Category Archives: Human Longevity

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Its a simple and obvious fact: Businesses cant exist without customers. In no uncertain terms, they are their lifeblood.

Along with this, companies would be nothing without their first line of defense: Their customer service agents.

While this seems like a basic understanding, customer service has suffered in recent years with the advent of chatbots, online messaging and similar automated tools. While seemingly more convenient, these technologies are impersonalized and can lead to more customer frustration and sometimes even their abandonment of a company or brand altogether.

But human-centered customer experience (CX) is undergoing a renaissance of sorts what Jeff Fettes, founder and CEO of Laivly, calls self-service 3.0. To survive in this new landscape, organizations must arm their agents with the best possible tools, Fettes said. The company today announced the launch of its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, designed specifically for contact centers.

Your frontline team is dealing with your customers; they are the conduit to your customers, Fettes said. A good customer experience starts with a good agent experience.

According to Grand View Research, the global contact center software market will reach $149.58 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of more than 23%. Likewise, according to Markets and Markets, the global cloud-based contact center market was $17.1 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to $54.6 billion by 2027. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just over 26%.

The Markets and Markets report emphasizes, Incorporating cutting-edge technologies such as AI, ML and analytics enables organizations to connect with their customers for better, efficient, and insightful customer experiences.

AI is powering this new era of CX, with companies such as Laivly, Zendesk, Genesys and Nice specializing in such tools. Some of the largest players have staked a claim in the growing market, as well, including IBMs Watson Assistant or Google Clouds Contact Center AI, for instance, or similar offerings from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

The pendulum is finally swinging back from hyper-automation to human-led conversation, but weve got some work to do, said Christina McAllister, senior analyst with Forrester. Organizations are beginning to embark on a journey to change the culture of their contact centers.Service delivered by human agents (not robots) is what drives positive customer outcomes.

Forrester predicts that companies will continue to leverage and accelerate AI programs, particularly when it comes to agent-facing use cases. As they do so, they must address agent burnout, advocate for agent career development, and transition from cost-centric key performance indicators (KPIs) to customer-centric ones.

Gone are the days of bolt-on AI applications, McAllister wrote. Forward-thinking companies will infuse AI across the employee workflow, facilitating greater collaboration among humans and their machine counterparts.

Laivlys platform dubbed SIDD (for systems integrated distributed dashboard) sits on an agents laptop and layers AI, ML and automation onto existing technology. This helps to streamline workflows, analyze customers in real-time and guide agents to the best outcomes, according to Fettes.

SIDD can draft email and chat responses, recommend and perform agent tasks, and can even block actions to avoid agent mistakes. For instance, disabling a refund button until it recognizes that an agent has worked through the designated workflow sequence. The tool also provides summaries of upcoming calls based on existing customer information and input, and guides them through the process of dealing with that particular case.

We liken it to a GPS system for a call center agent, said Fettes. SIDD really acts like a person would. It collects information using automation, reacts using automation, and it does it based on what is happening in real time. It is able to interrupt its own workflow intuitively.

The results, Fettes said, are simplified processes and task performances, consistent customer experiences, reduction in technical loads, and agents who are able to devote more of their attention to providing empathetic service.

Your AI is watching the screen all the time, providing additional oversight, assistance and support, he said.

The companys tailored orchestration layer ties an agents tech stack together without the use of back-end application programming interfaces (APIs), Fettes said, allowing for near-instant integration and the flexibility to change along with business needs.

Contact center systems typically have pretty extensive tech stacks, he pointed out anywhere from a handful to up to more than a dozen. We wanted to add AI, ML and/or automation anywhere inside that tech stack, he said.

Laivly employs human-in-the-loop AI, partnering its automated ML tuners with a team of human tuners. This creates a unique scenario and adds an extra layer of common sense to the tuning, Fettes said. It also allows companies and agents to gain insights more quickly.

Fettes described many existing AI and automation customer service tools as a little more fluffy and nebulous in terms of what they do. Many of these apply a top-down approach that is dependent on management teams to then take action on collected data.

