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Month: September 2018

Here in beautiful Basel, Switzerland we open the section Aging and Drug Discovery, actually an intersection of AI, longevity and drug discovery in the Innovation Forums of Basel Life Conference 2018. Dr Alex Zhavoronkov (InSilico Medicine) and Dr Morten Scheibye-Knudsen (University Copenhagen) welcomed us. Dr Jay Olshansky (University of Illinois at Chicago) gave the first lecture. Some examples for age face recognition were shown, emphasising the importance of wrinkles from smoking or others and suggesting that looking younger means living longer! After the wonderful lecture I immediately went to correct my make-up!

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There’s just a day to go until Apple holds its annual iPhone-centric event to introduce new iPhone models, with this year’s event expected to see the debut of the 5.8-inch OLED iPhone Xs, the 6.5-inch OLED iPhone Xs Max, and the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone, which could be called the iPhone Xr.

We’re also expecting to see new Apple Watch Series 4 models with larger displays thanks to reduced bezels and more accurate ECG-based heart monitoring technology. Other surprises could be in the works too, such as the launch of new second-generation AirPods and the debut of the long-awaited AirPower.

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In 1960, American physicist Freeman Dyson proposed the idea that an extremely advanced—and power-hungry—alien civilization could, in theory, harness the majority of their host star’s energy by building a vast structure around it to absorb its radiation.

Scientists in the field of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have carried out a number of searches for such structures, known as Dyson spheres—which could be constructed using material harvested from dismantled planets—without uncovering any compelling evidence for them.

Now, in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers from Uppsala University, Sweden, and Heidelberg University, Germany, have proposed a new way to look for Dyson spheres that may have some advantages over previous attempts.

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Since its acquisition of ITA Matrix Software eight years ago, Google has been quietly rolling out new tools for travelers. Its progress has been even more notable over the past months and weeks as it began unveiling tools to help predict flight delays, plan trips, and manage itineraries — among other things.

These changes have some wondering: Is Google making a run at total domination in the travel space? If it is, there’s a strong case to be made for its potential to disrupt the travel and hospitality sector with a similar approach to Amazon’s run at retail, and more recently grocery.

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Β-hydroxybutyrate seems to prevent senescence of vascular tissue.

According to a study by Georgia State University scientists, a molecule called β-hydroxybutyrate has anti-aging effects on the vascular system; more specifically, the molecule appears to prevent senescence of vascular cells by promoting cellular quiescence instead [1].

Study abstract

β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) elevation during fasting or caloric restriction is believed to induce anti-aging effects and alleviate aging-related neurodegeneration. However, whether β-HB alters the senescence pathway in vascular cells remains unknown. Here we report that β-HB promotes vascular cell quiescence, which significantly inhibits both stress-induced premature senescence and replicative senescence through p53-independent mechanisms. Further, we identify heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (hnRNP A1) as a direct binding target of β-HB binding to hnRNP A1 markedly enhances hnRNP A1 binding with Octamer-binding transcriptional factor Oct4 mRNA, which stabilizes Oct4 mRNA and Oct4 expression. Oct4 increases Lamin B1, a key factor against DNA damage-induced senescence. Finally, fasting and intraperitoneal injection of β-HB upregulate Oct4 and Lamin B1 in both vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells in mice in vivo.

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