Category Archives: Human Longevity

Quest to prolong human life indefinitely obsesses the rich and powerful The head of Googles investment arm thinks it is possible to live to 500 Americas tech moguls are spending billions of dollars to defeat ageing

By Tom Leonard In New York For The Daily Mail

Published: 19:54 EST, 1 April 2015 | Updated: 04:11 EST, 2 April 2015

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Googleco-founder Sergey Brin talks of one day curing death

The ancients believed in a magical elixir, a potion that would grant what man most desired eternal life.

Chinese emperors chased the dream by consuming long-lasting precious substances such as jade and gold, often with fatal effects.

Elizabeth Bathory, a 16th-century Transylvanian countess dubbed Lady Dracula, made an even more drastic attempt to conquer death, by bathing in the blood of young girls.

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Could humans live to 500? Billionaires spend fortunes on research

March 31, 2015

Jonas, the world's oldest known dwarf lemur, died this January just months shy of his 30th birthday. Duke researchers are using lemurs like Jonas to study the biology of aging. (Credit: Photo by David Haring, Duke Lemur Center)

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com @BednarChuck

Conventional wisdom indicates that larger species live longer than smaller ones, but lemurs are on notable exception to that rule, and researchers from Duke University believe that the secrets of their longevity could lead to new insights into the aging process.

In January, the worlds oldest known dwarf lemur, Jonas, passed away, and inspired Sarah Zehr and Marina Blanco of the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina to analyze over 50 years worth of medical records pertaining to his species and three other types of lemurs.

Suspended animation, suspended life

Dwarf lemurs live two to three times longer than similar-sized animals, they explained, and the duo was searching for clues to help explain their longevity. They found that these hamster-sized creatures are actually capable of placing their bodies in suspended animation to prevent aging.

How long the animals live and how quickly they age directly correlates with the amount of time they spend in this state, which is known as torpor and is comparable to the standby or sleep mode feature found in many modern electronic devices. Lemurs that enter this state and put their body functions on hold can outlive those that dont by up to 10 years, the data revealed.

[STORY: Lemurs match scent to voice]

Jonas was one of the most extreme examples found in the study, the researchers said. While in the wild, he spent up to half the year in this state of deep hibernation. Most dwarf lemurs go into a semi-hibernation state for no more than three months in captivity, Zehr said, but that was still enough to give them added longevity.

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Long-lived lemurs could hold secret to human aging

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 31, 2015

On the evening of Monday, March 16th, DOROT, a nonprofit organization working to prevent social isolation among older adults in New York, hosted Dr. Nir Barzilai, the Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Director of the Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging and of the Nathan Shock Center of excellence in biology of aging. Dr. Barzilai spoke to a crowd of 65 DOROT supporters about his current study on the genetics of longevity and the biology of aging.

Dr. Barzilai is studying Ashkenazi Jews who are approaching or exceeding age 100, and their offspring, to identify genetic markers that may indicate or lead to longer lifespan. He opened his talk by pointing out that many illnesses that humans experience in their lives are experienced at old age, and so if one could eliminate the factor of aging, one could possibly eliminate those illnesses. He went on to explain that he does not want to stop aging, but he wants to increase the ability of individuals to age healthfully and well. Dr. Barzilai spoke of research participants who were siblings in their early 100s and had been partaking in risky behaviors (cigarette smoking, poor diet, etc.) for decades, but who had still experienced good quality of life at advanced age. He used these individuals as examples of how long lifespan could possibly be genetically linked. He also identified a number of other possible factors for longevity, including: shorter stature, heavier frame, hormones, and nutrition.

Guests asked thoughtful questions such as whether Dr. Barzilai had taken happiness into consideration, or whether the longevity genes were more predominant on maternal or paternal sides. After the talk, guests were able to individually ask the presenter more personal questions. Attendees were delighted at the opportunity. One guest said, The lecture by Dr. Barzilai was the best lecture I have ever heard on the aging process. I went up to him after his lecture and told him I was the son of a centenarian. He told me to contact him; I did and have been accepted into his current study! I am so excited to be part of a study that could improve the health of people as they age.

In addition to a thought-provoking lecture, guests got to meet one another and learn more about DOROT as well as about upcoming volunteer opportunities. One told us, The whole experience of the evening at DOROT was one of dignity and beauty! My wife and I plan to participate in some of your volunteer programs.

DOROT became connected to Dr. Barzilai through a volunteer who brought the study to the attention of Executive Director, Mark Meridy. Meridy met with Dr. Barzilai and agreed to help him find participants for his study, as both the doctor and DOROT have similar missions: to help older adults live well and independently long into advanced age.