Whats different about Laivly is its a bottom-up approach, Fettes said. Were starting right at the agents. Instead of being a management tool, Laivly is a performance tool.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Laivly has quietly built its contact center technology since its founding in July 2017. This involved careful selection of its initial customers. According to Fettes, these have included top Fortune 500 companies in -commerce, technology and consumer goods.

Early adopters are already achieving 50% to 300% return on investment (ROI), he said, and are seeing dramatic gains when it comes to agent job longevity and job satisfaction. In a recent survey, 88.5% of agents using Laivly said it was helpful or very helpful in delivering a better customer experience. Furthermore, 78% of agents said they would be disappointed or very disappointed if they had to do their jobs without the tool.

The company is led by a team of data scientists, developers and researchers well versed in customer service. Fettes himself was a contact center agent and manager for more than 20 years, and in fact had his first exposure to the industry as a kid his mother owned a telephone answering service and he and his brother sometimes helped answer those calls. He most recently cofounded 24-7 Intouch. The global business process outsourcing company partners with brands on contact center strategy, recruiting, IT, HR and workforce planning.

Laivly is born of [a] group of people who managed call centers and were agents ourselves, Fettes said. I know what I would want to use if I was answering a call or a direct message. We know what (agents) need. We built a tool to be popular with the superuser.

Such technologies are filling spaces where fully automated tools have often failed, he said, describing an initial huge rush to self-service once such tools first became available, then an era of self-service 2.0 with the arrival of chatbots and messenger platforms.

Now, technology is coming together with people again, Fettes said, to create this self-service 3.0.

This technology is really starting to emerge, and its a game changer, he said. Within the next five to 10 years, companies like Laivly at the forefront will coalesce into something thats an industry standard.

Ultimately, Fettes predicted: Every single contact center program, or a vast majority, will be using a tool like this.

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Laivly adds AI, ML and automation to improve CX - VentureBeat

Pale Blue Dot, taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft, showing Earth captured as a pale dot suspended in a sunbeam from beyond Neptunes orbit prior to the Voyager team turning off the onboard cameras. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA engineers will meet next month to discuss the possibility of shutting down scientific instruments to conserve power on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft after 44 years of service. These twin probes have traversed the reach of our Suns magnetic field and are the farthest-traveled human-made probes. Although Voyager 1 has four instruments that are still operational, and Voyager 2 has five, the radioactive energy sources on the spacecraft are producing only 40% of their original capacity, causing scientists and engineers to consider further decreasing power requirements to extend the missions until the 2030s.

Driven by a cosmic alignment that occurs every 176 years, NASAlaunched the Voyager spacecraft in 1977 to take advantage of a fortuitousalignment of the outer planets that lessened travel time to Neptune from 30 to12 years. Having successfully navigated obstacles such as crossing the asteroidbelt unscathed and performing repeated gravity assists, the missions werespectacularly successful. The Voyager spacecraft revealed that the satellitesof Jupiter and Saturn are not dead, icy bodies as previously thought, butinstead are dynamic, geologically active worlds. Additional discoveries includedthe wide variety of geologic terrains across the different moons and gas giants,which continue to inspire planetary scientists to expand our collectiveknowledge of these distant regions.

NASA began culling less-critical components of the spacecraft in 2019, turning off heaters and specific scientific instruments to maximize their longevity while continuing to collect plasma and magnetic data about interstellar space. Voyager 1 and 2 will continue their outward journeys long after their missions officially end. Each probe carries a gold-plated phonographic record encoded with images, sounds, and greetings from Earth in case intelligent life finds and collects the probes as they continue their journeys, in the very human hope that we are not alone in the universe. READ MORE

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Voyager 1 and 2 Spacecraft Enter Final Phase of Their Mission | Planetary News - Planetary News

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As the sun rose on Monday over southeast England, three bison emerged from a corral into a new woodland home as part of an ambitious project to transform the natural environment.

The trio immediately began munching birch tree leaves in the ancient woods near Canterbury, to restore and manage the area with their behaviour -- and minimal human interference.

It marks the first time in millennia that European bison -- the continent's largest land mammal and the closest living relative to ancient steppe bison that once roamed Britain -- will live in wild conditions once again.

