GlaxoSmithKline has said research shows its Covid-19 antibody treatment is effective against the full combination of mutations in the new Omicron variant.
5h ago.
Tests done in-vitro against a pseudo-virus that recreates a synthesised version of Omicron showed that sotrovimab, Glaxo’s antibody treatment, stands up to all mutations in the spike protein of the omicron variant and not just the key mutations, the drugmaker said in a statement on Tuesday. The tests included all 37 mutations identified to-date in the spike protein.
Transhumanism, briefly explained, means the modification of human beings through technology and engineering. It employs a variety of methods used to cure ailments, or upgrading humans just for the sake of it. Creating people that are smarter, stronger, healthier, or more productive.
It comes with plenty of social and ethical implications and challenges. How will we face this future? Let’s find out today.
Notes and References: [1] Harari, N.Y. (2017). Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. HarperCollins Publishing: New York, NY [2] Niller, E. (2018, August 10). Why Gene Editing Is the Next Food Revolution. Time. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/food-technology-gene-editing. [3] Epstein, L.R., Lee, S.S., Miller, M.F., & Lombardi, H.A. (2021). CRISPR, animals, and FDA oversight: Building a path to success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(22) e2004831117, doi:10.1073/pnas.2004831117 [4] Park, A. (2019, August 6). CRISPR Gene Editing Is Being Tested in Human Patients, and the Results Could Revolutionize Health Care. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/5642755/crispr-gene-editing-humans/ [5][Neuralink]. (2021, April 8). Monkey MindPong[Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCul1sp4hQ [6] Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina E. & Roser, M. (2013). Life Expectancy. OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy. [7] Sinclair, D.A. & LaPlante, M.D. (2019). Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To. Atria Books: New York, NY. [8] Kharpal, A. (2017, February 13). Elon Musk: Humans must merge with machines or become irrelevant in AI age. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/13/elon-musk-humans-merge-machines-cyborg-artificial-intelligence-robots.html. [9] Humanity+ —World Transhumanist Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://humanityplus.org.
Do you want to learn more about Transhumanism? Check out these sources! [Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell]. (2020, December 10). Can You Upload Your Mind & Live Forever?[Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b33NTAuF5E. [Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell]. (2017, October 20). Why Age? Should We End Aging Forever?[Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoJsr4IwCm4&t=1s. [Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell]. (2017, November 3). How to Cure Aging – During Your Lifetime?[Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjdpR-TY6QU [BBC Ideas]. (2019, December 31). Transhumanism: Will humans evolve to something smarter? | A-Z of ISMs Episode 20 — BBC Ideas[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVmuU04-X5E
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Wakanda, the mythical setting for Marvel’s superhero film “Black Panther,” is home to some not-so-mythical technology. An indestructible cape might not yet be possible, but Wakanda’s levitating high-speed trains could zoom into reality with the help of superconductors.
Now, a new discovery about electron behavior may represent a step toward that superpowered world.
Superconductors give electrons—and, therefore, electricity—resistance-free highways. They have the potential to create power lines that permit super-fast transmission without shedding energy, enhance imaging technologies like MRIs, and levitate more than trains. But most of today’s fledgling superconductors require extremely cold temperatures to work. And while some scientists hope to find an answer in the right combination of materials, the solution might be hidden in how electrons move, not only what they move through.
A team of researchers affiliated with a host of institutions in China and the U.S. has found that injecting procyanidin C1 (PCC1), a chemical found in grape seed extract, into older mice extended their lifespan. In their paper published in the journal Nature Metabolism, the group describes the link between PCC1 and extended lifespan in mice and the experiments they carried out with the material.
Scientists have been trying for many years to understand the aging process. The hope is that once it is understood, mitigation efforts can slow or stop the process to allow people to live longer or to live in a more healthy way as they age. In this new effort, the researchers screened 46 plant extracts looking for anti-aging capabilities. They came across PCC1. Initial tests during screening showed it reduced the number of senescent cells in the human prostate. Such cells are known to contribute to aging. Intrigued with their results, the researchers tested it further. They found that at low doses it prevented senescent cells from contributing to inflammation, and at higher doses killed them outright without harming other cells.
The team then injected 171 mice with PCC1, 91 of whom were considered to be old. They found that this increased the overall lifespan of the mice by 9 percent and their remaining lifespans by 60 percent, on average. The researchers also injected younger mice with the extract chemical over a period of four months and found it improved their physical fitness. They then injected mice that had cancerous tumors with the chemical and found that doing so helped to shrink tumors when given in conjunction with chemotherapy. They also found it did the same with human tumor cells implanted into mice.
In their quest to discover effective new medicines, scientists search for drug-like molecules that can attach to disease-causing proteins and change their functionality. It is crucial that they know the 3D shape of a molecule to understand how it will attach to specific surfaces of the protein.
But a single molecule can fold in thousands of different ways, so solving that puzzle experimentally is a time consuming and expensive process akin to searching for a needle in a molecular haystack.
