Technology & Society
Here’s a well-done article by my friend Berin Szoka of the TechFreedom think tank. An excerpt: When I got tested in 2011, I was the first to ask my doctor’s office about genetic results. Exasperated with the transition to electronic
Actress Blake Lively’s father was one of the first patients at the University of Utah in what looks like a groundbreaking procedure. Here’s a video as well. video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player
The test has been on the market since 2007, and now the FDA says something? Allowing consumers to get direct access to their own data doesn’t seem like much of a safety issue. If 23andMe’s tests are not as accurate
A British television station recently produced a fun film about women (with an average age of 80) who are redefining fashion for their age group. Dressing your age? I think not. Here’s the story.
From Wired UK: “America put a man on the Moon in less than a decade. I said a full decade to provide some wiggle room,” Stuart K Williams told Wired.co.uk. Williams is heading up the hugely ambitious project as executive
Health-savvy consumers will love the fact that soon they’ll be able to go into a Walgreens to get their blood tested using only a finger prick instead of a needle in the arm. Kudos to Theranos for making it happen.
Another great bioengineering study. This one showing the possibility of repairing organs simply by injecting them with engineered endothelial cells. Here’s the press release: Damaged or diseased organs may someday be healed with an injection of blood vessel cells, eliminating
Will a person’s own brain cells be used to repair their brain one day? Maybe. Here’s an article that discusses the potential first steps — taking brain cells from a living person and growing more of them. From the Third
Today’s news that Google is launching a new company (Calico) to fight aging is epic. Epic. Fighting aging used to be the realm of biologists and doctors, but now that the engineers are getting involved, progress will likely move much
A genome is a genome is a genome? Not always. Turns out that many people can have more than one genome in their body at once. Now that sequencing has become cheaper to do, all sorts of interesting data like
A new WHO report notes that women over 50 are now living longer. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the diseases of aging like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are still big problems. More reason than ever
Interestingly, it’s a swim that she tried to do in her late 20s but failed. Victorious this time, she told reporters, “I feel like I could walk through a brick wall. … I think I’m truly dead center in the
An Australian woman received a transplant of her own healthy ovarian tissue after her ovaries were removed due to cancer. It was transplanted into her abdomen where it grew eggs that led to a successful pregnancy following traditional IVF. Amazing
This advance by Austria’s Dr. Knoblich has big implications for studying brain disease. If researchers can study human brain cells in the lab instead of using animal models, the door will open to better, more effective, therapies. From the WSJ:
A cool idea by the folks over at SENS. Nice of them to include me along amazing people like inventor Dean Kamen whose comment is “Aging is a terrible game. You can’t win and you have to play.” Check it
This was one piece of news I wasn’t quite expecting. According to Peter Diamandis, the Chairman of the X-prize foundation, the incentive prize was cancelled because innovation outpaced the prize. He says in his column explaining the move: At XPRIZE,
The Japanese government has approved a trial of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that will be morphed into retinal cells to attempt to cure age-related blindness. Fingers crossed that it goes well. Here’s the story.
Here’s an interesting survey by the Pew Foundation. Asked whether they, personally, would choose to undergo medical treatments to slow the aging process and live to be 120 or more, a majority of U.S. adults (56%) say “no.” But roughly
Here’s a great story in Discovery magazine about how the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation engaged in venture philanthropy and found a near cure for some patients. Worth reading.
This Newsweek article contains an excellent conversation about longevity — how we might live longer and what that might mean. Here’s one of my favorite parts of the NW interview with Aubrey de Grey: NW: But would we really want