"(It's a) really momentous occasion today," Mark Habben, of the Wildwood Trust which is leading the five-year conservation project, told AFP.

"It couldn't have gone any better... they took a glance back, looked at us and then disappeared into the woodlands," he added, moments after the release.

The female bison -- one matriarch and two younger cows -- will now graze, eat bark, fell trees and take so-called dust baths, churning up the ground in the woods.

This creates a multitude of benefits, helping other species forge habitats as the bison become the perfect "ecosystem engineers".

"We're doing this to restore the environment and restore a native English woodland and everything that thrives in and around that kind of habitat," explained Habben, saying it was "critically important".

"We don't want to be using machinery... using native resources, ecosystem engineers as we like to call them -- in the form in this case of the European bison -- is exactly the right thing to do."

The female bison, which arrived after living on smaller enclosures in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, will be joined by a bull at the site, owned by the Kent Wildlife Trust charity, in the coming months.

The bull's arrival from Germany was delayed due to Britain's post-Brexit bureaucracy for importing animals.

The herd will initially have 55 hectares (136 acres) of fenced woodland to roam within, before their habitable space is eventually increased to 200 hectares.

It is hoped the bull will breed with the females to increase the size of the herd, with the Kent site licensed to hold up to 20.

The bison will also soon be joined by other grazing animals including ponies from Exmoor, southwest England, Iron Age pigs and Longhorn cattle, which will aid the bid to create a variety of natural habitats.

"This is a model for what we would hope could be rolled out much (more) broadly across the UK, to similar landscapes, utilising bison," said Habben.

"I like to think bison that we bred on this project by the time they reach maturity... there'll be other projects looking to do the same kind of thing.

"And we can move bison around to continue this really amazing work that these animals are going to do."

After roaming the continent for millennia, the last wild European bison became extinct on the continent in 1927, due to hunting and habitat loss.

However, 50 animals remained in captive collections which have provided the basis for an extensive and intensive breeding programme, according to the project's conservationists.

The trio now calling the Kent woodland home are some of their descendants.

"The bison that we've selected are part of the European endangered species breeding programme," said Habben.

"We selected the animals based on their genetics... but also their location and source of origin was very important".

Another central aim of the habitat restoration project -- costing 1.1 million ($1.3 million) and largely funded by donors -- is to help British ecosystems cope with climate change and severe biodiversity loss.

The bison's impact will gradually alterthe forest away from a monoculture and create wetter areas that will store carbon, reducing emissions driving up temperatures, while also reducing flood risk.

In a sign of the stakes, their release Monday coincides with a heatwave sweeping parts of Europe that is set to break Britain's all-time temperature record early this week.

Habben calls the coincidence "extremely relevant".

"It's an incredible story, really, that we're releasing bison to help restore ecosystems, which help restore the environment and hopefully have some impact on climate change".

jj/phz/lcm

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European Bison Reintroduced To Roam Freely In Britain - Barron's

Agingis a complex biological process regulated by multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as genetics, epigenetics, environment, lifestyle, and immune response. Aging is often defined as an age-related deterioration of physiological and cognitive functions necessary for survival and reproduction.

During aging, the brain undergoes various morphological, cellular, molecular, and functional changes leading to the occurrence of age-related cognitive decline. Healthy elderly people showsignificant decreases in brain volumeand experience mild cognitive impairment (i.e. working memory & executive function) compared with younger adults. In patients with Alzheimers disease or other types of age-related dementia, thecognitive impairmentis significantly more severe affecting daily life activities and requiring medical/professional assistance.

The idea of aging is something that is commonly feared by many, but what if it didnt hurt to grow old? Imagine living independently longer. Less severe dementia. Later onset of cancer. Healthier heart and kidneys for longer. Klotho, a natural human protein has great potential to delay these diseases of aging. Loss of cognition, kidney failure, diabetes, and cancer are all things that are believed to be associated with the bodys production of this Klotho protein. Klotho Therapeutics (KTI) is using biotechnology to mimic the human protein.

