Ever wonder why some people can drink regularly, smoke, eat all of the “wrong foods” and still live past 100? We’ve known that lifespan has a strong genetic component despite being affected by lifestyle factors. Now scientists believe they have identified the “genetic signature” that can tell us who is more likely to live for [...]
Posts under ‘Longevity’
R.U. Sirius offers his utopian vision for a transhuman future
One of my favorite blogs, io9, has been running a series of posts on “posthumanity” from both fiction and real-life. Today R.U. Sirius of h+ Magazine has a great post up about his “best-case scenario for posthumanity.” In it, he describes what his ideal vision of the future might look like, which includes open-source style [...]
Top 5 TED talks on transhumanism
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) brings together some of the world’s top thinkers at conferences around the world to deliver short presentations on “ideas worth spreading.” Not surprisingly, several speakers have delivered talks on topics of interest to transhumanists, such as life extension, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and more. One of the great things about TED is [...]
Supplement cocktail extends life in mice
Researchers in Canada have discovered that a cocktail of “natural” supplements can extend the lives of mice up to 10 percent, keep them active longer into old age, and even make them smarter. From CBC News: David Rollo, a professor of biology at McMaster has found a cocktail of 30 dietary supplements such as B [...]
Which supplements are worth your money?
Choosing which health supplements to take can be fairly daunting, as manufacturers make a lot of claims that are often not backed up with firm scientific evidence. Information is Beautiful is a Web site that takes information and conveys it through well-designed graphs and charts. They’ve evaluated the evidence of supplements for use in treating [...]
Family of deceased woman sues Alcor to stop cryonic preservation, payment of $50K annuity
71 year-old Mary Robbins was suffering from cancer when she decided to sign up with Alcor to have her head and brain preserved after death – a deal which also required her to pay a $50,000 annuity to the life-extension foundation to cover preservation costs. She was (is?) one of 915 others who are members of [...]
Stem cell therapy lengthens telomeres for those with premature aging disease
People with a rare premature aging disease called dyskeratosis congenita (DKC) experience many of the symptoms we associate with the normal aging process – such as gray hair – but also experience serious symptoms such as anemia and a predisposition to cancer. It is thought that the symptoms of DKC are brought on by the [...]
More evidence that exercise preserves telomeres, keeps cells young
Evidence keeps building that exercise can preserve telomere length, thus keeping cells young, and in theory, slowing aging. A German study looked at several groups, both young and old – some didn’t get much exercise, and some got crazy amounts of exercise, running upwards of 45 – 50 miles a week. They found that among [...]
HumanPlus Blog Linkstravaganza: 1/29/10
It’s Friday. Here’s some sweet linkage to check out over the weekend: io9 asks if vat-grown meat is kosher. I would think yes, but they consult a rabbi who gives a more nuanced answer. Boing Boing notes the doctor who created the “MMR vaccine scare” could lose his license. Good riddance to bad researchers. Climate [...]
Exercise may preserve telomeres, prevent aging
Chalk up another potential benefit to endurance training – a German study showed that physical activity in distance runners activated the enzyme telomerase, which helped preserve telomeres. Telomeres are described as “protective caps on the chromosomes that keep a cell’s DNA stable but shorten with age.” Researchers are calling the study “direct evidence” that physical [...]