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Thank Boomers for Buffing Up Brain Market

America’s first baby boomer, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, recently signed up for the Social Security benefits that she will start to collect in January. The new phase of life that she and her generation are entering is creating demand for new industries

A Conversation About Cryonics

Last weekend, 150 people attended the Alcor life extension conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. The main subject was cryonics, the use of technology to cool and preserve the human body with the aim of future revival. The technology, still speculative, raises

Robotics and aging in Japan

Here’s a nice update from Tokyo’s home care and rehabilitation convention. Seniors can use a robot to help them feed themselves and nurses can use robotic exoskeletons to help lift patients etc. Of course, here’s another use for the wearable

I’m at the Alcor life extension conference today

So far the morning has been interesting, learning about how cryopreservation works. One thing that strikes me, however, is how much time we are spending talking about death at this life extension conference. I suppose that it is natural given

Bill for HIV screening on Governor’s desk

In California, patients must provide written consent before their blood can be tested for HIV. This is in contrast to other screening tests for cholesterol and diabetes that do not need consent. To change this so that more people get

Growing human eggs in the lab

Looks like fertility treatment is going to advance quite a bit in the next 5 years. According to this article, doctors have unveiled details of a technique that will allow human eggs to be grown in the laboratory from ovarian

Microsoft and Antitrust: Retro-Regulators Threaten Tech Future

At a time when most people agree that Google or Apple have replaced Microsoft as the tech industry’s top player, government regulators on two continents are going retro, pushing old antitrust arguments. This backward-looking thinking threatens innovation for all companies

Wi-Fi Policy Win for PRI

For years, PRI has been warning San Francisco officials that their so-called “free Wi-Fi” idea was guaranteed to be a failure. Finally, they realize it. In late August, Earthlink pulled out of a misguided plan to supply the city with