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Klotho Protein for Longevity - Delay Dementia, Kidney Disease & Cancer

A new study looking at creatures such as tortoises and turtles has found that theyhave biological mechanisms that slow down or even completely switch offageing, which may indicate a way to extend human longevity.

As reported by The Independent,the research, published in thejournalScienceon Thursday, looked at signs of senescence the gradual process of deterioration of physical and functional characteristics among tortoises and turtles living in zoos and aquariums.

The international team of scientistsfound that the pattern of ageing in these cold-blooded creatures does not resemble that seen in humans or other animals.

Most of the studied creatures aged slower, and in some cases, their senescence is negligible, scientists said.

Creatures that were studied included77 cold-blooded species from 107 wild populations, including turtles, amphibians, snakes, crocodilians and tortoises.

Species of tortoise were found to have less senescence (Canva)

Of the 52 species analysed in the study, scientists said three-fourths of them showed extremely slow senescence, while 80%appeared to have slower ageing than modern humans.

Some of the species have the ability to reduce their rate of ageing in response to the improved living conditions in zoos and aquariums, compared to the wild, scientists say.

Theories around senescence suggest that it begins after sexual maturity, where it invests more energy in reproduction than in repairing cells and tissue.

Due to this tradeoff, researchers have held that after reaching sexual maturity, individuals inevitably stop growing and start experiencing senescence a prediction that has been confirmed for several species, particularly mammals and birds.

Turtles and tortoises, and other organisms that keep growing after sexual maturity, could have the ability to keep investing in repairing cellular damages - which then avoid the effects of senescence.

Although humans have witnessed unprecedented increases in longevity in the last century, scientists say improved living conditions does not modify the rate of ageing in humans and other primates.

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The slow ageing of tortoises could unlock secrets to human longevity, says study - HeraldScotland

Longevity Investors Conference (LIC) returns for its third annual edition from Sept. 2830 in Gstaad, Switzerland.

The conference attracts the worlds top longevity leaders, institutional and private investors, wealthy private investors and family offices and funds in an exclusive setting. For two days, opinion leaders and high-ranking representatives will exchange their knowledge about longevity, trends, attractive investments and business opportunities in the longevity space. The conference will ensure a private atmosphere and the opportunity to establish partnerships with other business leaders and investment opportunities in a unique setting at Le Grand Bellevue, a five-star hotel in Gstaad and one of the most exclusive Swiss mountain resorts.

The LIC has the honor of welcoming leading longevity experts and scientists, such as Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church, SENS Research Foundation chief of science offices Aubrey de Grey, Buck Institute for Research on Ageing president and CEO Eric Verdin, Institute for Ageing Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine director Nir Barzilai, Forever Healthy Foundation founder Michael Greve, Human Longevity Inc. associate professor, internal medicine specialist and longevity physician Evelyne Yehudit Bischof, Insilico Medicine founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov, First Longevity founder and Longevity.Technology editor-in-chief Phil Newman, and Wei-Wu He, Human Longevity Inc. executive chairman, Casi Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO and chairman, and Genetron Health founder and chairman.

More speakers will be announced closer to the conference.

LIC was initiated by Tobias Reichmuth and Marc Bernegger, two successful serial entrepreneurs who, among others, launched CfC St. Moritz, one of the most exclusive conferences for digital assets.

Keynote speeches, fireside chats, panel discussions and breakout sessions on topics including biotech, aging technology, diagnostics, AI, health prevention, longevity therapy and investment strategy await the attendees of the 2022 conference.

The conference is in the Bellevue Hotel in Gstaad, recently rated Hotel of the Year by the Swiss media. The hotel will be privatized for LICs guests, ensuring an exclusive networking experience. Some of the conferences partners include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Credit Suisse, Maximn, Korify Capital, Apollo Health Ventures, Clinique La Prairie, Biolytica AG, Avea Solutions and many more.

The unique event format combines rich content and insight-sharing during the day, with numerous opportunities to recharge and network at the lunches, evening receptions, dinners and longevity experiences occurring during the course of the two-day conference.

There are more and more traditional investors joining the longevity space, which creates massive investment opportunities. The special setup of this years conference enables not only knowledge exchange but also effective community-building, which is very unique for the industry and has never happened before to this extent, said Marc Bernegger, one of the driving forces behind the conference.