MIT researchers are using machine learning to streamline this complex task. They have created a deep learning model that predicts the 3D shapes of a molecule solely based on a graph in 2D of its molecular structure. Molecules are typically represented as small graphs.
Very technical and it’s from the usually secretive Calico.
Jacob Kimmel of Calico Labs discusses how cells can be reprogrammed to restore youthful expression through transient suppression of cell identity at Lifespan.io’s 2021 EARD conference.
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Jacob Kimmel is a Principal Investigator at Calico Life Sciences leading a research program focused on repurposing developmental programs to address aging and age-related disease. His recent work has revealed the influence of cell identity on aging trajectories, discovered mechanisms of age-related impairment in muscle stem cells and developed machine learning methods for the analysis of single-cell genomics data. Prior to Calico, Jacob completed Ph.D. training with Wallace Marshall and Andrew Brack at the University of California San Francisco where he developed methods to measure cell state transitions with timelapse microscopy techniques.
Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is an Alphabet-founded research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies and model systems to increase our understanding of the biology that controls human aging.
The annual Ending Age-Related Diseases (EARD) conference by Lifespan.io brings together longevity thought leaders together to exchange research reports, inspire and get inspired with new ideas, find collaborators, supporters, and mentors. In terms of thumbnails, maybe you can do something with the life cycle of a frog, but in reverse? The way he starts the presentation is by asking whether ontogeny or the origination of an organism, can be reversed.
Looking for science fiction books to read? Here are my reviews of some excellent science fiction novels (more to come as well). I encourage you to utilize my reviews to help inform your decisions about your next literary adventure!
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: 98/100. Much of the essence of art is to reflect what makes us human, helping us better explain to ourselves what makes us tick. Station Eleven is a science fiction novel about a deadly flu pandemic which brings about the end of the world. Notably, it was written several years prior to the emergence of COVID-19. Emily St. John Mandel wields the premise masterfully to touch our souls and help us come to terms with human kindness, cruelty, hope, and vulnerability. Through its deep tragedy and heartfelt characters, the book manages to link questions of the individual and the global. We take a hard look at how the meaning of civilization connects to the meaning of life. Emily St. John Mandel’s prose puts billions to death. Those who survive must find purpose against the backdrop of the visceral viciousness of the apocalypse.
Bitcoin Vs Gold: Peter Schiff Vs Anthony Scaramucci.
Peter Shiff makes several points about gold:
Gold: it has physical properties that makes it real and valuable. It’ll never lose its value. Gold has a long history and has been used for thousands of years.
Peter Schiff makes several points against bitcoin:
Bitcoin is not anything real. It’s just a string of numbers.
It has no real value because there are no properties that makes it valuable.
It is a bubble ready to explode because there’s no value in hanging onto bitcoin because there’s no utility for it outside of selling it to someone else for a higher price.
Anthony Scaramucci didn’t make an argument against gold necessarily but defended bitcoin. :
Bitcoin is guarded against inflation. The value of Bitcoin doesn’t depreciate like the dollar bill does. If you leave $100.00in the bank today it’ll actually be worth less due to inflation.
Bitcoin is the currency of the future because we are becoming a more digitized society.
The value in bitcoin is it is largely user driven. The users of Bitcoin has grown exponentially.
Question: is something valuable because enough people believe it’s valuable or is something valuable because of the properties that makes it valuable?
Peter Schiff and Anthony Scaramucci debate Bitcoin vs. Gold.
This debate is a part of Intelligence Squared Crypto a new series from Intelligence Squared debating the rise of cryptocurrency and future of money.
Since the world economy was plunged into crisis due to COVID-19 many economists have predicted a period of great instability. In normal times, investors would seek to hedge against volatility by buying gold. But this time, some are putting their money elsewhere – into Bitcoin and other digital assets. And that raises a fundamental question: will Bitcoin or gold be the trusted store of value and asset of the future in a time of rising inflation?
Anthony Scaramucci and Peter Schiff go head to head to debate. The host is Anne McElvoy.
This debate series is in partnership with EQONEX. Register to be in the virtual audience for our next debate on ‘banking the unbanked’ and you’ll also be in with the chance to win a share of $5,000 EQO.
Register free for ‘Crypto Can Bank the Unbanked’ debate on September 9: https://bit.ly/3zaYL6B –
As we age, our muscles gradually become smaller, weaker and less able to heal after injury. In a new study, UPMC and University of Pittsburgh researchers pinpoint an important mediator of youthfulness in mouse muscle, a discovery that could advance muscle regeneration therapies for older people.
Published today in Nature Aging, the study demonstrates that circulating shuttles called extracellular vesicles, or EVs, deliver genetic instructions for the longevity protein known as Klotho to muscle cells. Loss of muscle function and impaired muscle repair in old mice may be driven by aged EVs, which carry fewer copies of these instructions than those in young animals.
The findings are an important advance in understanding why the capacity for muscles to regenerate dwindles with age.
