]> http://www.jefallbright.net/taxonomy/term/187/0 en http://www.jefallbright.net/node/1853 <p>Life extension</p> Aging and life extension Sun, 03 Apr 2005 17:51:32 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3352 <p>Despite wide-ranging concerns about getting older, most Americans want to live longer than the current average. But not too much longer. If it were up to them, Americans on average would like to live to be 87 years old -- nine years older than current life expectancy. But there's a limit: Just a quarter volunteer that they'd like to live to 100 or older. And even if medical breakthroughs made living to 120 possible, most would say no thanks.<!--break-></p> <p>Sampling, data collection and tabulation for this poll were done by TNS.</p> <p>Quality of life is a major concern. One reason more people don't want to live to 100 is that most -- nearly two-thirds of adults -- don't think they could be that old and still enjoy a good quality of life. That consideration has a strong influence on desired longevity. Top concerns about aging include poor health, being unable to care for yourself and losing mental acuity. Lack of money, being unable to travel and being a burden on others are among the mid-tier concerns, while lowest on the list are being alone and -- in a very distant last place -- losing your looks. Beauty clearly is just skin deep. This ABC News/USA Today poll supports a joint reporting project on longevity, "Living Longer, Living Better," airing on ABC News programs the week of Oct. 24. Despite wishes for longevity, aging concerns clearly are widespread: Ninety-two percent of Americans are at least somewhat concerned about at least one of the 10 items tested in this survey, and 64 percent are concerned about five or more of them.</p> Aging and life extension Values Perspective Mon, 24 Oct 2005 11:11:01 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3343 <p>Consuming fish at least once a week was associated with a 10 percent per year slower rate of cognitive decline in elderly people, according to a new study posted online today from Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The study will be published in the December print edition of the journal.</p> <p>Fish is a direct source of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to be essential for neurocognitive development and normal brain functioning, according to background information in the article. Fish consumption has been associated with lower risk of dementia and stroke and recent studies have suggested that consumption of one omega-3 fatty acid in particular, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is important for memory performance in aged animals.</p> Aging and life extension Fish oil Health Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:10:10 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3303 <p>Louisiana State University scientists say they have discovered how the fatty acids found in fish oil help protect the human brain from the type of cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.</p> <p>Their study shows that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in coldwater fish such as mackerel, sardines and salmon, reduces levels of a protein known to cause damaging plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.</p> <p>What's more, the researchers discovered that a derivative of DHA, which they dubbed "neuroprotectin D1" (NPD1), is made in the human brain. That natural substance plays a key role, too, in protecting the brain from cell death, the study showed.</p> <p>"Now what does this tell us from the point of view of the disease? I believe that, obviously, diet is a major issue here," said Dr. Nicolas G. Bazan, director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.</p> Aging and life extension Fish oil Tue, 20 Sep 2005 18:20:50 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3234 <p>Radioactive fallout from nuclear tests serves as measuring stick.</p> <p>If wisdom comes with age, then brain cells are some of the wisest in the body: researchers have applied carbon dating to DNA to confirm that cells in the brain live longer than most others.</p> <p>This is a new application for the technique, which is traditionally used in archaeology and palaeoanthropology to pinpoint the age of fossils.</p> <p>Carbon dating looks at the ratio of radioactive carbon, which is naturally present at low levels in the atmosphere and food, to normal carbon within an organism. While a creature lives, eats and breathes, its ratio of radioactive to normal carbon will equal that of its environment. But when it dies, this ratio will fall, as the carbon-14 decays.</p> <p>Radioactive carbon decays slowly, such that a given amount of carbon-14 halves every 6,000 years. So detecting the subtle change in the ratio of normal to naturally occurring radioactive carbon over just a few years is incredibly hard.</p> <p>But Jonas Frisén of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, says it can be done if one takes advantage of the signal left by nuclear testing, which spewed high levels of carbon-14 into the air during the Cold War.</p> Aging and life extension Biotechnology Technology Efficiency Mon, 25 Jul 2005 10:21:34 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3182 <p>A new class of drug may increase alertness without any of the jitteriness of over-stimulation, suggest the results of a small clinical trial released this week.</p> <p>A compound dubbed CX717, a member of the new class called ampakines, significantly improved performance on tests of memory, attention, alertness, reaction time and problem solving in healthy men deprived of sleep.</p> <p>The study was carried out by Julia Boyle at the Sleep Research Centre at the University of Surrey, UK, and her colleagues on behalf of Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in Irvine, California, US.