On its surface, the plan was simple: gene-hack mosquitoes so their offspring immediately die, mix them with disease-spreading bugs in the wild, and watch the population drop off. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite pan out.
The genetically-altered mosquitoes did mix with the wild population, and for a brief period the number of mosquitoes in Jacobino, Brazil did plummet, according to research published in Nature Scientific Reports last week. But 18 months later the population bounced right back up, New Atlas reports — and even worse, the new genetic hybrids may be even more resilient to future attempts to quell their numbers.
Age is not the definitive factor it’s made out to be when it comes to our health. We can use our age as a baseline for tracking our health and longevity, but it isn’t stagnant. For example, certain types of testing can help us compare our biological age to our calendar age in order to tinker with our wellness routine and achieve the milestones we’re after. With the right steps, we can slow down and even sometimes reverse the aging process.
When it comes to our biological age, or the measure of how well our body is actually functioning for whatever life stage we are in, there are many things that impact it. Diet, lifestyle patterns like exercise and sleep, and stress are all involved in forming our biological age, along with many other factors like blood sugar, inflammation, and genetics. This week on The Doctor’s Farmacy, I’m joined by Dr. David Sinclair to explore the topic of longevity and anti-aging and how he reduced his own internal age by more than 20 years. Dr. Sinclair is a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School, where he and his colleagues study longevity, aging, and how to slow its effects.
This episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is brought to you by ButcherBox. Now through September 29, 2019, new subscribers to ButcherBox will receive ground beef for life. When you sign up today, ButcherBox will send you 2lbs of 100% pasture-raised grass-fed, grass finished beef free in every box for the life of your subscription. Plus listeners will get an additional $20 off their first box. All you have to do is head over to ButcherBox.com/farmacy _____________________________________
Dr. Hyman is an 11-time New York Times bestselling author, family physician and international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. His podcast, The Doctor’s Farmacy, is a place for deep conversations about the critical issues of our time in the space of health, wellness, food and politics. New episodes are released every Wednesday here on YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Medications that mitigate inflammation caused by a variety of diseases including rheumatic arthritis may also compromise a person’s immune system, but a new approach points to a possible solution to this problem.
Researchers have discovered a mechanism that might alleviate inflammation by suppressing the migration of a type of white blood cells called neutrophils. The cells migrate within tissues in order to kill pathogens but may also cause excessive inflammation, resulting in tissue injury and other adverse effects.
The scientists identified a genetic molecule called miR-199, a type of “microRNA,” which reduces the migration of neutrophils, therefore potentially relieving inflammation without compromising the immune system.
In experiments in mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have developed a way to successfully transplant certain protective brain cells without the need for lifelong anti-rejection drugs.
A report on the research, published Sept. 16 in the journal Brain, details the new approach, which selectively circumvents the immune response against foreign cells, allowing transplanted cells to survive, thrive and protect brain tissue long after stopping immune-suppressing drugs.
The ability to successfully transplant healthy cells into the brain without the need for conventional anti-rejection drugs could advance the search for therapies that help children born with a rare but devastating class of genetic diseases in which myelin, the protective coating around neurons that helps them send messages, does not form normally. Approximately 1 of every 100,000 children born in the U.S. will have one of these diseases, such as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease. This disorder is characterized by infants missing developmental milestones such as sitting and walking, having involuntary muscle spasms, and potentially experiencing partial paralysis of the arms and legs, all caused by a genetic mutation in the genes that form myelin.
Recent genome-wide association studies have catapulted the search for genes underlying human intelligence into a new era. Genome-wide polygenic scores promise to transform research on individual differences in intelligence, but not without societal and ethical implications, as the authors discuss in this Review.
Are humans born with “intelligence” genes, or is human intelligence determined by environmental factors, such as economic status or easy access to education?
When a team of researchers set out to answer this question, they discovered that more than 500 genes were associated with intelligence. The results, published in Nature Genetics, indicate that intelligence is much more complex than previously thought.
Intelligence, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is the ability to learn new information and apply it to different situations. Despite this simple definition, many elements of intelligence are difficult to nail down.
Today, we’re offering another talk from Ending Age-Related Diseases 2019, our highly successful two-day conference that featured talks from leading researchers and investors, bringing them together to discuss the future of aging and rejuvenation biotechnology.
In her talk, Morgan Levine of the Yale School of Medicine discussed epigenetic biomarkers in detail, discussing the ways in which co-methylation networks provide insight into senescent cells and other facets of biological age.
A deadly fungus is spreading through banana plantations, and the cloned bananas we eat are defenseless. In labs around the world, scientists are trying to find ways to genetically alter the fruit to make it resistant.