Tobias Reichmuth, co-founder of LIC and Berneggers partner, said, The longevity industry will be one of the biggest investment opportunities during the next decade expected to be worth at least $600 billion by 2025. It is experiencing great momentum, and this is the ideal time to use it in favor of educating and spreading information to investors. In a sea of science-oriented conferences, a professional and global investor-focused longevity conference such as LIC will provide an opportunity for the industrys top investors and innovators to get acquainted with recent developments and breakthroughs.

Early bird tickets are available until the end of June on the site.

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Longevity Investors Conference to be held in Gstaad, Switzerland Sept. 2830 - Cointelegraph

Berlin/Germany, June 23, 2022 TheRejuvenation Startup Summit(Berlin, Oct. 14-15, 2022) is a vibrant networking event that brings together startups and members of the longevity venture capital/investor ecosystem all aiming to create therapies to vastly extend the healthy human lifespan. Rejuvenation/Longevity biotech is a new, emerging field of medicine. It aims to prevent and reverse diseases of aging by addressing their common root cause, the aging process itself.

In addition to an exciting range of presentations from CEOs of startups in the field of rejuvenation/longevity, the summit features an all-day startup forum for vibrant networking. Starting midday on Friday and finishing off on Saturday night with a big party, it offers ample opportunity to get in touch, learn and network with some of the most promising companies in the field like:

Investors may explore concrete investment opportunities, or if new to the field, get jumpstarted on the upcoming new megatrend Rejuvenation/Longevity a still young industry that will eventually become much bigger than todays largest technology markets.

Early Bird pricing for theRejuvenation Startup Summit (Oct 14-15) ticketsstays effective till Thursday, 21 of July, 12:00 pm CET (03:00 am Pacific).

The Rejuvenation Startup Summit (Berlin, Oct. 14-15, 2022) hosted by the Forever Healthy Foundation, is a vibrant networking event that aims to accelerate the development of the rejuvenation biotech industry.

Rejuvenation/Longevity biotech is a new, emerging field of medicine. It aims to prevent and reverse diseases of aging by addressing their common root cause, the aging process itself.Rejuvenation therapies aim to reverse or repair age-related cellular changes such as molecular waste, calcification, tissue stiffening, loss of stem cell function, genetic alterations, and impaired energy production.

The Summit brings together startups, members of the longevity venture capital / investor ecosystem, and researchers interested in founding or joining a startup all aiming to create therapies to vastly extend the healthy human lifespan.

Further information can be found atwww.forever-healthy.org/summit.

Frank Schueler, Chief Operating Officer

[emailprotected]

Excerpt from:
The Rejuvenation Startup Summit Speakers - Lifespan.io News

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Ageing of the immune system is becoming a matter of concern, more so, amid the pandemic. But what does immune ageing even mean? Is that a concern for just the researchers or us too? For answers to these and more, experts explain it all to CE. Dr G Navodaya, consultant, general medicine, Care Hospitals, Banjara Hills, feels that immune ageing has a wider perspective and says, Immune ageing is a phenomenon that occurs in any patient who is ageing, so this is not specific to immunity.

The human body has many cells with unique responsibilities. Some keep the person alive, others build muscle structure, and some maintain the functions of the body, etc. Now, every cell has a basic function and age and after a certain function and time, the cells die. Immunity ageing is the same if a person is ageing, meaning, growing older, they are likely to see physical changes in and outside the body. Similarly, cell functions start to reduce inside the body, eventually. Cells that maintain our immunity to help fight infections too meet the same fate.

So what does this mean for us? He responds, Immunity is maintained so as to protect us from infections. But when these cells have less strength then the human body is prone to infections. He adds that immune ageing happens not just when one turns older but the process is fastened if habits like smoking and drug intake grow.

Dr Jagadeesh Kumar V, consultant physician at KIMS Hospital, Secunderabad, says that when one bears the brunt of too many infections, the immune cells in the body take a hit. The advent of Covid has worsened this fear. Immune ageing, which is otherwise called inflammaging, points that inflammation in our body is growing or ageing. Every time a body undergoes inflammation or infection, peoples immunity ages. The cells lose their functional capacity once a person is infected, says he.

