difficult to overcome to me.

I was lucky to have a very good body and genetics to play tennis. It made me suffer a few injuries, so I changed the training regime and I started taking care of my eating regime. For a sportsman, dropping two or three kilos is major and so you start playing better.

Winning the Queen's title at 34 years of age and another time at 37 was very satisfying. I started thinking that it could not happen to me. Feeling competitive physically at this age made me stronger mentally because despite I travel with a physiotherapist that has been taking care of my body for years, I do not recover in the same way after matches.

"You have to handle the kind of sponsor because as a famous person you have a social responsibility. Brands like alcohols or betting companies, you have to be very careful."

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Feliciano Lopez planning to have children with wife in the future - Tennis World USA

Animal sociability through microbes

Accumulating evidence suggests that the microbiota living in and on animals has important functions in the social architecture of those animals. Sherwin et al. review how the microbiota might facilitate neurodevelopment, help program social behaviors, and facilitate communication in various animal species, including humans. Understanding the complex relationship between microbiota and animal sociability may also identify avenues for treating social disorders in humans.

Science, this issue p. eaar2016

Increasingly, it is recognized that the microbes resident in the gastrointestinal tract can influence brain physiology and behavior. Research has shown that the gastrointestinal microbiota can signal to the brain via a diverse set of pathways, including immune activation, production of microbial metabolites and peptides, activation of the vagus nerve, and production of various neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in the gut itself. Collectively, this bidirectional pathway is known as the microbiota-gut-brain axis. In the absence of a microbiota, germ-free and antibiotic-treated mice exhibit alterations to several central physiological processes such as neurotransmitter turnover, neuroinflammation, neurogenesis, and neuronal morphology. Perhaps as a result of these neurological alterations, the behavior of rodents lacking a microbiotaespecially social behavioris remarkably different from that of rodents colonized with bacteria. Conversely, supplementation of animals with certain beneficial live bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus) can lead to notable improvements in social behavior both in early life and in adulthood. Collectively, these results suggest that microbial signals are important for healthy neurodevelopment and programming of social behaviors in the brain. Although research on the functional and ecological implications of the gut microbiota in natural populations is growing, from an evolutionary perspective it remains unclear why and when relationships between microbes and the social brain arose. We propose that a trans-species analysis may aid in our understanding of human sociability.

Sociability comprises a complex range of interactive behaviors that can be cooperative, neutral, or antagonistic. Across the animal kingdom, the level of sociability an animal displays is variable; some are highly social (e.g., primates, termites, and honey bees), living within cooperative communities, whereas others have a mostly solitary existence (e.g., bears). Consequently, although studies on germ-free and antibiotic-treated animals have yielded insights into how the microbiota may influence social behaviors, they are perhaps too reductionist to fully appreciate the complex relationship between symbiotic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and host sociability when considering a broader zoological perspective. Some social interactions have evolved to facilitate horizontal transmission of microbiota. Observations across both invertebrate and vertebrate species suggest that factors such as diet and immunity generate selection pressures that drive the relationship between microbiota and social behavior. Although microbiota may influence behaviors endogenously through regulation of the gut-brain axis, some animal species may have evolved to use symbiotic bacteria exogenously to mediate communication between members of the same species. Hyenas, for example, produce an odorous paste from their scent glands that contains fermentative bacteria that is suggested to facilitate social cohesion among conspecifics. This complex relationship between animals and microbiota raises the hypothesis that microbes may have influenced the evolution of the social brain and behavior as a means to propagate their own genetic material.

Understanding the factors that affect the development and programming of social behaviors across the animal kingdom is important not only in terms of rethinking the evolution of brain physiology and behavior, but also in terms of providing greater insight into disorders of the social brain in humans [including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), social phobia, and schizophrenia]. Evidence for a link between the microbiota and these conditions is growing, and preclinical and emerging clinical data raise the hypothesis that targeting the microbiota through dietary or live biotherapeutic interventions can improve the associated behavioral symptoms in such neurodevelopmental disorders. Larger clinical trials are required to confirm the efficacy of such interventions before they are recognized as a first-line treatment for neurodevelopmental disorders. Although such connections between gut bacteria and neurodevelopmental disorders are currently an intriguing area of research, any role for the microbiota in the evolution of social behaviors in animals does not supersede other contributing factors. Rather, it adds an additional perspective on how these complex behaviors arose.

The bidirectional pathway between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system, the microbiota-gut-brain axis, influences various complex aspects of social behavior across the animal kingdom. Some animals have evolved their own unique relationship with their gut microbiota that may assist them in interacting with conspecifics. The relationship between the gut microbiota and social behavior may help to explain social deficits observed in conditions such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and could potentially lead to the development of new therapies for such conditions.

Sociability can facilitate mutually beneficial outcomes such as division of labor, cooperative care, and increased immunity, but sociability can also promote negative outcomes, including aggression and coercion. Accumulating evidence suggests that symbiotic microorganisms, specifically the microbiota that reside within the gastrointestinal system, may influence neurodevelopment and programming of social behaviors across diverse animal species. This relationship between host and microbes hints that host-microbiota interactions may have influenced the evolution of social behaviors. Indeed, the gastrointestinal microbiota is used by certain species as a means to facilitate communication among conspecifics. Further understanding of how microbiota influence the brain in nature may be helpful for elucidating the causal mechanisms underlying sociability and for generating new therapeutic strategies for social disorders in humans, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

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Microbiota and the social brain - Science Magazine