It was an honor to host Dr. Barzilai at DOROT, Meridy said. Our guests found his talk engaging and thought-provoking, and we look forward to a continued relationship with him and the rest of the team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

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Dr. Nir Barzilai Presents Study on Longevity at DOROT

Last week, Liz told AgentCooperthat he was the only person in the world she completely trusted. At the time, she was trying to get away with a patented kidnapping/murder combo and he was waving around his morality flags like one of those inflatable creaturesoutside a car dealership because he couldnt even recognize the person shed become anymore; but tonight, ol Coops gets the unrecognizable tables turned on him. Cooper hasnt exactly kidnapped his ex-spouse and watched them strangle someone with a chain, but he did let a billionaire slip a few past the murder net in the name of appeasing slimy Tom Connolly and keeping himself in the medical trial thats currently keeping him alive. Morality is funny that way the threat of its imminence, and the fight against it, will lead people to do all sorts of things they never could have predicted for themselves.

Lets call his episode what it was: glue (not filler). It arranged some important pieces on the Blacklist chessboard so that at some point in thenear future, Red can come in and light those pieces on fire with a blow torch and then probably blood angel them, or whatever. Or, hopefully, all the seemingly random things we learned tonight will come to mean much more very soon.It seems we might finally beto the point in the series where every Blacklister relates directly to something we as the audience are at least somewhat clued in ongoodness knows there are enough story arcs up in the air at any given time to do so. Surely were all pastbelieving thatRed is doing any of this work for the task force any reason other than those directly related to the welfare of himself and Lizzie. Im fine with not knowing why Red needs to have Hobbs on his side, just as long as I know were spending time with Hobbs for a reason.

Tonight, there was even a big picture purpose to secondary Blacklister Dr. Powell, and that purpose was explicitly Fulcrum-related, a story line thats pretty important tolet me get the wording right, herethe world, but hasbeen idling for quite a while now. Still, this wasnt an episode that sent the mind racing;but something about its mortality themelife, death, birthdaysmade it surprisingly emotional. Maybe it was all the frontal lobe talk, maybe it was missing Ressler having, yknow, lines this season, or maybe it was seeing little Lizzie Keen with a full forehead of bangs, but I got a little choked up as Liz shared her birthday wine with likely the only man she should actually completely trust at the end of the hour.

And then Tom showed up on Lizs doorstep, back bloody-eyed and bushy-bearded from Germany, and I was confused about everythingall over again.

THE LONGEVITY INITIATIVE, NO. 97

First of all, props on that name, I like an immortality research project that just puts all its card on the table from the get-go. Unfortunately, The Longevity Initiative has a few renegade cards that it doesnt quite seem to have a handle on. The episode opens on a scientist lingering in front of a tank full of jellyfish arguing with a man named Lloyd about whetherLloyd is going to keep helping him with some questionable experiments. Those experiments arent elaborated on, but the next thing you know, Lloyd is being pulled over on the highway with three bodies in the back of his produce truck that all have their scalps missing, brains sticking out of the skull like a Chapstick tube. So, Lloyd shoots the cop and makes a run for it. Because Lloyd is a man of many morally reprehensible talents.

Speaking of, Red has a new assignment for Lizzie, and they dont know it yet, but it has to do with Lloyd and his truck o brains. But before he gets down to business, Red delivers Lizzie a bottle of wine that was made from grape vines that she and her adoptive father Sam harvested together. Its her 31stbirthday today, you see. Tom also called her earlier to tell her to have a nice dinner at Wing Yees, and also, hes in a ton of trouble and needs helpoh hey, theres the Major pulling up with ambiguous intentions, gotta go! So blessed to have such consistently thoughtfulmen in her life, that Lizzie.

Now that Red has made Liz wonder just how long hes really been a part of her life, and told her that his yogi thinks time doesnt exist, he has the perfect segue to tell her about the Longevity Initiative. Its a private company run by Roger Hobbs, a tech billionaire that funds ongoing experiments dedicated to extending human life indefinitely as a sort of pet project; and judging by the bodies that just turned up in the produce truck, theyve moved into the human experimentation phase. Luckily, Red knows Hobbs personally, so he sends Liz and Ressler to have a little chat with him before they jump to any conclusions about his desire to be immortal.