Talking about the aftermath of this, he says, people become obese, theyre vulnerable to infection, their cognition declines (memory comes down), comprehensive capacity and capability come down, etc. On a concluding note he adds that stress too, is a catalyst for immune ageing. Lack of sleep, unhealthy lifestyle lead to stress, which is making many prone to immune ageing and thus, to many diseases, he cautions.

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Your immunity has a life span - The New Indian Express

Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has urged communities across the globe to protect the ocean and ensure its health and longevity.

He said this in his remarks at the opening ceremony of the 2022 UN Oceans Conference on Monday, where he spoke extensively on the concrete, demonstrable action required to underscore the commitment to save the ocean, to protect it against the threats - both human-driven and otherwise - that would take it away from us.

The PGA noted that the ocean being an essential part of life on this planet is an inescapable reality for him as a person and as a Maldivian, adding that for small islanders, coastal residents, workers dependent on tourism and coral reefs, fisherpersons and for all those who turn to the ocean for livelihood, for reprieve, and for enjoyment, this reality rings true.

I am a Maldivian. Whether I am here as President of the General Assembly or not, the ocean is in my blood; it runs through my lifes narrative, from childhood to parenthood; from my career in the Foreign Service to my Parliamentary experience, to what I represent today. I am from a large ocean State. I am a child of the ocean.

Abdulla Shahid, PGA.

Highlighting that beyond those who look to the blue horizon each day, the entirety of humanity relies upon the ocean for half of the oxygen that people intake, the PGA said that the ocean connects communities across the globe.

He added that the ocean connects humanity and the planet, adding that there is no context communities across the globe can live without it.

Stressing that the ocean conference came at a critical and timely opportunity, Shahid noted that on one hand the ocean faces countless threats from climate change to plastic pollution and from over-fishing to acidification and that on the other hand there is momentum.

In this regard, on Friday, we will adopt a declaration, that will give direction and set the tone for our future work. I was pleased to reappoint the Permanent Representative of Grenada, Ms. Keisha McGuire, and Permanent Representative of Denmark Mr. Martin Hermann, for this task. And I commend them and their experts Nerissa Williams and Mira Bergem, for delivering! And thank all Member States for their commitment.

Abdulla Shahid, PGA.

PGA Shahid stated that the 40th anniversary of the UN Convention on Law of the Sea has reiterated the shared responsibility for the ocean, adding that recent efforts such as the landmark agreement on ending plastic pollution and the new World Trade Organization deal on fisheries subsidies, gives cause for hope.

Further, Shahid said that there is optimism towards an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.

He noted that solid partnerships across all stakeholders are being established and strengthened, as observed at the Our Ocean Conference in Palau earlier this year.

With this being said, he highlighted how there is a strong foundation to build upon and how the ocean conference can set the tone for what needs to be done.

PGA Shahid urged the global communities to not fall prey to shortsightedness or lack of ambition, to invest in, trust in, and act upon science.

Shahid, who also serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, also urged the people to protect the ocean, leverage its power, relish its beauty, cherish its diversity and ensure its health and longevity in order to save it.

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PGA urges to protect the ocean, ensure its health and longevity - Raajjemv

The market for wearable technology has grown a lot in the last ten years, with fitness and health tracking features being the main USP of most such devices in the market.

Googles 2021 acquisition of Fitbit for over $2 billion was their entry into the wearables market. Since then, the Pixel Watch has also entered the ring, with revolutionary new features.

Aside from the basic features like counting steps taken or calories burned, there are also new technologies being introduced like a sensor that can detect irregularities in the wearers pulse.

This sensor has recently received FDA approval, The Economist reports. Googles Pixel phone cameras can detect heart blood oxygen levels using image processing and their smart home devices can monitor sleep patterns by listening to snoring.

Apple is another strong player in this arena, with their whole arsenal of fitness and health tracking features on the Apple Watch and iPhone.

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Big Tech Dives into Healthcare With Google Parent Alphabet at the Forefront - The Quint