</p> Aging and life extension Biotechnology Cognitive science Human augmentation Intelligence amplification Learning Memory Mental enhancement Modafinil Neurobiology of aging Sleep Technology Transhumanism Well-being Efficiency Extropy Fri, 06 May 2005 11:41:17 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3157 <p>In this expanded interview transcript, inventor Ray Kurzweil discusses birth, death, and the potential offered by non-biological thinking processes.<br /> By: Lucas Conley</p> <p>Fast Company: First off, without death, CEOs will never give up their jobs. There won't be any succession plans.</p> <p>Ray Kurzweil: I don't think we need to kill people off to provide opportunity for new leadership and creativity. The marketplace of ideas and technologies is going to expand -- it has been for years. Look at the computer industry. 60 years ago it was a handful of research projects, and now it's a trillion-dollar industry.</p> <p>FC: But biotech? Who's to say how quickly it will advance?</p> <p>Kurzweil: A lot of people say you can't really tell the future, and there are certain things that are hard to predict. What will Google's stock be three years from now? That's hard to predict. But if you ask me what it will cost to sequence a base pair of DNA in 2010 or the cost to move a megabyte of data wirelessly in 2015, those things turn out to be remarkably predictable.</p> Aging and life extension Collective intelligence Computing Consciousness Culture Futurology Human augmentation Intelligence amplification Nanotechnology Progress Ray Kurzweil Singularity Technology Technology and Society Ubiquitous computing Superorganism Extropy Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:07:53 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3135 <p>Are you ready for the posthuman future? That is the frightening question posed by Wesley J. Smith in his new book, Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World. Smith, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture, has written another book that demands the attention of every thoughtful Christian.</p> <p>We are living in an age of radical transformations in science, technology, and worldview. Standing at the center of the worldview now dominant in our society is an affirmation that human beings have the right, if not the responsibility, to "improve" themselves in every way. In a culture that celebrates youth, attractiveness, and achievement, the idea of personal improvement is now being stretched beyond what previous generations could have imagined.</p> <p>"It is a natural human desire to manipulate our bodies to look better, feel better, and age better," Smith explains. "We not only wish to be free of disease, but also deeply desire to remain youthful in appearance and physical vigor."</p> <p>With "Botox parties" and cosmetic surgery now becoming routine, many Americans simply assume that personal enhancement is a basic right. Now, some want to push beyond natural biological barriers in order to achieve even greater "enhancements" in the future. We now face the undeniable truth that at least some of our fellow citizens are ready to use genetic enhancements, cloning technologies, and germ line engineering to achieve what some now call a posthuman future.</p> <p>Genetic modifications and germ line therapies differ from previous technologies of personal enhancement, Smith explains. Plastic surgery--even something as radical as what are called sex change procedures--affect only one individual's body. Nothing from those surgeries impacts the genetic inheritance passed down to subsequent generations.</p> <p>All this changes when genetic modifications and germ line technologies enter the picture.</p> <p>"What if a father could insert a gene to transform his daughter into the concert pianist he always wanted to be, or an atheist do likewise to ensure that his children would be genetically predisposed (if it proves possible) to shun religious belief?" Smith asks, adding, "And what if these modifications passed down the generations?"</p> <p>Existing medical technologies would not yet allow these developments. Nevertheless, with the successful cloning of other mammals, the completion of the Human Genome Project, and the creation of transgenic human-animal hybrids, science fiction is likely soon to become science fact.</p> <p>Smith warns that all this could lead to what some now call a posthuman race. Others are now pushing for what they call transhumanism, which Smith warns is now "organizing with the intensity of a religious revival."</p> Ethics and Morality Aging and life extension Technological conservatism Technology and Society Values Thu, 24 Feb 2005 18:40:29 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3134 <p>Vatican officials on Thursday decried what they called a "religion of health" in affluent societies and held out Roman Catholic Pope John Paul's stoic suffering as an antidote to the mentality that modern medicine must cure all.</p> <p>"While millions of people in the world struggle to survive hunger and disease, lacking even minimal health care, in rich countries the concept of health as well-being figures in creating unrealistic expectations about the possibility of medicine to respond to all needs and desires," said Rev. Maurizio Faggioni, a theologian and morality expert on the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life.</p> Ethics and Morality Aging and life extension Health Science and ethics Technological conservatism Universal health care Thu, 24 Feb 2005 18:22:26 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3132 <p>Halting aging and the development of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may one day be as simple as seeing the doctor for a mitochondrial "tune up."</p> <p>The tune up, currently in the early stages of development, would repair mutations that occur in mitochondria and are believed to contribute to many afflictions, from diabetes to heart disease.</p> <p>From biology class, you may remember that mitochondria are the "powerhouses of the cell." These tiny organelles manufacture ATP, which is used as a source of energy. Besides manufacturing ATP, mitochondria are also involved in apoptosis, sending a "suicide" signal to cells.