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Dr Millers paper here hits the nail on the head for me about aging research and how we can speed it up.

“The time spent by gerontologists debating whether aging is a single process or many would be better devoted to trying to figure out the mechanistic links between the master clock whose existence is strongly suggested by the unitarian argument and the many cell-specific, organ-specific, and organism-wide processes that march in crude synchrony at species-specific rates.”

Yes! This is exactly the attitude to take. Too much debate and argument instead of buckling down and getting the research done to prove or disprove aging hypotheses. Cut to the chase and lets just do it.


However, in recent decades, scientific researchers in the field of aging, have found that it is indeed possible to slow down aging in animal test subjects!
This can be done by various means, including dietary and genetic interventions.

One of the most noteworthy researchers in the field is Dr Richard Miller.

The MMTP introduces – Dr Richard A Miller.

Dr Richard Miller MD, PhD, Is a professor of pathology at Michigan University, director of the Nathan Shock centre for biological aging and director of the Paul F Glenn centre for aging research.

He graduated Haverford college in 1971 with a BA, then went on to gain an MD and PhD at Yale University.

Dr Miller has held his current position at Michigan University since 1990.
He has acted as advisor for both The National Institute On Aging, and The American Federation For Aging Research.

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Analyzing expressions is an increasingly hot topic among tech companies.

It’s not clear what it plans to do with it yet, but Apple has gobbled up a startup whose technology can read facial expressions.

The tech giant has reportedly acquired Emotient, a San Diego-based company that uses artificial technology to detect emotion from facial expressions, Apple confirmed to The Wall Street Journal. The company’s technology has primarily been used by advertisers, doctors, and retailers, though it’s not clear what Apple AAPL 0.66% plans to do with it.

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Yelling at stem cells.


Acoustics experts have created a new class of sound wave — the first in more than half a century — in a breakthrough they hope could lead to a revolution in stem cell therapy.

The team at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, combined two different types of acoustic sound waves called bulk waves and surface waves to create a new hybrid: “surface reflected bulk waves”.

The first new class of sound wave discovered in decades, the powerful waves are gentle enough to use in biomedical devices to manipulate highly fragile stem cells without causing damage or affecting their integrity, opening new possibilities in stem cell treatment.

Johnny Matheny is the first person to attach a mind-controlled prosthetic limb directly to his skeleton. After losing his arm to cancer in 2008, Johnny signed up for a number of experimental surgeries to prepare himself to use a DARPA-funded prosthetic prototype. The Modular Prosthetic Limb, developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, allows Johnny to regain almost complete range of motion through the Bluetooth-controlled arm. (Video by Drew Beebe, Brandon Lisy) (Source: Bloomberg)

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And the Singularity rolls ever on. And on.


“Cytokine converter” AND-gate synthetic-biology prosthesis used to treat psoriasis in mice. Top left: skin before; right: skin after. (credit: Lina Schukur et al./Science Translational Medicine)

An advanced “molecular prosthetic” — a cell with synthetic gene circuits that can be implanted into an organism to take over metabolic functions that the organism cannot perform itself — has been developed by ETH Zurich scientists.

Previous gene circuits typically monitored only whether one disease-causing molecule (called a cytokine) was present in their environment and if so, produced a single therapeutic cytokine as a response. The new “cytokine converter” synthetic circuit functions like an AND gate: It can detect two different cytokines simultaneously, and if (and only if) both are present, produces two different cytokines that can treat a disease.

In a landmark study, researchers have used gene editing system CRISPR-Cas9 to treat a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in mice

Proof of concept for future human treatment

While safety is still a concern, the use of gene editing methods to treat disease in adult patients isn’t controversial. Altering embryos is entirely different to treating an adult, predominantly as the implications are profound and an embryo obviously cannot give permission.

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Moximed, a firm with offices in Hayward, California and Zurich, Switzerland, recently won the European CE Mark to introduce its Atlas Knee System. We just got hold of photos of the Atlas and more information on how it works. The device is a knee joint unloader designed to reduce the pressure applied to the joint and to push off the eventual need for a knee replacement. The device works like the shock absorbers in your car, but instead for the knee. It results in less damage to the cartilage within the knee, letting it last longer than it would naturally without the support of the Atlas.

The company hopes the device will allow patients to maintain an active lifestyle they’re used to while improving satisfaction, reducing repeat surgeries, and lowering pain.

From the announcement:

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We may be fed a tale of ever expanding life expectancy, but while average lifespans may be rising maximum years are unchanged. If we want to keep extending the clock we need more than antibiotics and nutrition.

The easy work is done

While improving living standards and reducing infant mortality was not an easy job in itself, it extended years without fundamentally changing human biology. The incredible changes brought by the 20th century yielded longevity — but predominantly did so by lifting the majority closer to those luckier few. Even in the ancient world individuals seemingly lived over 80 years old; it was simply a rarer event to do so. You were significantly more likely to be felled by a disease beforehand, and many never reached such an advanced age as a result.

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Patients needing surgery to reconstruct body parts such as noses and ears could soon have treatment using cartilage which has been grown in a lab.

The process involves growing someone’s cells in an incubator and then mixing them with a liquid which is 3D printed into the jelly-like shape needed.

It is then put back in an incubator to grow again until it is ready.

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