Elena Milova continues her coverage of the recent conference on aging in St-Peterberg.
During my recent journey to Saint-Petersburg to attend the in situ education program of the International Institute on Ageing of the United Nations, Malta (INIA), I asked one of the main speakers, former Head of the UN Programs on Ageing Dr. Alexandre Sidorenko, to find a few minutes to talk about his work.
Elena Milova was our official LEAF Ambassador at a special education program organized by the International Institute on Ageing of the United Nations, Malta (INIA). We are all really proud of the hard work she has been doing for aging research.
Here is her discussion with Dr. Marvin Formosa — director of the INIA. Enjoy!
2017 begins on Monday in Vancouver, Canada, and will explore the theme “The Future You.” If the future you is anything like the future us, you are likely curled up in a big cushy chair right now, devouring the contents of a book that flips your thinking. Below, some reading suggestions from the speaker program. Read, enjoy and stay tuned to the TED Blog for beat-by-beat coverage of the conference.
TED2017 begins on Monday in Vancouver, Canada, and will explore the theme “The Future You.” If the future you is anything like the future us, you are likely curled up in a big cushy chair right now, devouring the contents of a book that flips your thinking. Below, some reading suggestions from the speaker program. Read, enjoy and stay tuned to the TED Blog for beat-by-beat coverage of the conference.
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil. The decisions that affect our lives are no longer made by humans — they’re made by algorithms. This might sound like a great way around bias and discrimination, but these things are often built right into our mathematical models. When it comes to college admissions, decisions on parole, applications to jobs and the affects of a bad credit score, O’Neil explores the unintended consequences of algorithms. (Read an excerpt.)
The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer by Elizabeth Blackburn and Elissa Epel. Molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discovery of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that — like shoelace tips — keep our genetic information from fraying. Both telomeres and telomerase, an enzyme that restores worn-down telomeres, appear central to the aging process. This book looks at the research — then turns its attention to how our thoughts, bodies and social worlds affect us on the cellular level.
Some people fear rejuvenation therapies would be only for the privileged, and yet some others think they would be imposed on everyone. This article discusses the latter case.
Somebody once told me they fear that, if we created rejuvenation therapies, they might be forced on people who don’t want them, and in a way, we’d end up forcing people to live ‘forever’. Is this a good reason not to develop rejuvenation? No, of course not. I mean, imagine if we never came up with blood transfusions for fear that Jehovah’s witnesses might be forced to undergo them!
Besides, if rejuvenation therapies shouldn’t be invented because someone is afraid they’d be forced on people who want to grow old and die, let me ask: How about the people who do not want to grow old and die and yet would be forced to, because somebody else didn’t want rejuvenation therapies to be created? Dying despite the existence of rejuvenation therapies is certainly more easily attained than not dying despite the lack of rejuvenation therapies.
Rejuvenation is a set of medical interventions, and as such, a patient has the right to refuse all of them, if they want to. Indeed, the right to refuse or halt medical intervention already exists (see this WHO paper of 1994, page 11, article 3.2, which states this right for European Citizens, for example), so, if one really doesn’t want to undergo rejuvenation treatments, that is in their right already.
Quercetin may be able to influence apoE and could be a potential therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease.
The Apolipoprotein E connection
The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease and as the average life expectancy has risen in recent decades so has the occurrence of this and other neurodegenerative diseases. Aging is the primary risk factor for Alzheimer’s and researchers are searching for new ways to combat this devastating disease.
The pathology of Alzheimer’s is characterized by the formation of tau-tangles and the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) which damage neurons and gradually destroy sections of the brain leading to death. The debate over which is primary, tau or amyloid is ongoing and it remains unclear which is the most important of the two, or if both are a consequence of another underlying process.
Fight aging is a site that is highly focused on radical life extension medicine and science. They have a forecast that within five years the first meaningful life extension treatments will exist.
Senescent cell clearing overseas within five years for $5K-25K .
For two decades, the architect Stephen Valentine has been designing, planning and developing — though not yet building — a structure quite unlike anything built before. He calls the building Timeship and describes it as a repository for the technologies and people working to stretch the boundaries of being human, a Silicon Valley for life-extension research.
It’s the first take on an architecture of immortality, but is cryogenics hub Timeship a grand delusion or looming reality?
Primarily talking about CRISPR.
Daisy Robinton explores bioengineering and its potential to end ageing.
“The use of gene-editing technology paired with the dropping cost of genome sequencing and analysis is greatly facilitating our ability to understand the functional and mechanistic impact of those genetic mutations on diseases caused by mutations in DNA sequence,” she says.
ABOUT WIRED HEALTH 2017
Hundreds of healthcare, pharmaceutical and technology influencers and leaders met at the fifth annual WIRED Health event at 30 Euston Square, London on March 9. Discover some of the fascinating insights from the esteemed speakers here: http://wired.uk/O6xMxJ
ABOUT WIRED EVENTS
WIRED events shine a spotlight on the innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs who are changing our world for the better. Explore this channel for videos showing on-stage talks, behind-the-scenes action, exclusive interviews and performances from our roster of events. Join us as we uncover the most relevant, up-and-coming trends and meet the people building the future.
ABOUT WIRED
WIRED brings you the future as it happens — the people, the trends, the big ideas that will change our lives. An award-winning printed monthly and online publication. WIRED is an agenda-setting magazine offering brain food on a wide range of topics, from science, technology and business to pop-culture and politics.
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Beets are a common sweetening ingredient in the juices you’ll find at most health food stores, but a recent study found another reason to drink the bright red juice: It has anti-aging benefits.
Researchers at Wake Forest University knew that exercise has positive anti-aging effects on the brain, and were looking for ways to increase those benefits.
“What we showed in this brief training study of hypertensive older adults was that, as compared to exercise alone, adding a beet root juice supplement to exercise resulted in brain connectivity that closely resembles what you see in younger adults,” W. Jack Rejeski, co-author of the study, told EurekAlert.
Calling all Longevity Superheroes!
We have launched our Lifespan Heroes campaign to raise funds for LEAF so we can continue delivering quality content, exclusive interviews, scientific commentaries, advocacy and more.
We have made amazing progress over the last two years thanks to our volunteers, but now we need some help from our heroes — the longevity community.
With support from heroes like you we can keep improving Lifespan.io, act on your suggestions, and offer unique rewards to you and the longevity community. Join us!
The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease and as the average life expectancy has risen in recent decades so has the occurrence of this and other neurodegenerative diseases. Aging is the primary risk factor for Alzheimer’s and researchers are searching for new ways to combat this devastating disease.