</p> <p>Mitochondria are unique from other cell organelles because they contain their own DNA. This leaves them susceptible to genetic mutations in the form of DNA damage. Scientists believe that when a cell divides, mitochondria can lose important information, which can contribute to disease and aging.</p> <p>Correcting defects</p> <p>To combat this DNA damage, Shaharyar Khan and Rafal Smigrodzki of the University of Virginia are developing a therapy that could potentially prevent mitochondrial diseases and possibly many aspects of aging.</p> Aging and life extension Mitochondrial damage Rafal Smigrodzki Thu, 24 Feb 2005 16:14:39 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3043 <p>"I am committed to the notion that both individual fulfillment and the ecological balance of life on this planet are best served by dying when our inherent biology decrees that we do. I am equally committed to making that age as close to our biologically probable maximum of approximately 120 years as modern biomedicine can achieve, and also to efforts at decreasing and compressing the years of morbidity and disabilities now attendant on extreme old age."<br /> - Sherwin Nuland</p> Aging and life extension Quotes Technological conservatism Tue, 18 Jan 2005 21:26:39 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3038 <p>When the federal government assesses the long-term financial problems of Social Security, it assumes that increases in life expectancy will be slow and measured. But many population experts say they believe that Americans' life expectancy will increase rapidly in the 21st century, making the program's financial problems even worse.</p> <p>President Bush and Congress are preparing for a debate over the future of Social Security, whose solvency depends not only on factors including productivity, inflation and birth rates but also on how long beneficiaries will be living.</p> <p>Life expectancy at birth increased by 30 years in the last century, and many independent demographers, citing the promise of biomedical research and the experience of some other industrialized countries, predict significant increases in this century. The Social Security Administration foresees a much slower rise.</p> <p>"Life expectancy will make a very big difference in the fiscal viability of Social Security, but the agency's projections of longevity appear too conservative," said Prof. Samuel H. Preston of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the nation's leading demographers.</p> <p>Dr. Preston said the agency assumed that "past advances in life expectancy are unrepeatable, even though the medical research establishment is routinely producing important breakthroughs that reduce the incidence or fatality of a variety of diseases."</p> Aging and life extension Population Sociological issues Sociology Subsistence income Technology and Society Tue, 04 Jan 2005 17:11:30 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/2917 <p>Doctors have found important new evidence to explain why mental function becomes less efficient with ageing. In the first study of its type in the world, a team at the University of Edinburgh found that worse mental function is linked with abnormally enlarged channels around blood vessels in the brain. The report, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, will help doctors to better understand the causes of dementia.</p> <p>Dementia and milder forms of loss of mental ability affects millions of older people every year, but the causes are unclear. Previous research using brain scanning has shown that brain shrinkage and changes in the brain's white matter 'wiring', are associated with mental function slowing down in old age. This research adds a new way in which damage to the brain may result in dementia and other mental loss in older people.</p> Aging and life extension Cognitive science Neurobiology of aging Fri, 29 Oct 2004 18:36:50 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/2914 <p>Do not go gently into that good night.<br /> Old age should burn and rage at the close of day.<br /> Rage, rage against the dying of the light.<br /> - Dylan Thomas</p> Aging and life extension Quotes Mon, 18 Oct 2004 19:00:12 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/2895 <p>Childhood is a special time indeed. If only we could maintain our body functions as they are at age 10, we could expect to live about 5000 years on average. Unfortunately, from age 11 on, it's all downhill!</p> <p>The problem is that our bodies deteriorate with age. For most of our lives, the risk of death is increasing exponentially, doubling every eight years. So, why do we fall apart, and what can we do about it?</p> <p>Many scientists now believe that, for the first time in human history, we have developed a sophisticated enough understanding of the nature of human aging to begin seriously planning ways to defeat it. These scientists are working from a simple but compelling notion: the body, far from being a perfect creation, is a failure-prone, defect-ridden machine formed through the stochastic process of biological evolution. In this view, we can be further improved through genetic engineering and be better maintained through preventive, regenerative, and antiaging medicine and by repairing and replacing worn-out body parts. In short, the rate at which we fall apart could be decreased, maybe even to a negligible level.</p> <p>The quest to understand and control aging has led us, two biologists, to draw inspiration from what might seem an unlikely source: reliability engineering. The engineering approach to understanding aging is based on ideas, methods, and models borrowed from reliability theory. Developed in the late 1950s to describe the failure and aging of complex electrical and electronic equipment, reliability theory has been greatly improved over the past several decades. It allows researchers to predict how a system with a specified architecture and level of reliability of its constituent parts will fail over time.</p> Aging and life extension Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:38:57 -0400