NEXT: The immortal life research of Roger Hobbs

Read more:
'Blacklist' recap: 'The Longevity Initiative'

Last week, Liz told AgentCooperthat he was the only person in the world she completely trusted. At the time, she was trying to get away with a patented kidnapping/murder combo and he was waving around his morality flags like one of those inflatable creaturesoutside a car dealership because he couldnt even recognize the person shed become anymore; but tonight, ol Coops gets the unrecognizable tables turned on him. Cooper hasnt exactly kidnapped his ex-spouse and watched them strangle someone with a chain, but he did let a billionaire slip a few past the murder net in the name of appeasing slimy Tom Connolly and keeping himself in the medical trial thats currently keeping him alive. Morality is funny that way the threat of its imminence, and the fight against it, will lead people to do all sorts of things they never could have predicted for themselves.

Lets call his episode what it was: glue (not filler). It arranged some important pieces on the Blacklist chessboard so that at some point in thenear future, Red can come in and light those pieces on fire with a blow torch and then probably blood angel them, or whatever. Or, hopefully, all the seemingly random things we learned tonight will come to mean much more very soon.It seems we might finally beto the point in the series where every Blacklister relates directly to something we as the audience are at least somewhat clued in ongoodness knows there are enough story arcs up in the air at any given time to do so. Surely were all pastbelieving thatRed is doing any of this work for the task force any reason other than those directly related to the welfare of himself and Lizzie. Im fine with not knowing why Red needs to have Hobbs on his side, just as long as I know were spending time with Hobbs for a reason.

Tonight, there was even a big picture purpose to secondary Blacklister Dr. Powell, and that purpose was explicitly Fulcrum-related, a story line thats pretty important tolet me get the wording right, herethe world, but hasbeen idling for quite a while now. Still, this wasnt an episode that sent the mind racing;but something about its mortality themelife, death, birthdaysmade it surprisingly emotional. Maybe it was all the frontal lobe talk, maybe it was missing Ressler having, yknow, lines this season, or maybe it was seeing little Lizzie Keen with a full forehead of bangs, but I got a little choked up as Liz shared her birthday wine with likely the only man she should actually completely trust at the end of the hour.

And then Tom showed up on Lizs doorstep, back bloody-eyed and bushy-bearded from Germany, and I was confused about everythingall over again.

THE LONGEVITY INITIATIVE, NO. 97

First of all, props on that name, I like an immortality research project that just puts all its card on the table from the get-go. Unfortunately, The Longevity Initiative has a few renegade cards that it doesnt quite seem to have a handle on. The episode opens on a scientist lingering in front of a tank full of jellyfish arguing with a man named Lloyd about whetherLloyd is going to keep helping him with some questionable experiments. Those experiments arent elaborated on, but the next thing you know, Lloyd is being pulled over on the highway with three bodies in the back of his produce truck that all have their scalps missing, brains sticking out of the skull like a Chapstick tube. So, Lloyd shoots the cop and makes a run for it. Because Lloyd is a man of many morally reprehensible talents.

Speaking of, Red has a new assignment for Lizzie, and they dont know it yet, but it has to do with Lloyd and his truck o brains. But before he gets down to business, Red delivers Lizzie a bottle of wine that was made from grape vines that she and her adoptive father Sam harvested together. Its her 31stbirthday today, you see. Tom also called her earlier to tell her to have a nice dinner at Wing Yees, and also, hes in a ton of trouble and needs helpoh hey, theres the Major pulling up with ambiguous intentions, gotta go! So blessed to have such consistently thoughtfulmen in her life, that Lizzie.

Now that Red has made Liz wonder just how long hes really been a part of her life, and told her that his yogi thinks time doesnt exist, he has the perfect segue to tell her about the Longevity Initiative. Its a private company run by Roger Hobbs, a tech billionaire that funds ongoing experiments dedicated to extending human life indefinitely as a sort of pet project; and judging by the bodies that just turned up in the produce truck, theyve moved into the human experimentation phase. Luckily, Red knows Hobbs personally, so he sends Liz and Ressler to have a little chat with him before they jump to any conclusions about his desire to be immortal.

NEXT: The immortal life research of Roger Hobbs

Read this article:
'The Blacklist' recap: 'The Longevity Initiative'

IMAGE:The testicle from a male trout which contains a developing egg is an example of "intersex " conditions that can result from pollution. view more

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Deep-water marine fish living on the continental slopes at depths from 2,000 feet to one mile have liver pathologies, tumors and other health problems that may be linked to human-caused pollution, one of the first studies of its type has found.

The research, conducted in the Bay of Biscay west of France, also discovered the first case of a deep water fish species with an "intersex" condition, a blend of male and female sex organs. The sampling was done in an area with no apparent point-source pollution, and appears to reflect general ocean conditions.

The findings have been published in Marine Environmental Research, by scientists from Oregon State University; the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in the United Kingdom; and other agencies. It was supported by the European Union.

The research is of particular interest, OSU researchers said, when contrasted to other studies done several years ago in national parks of the American West, which also found significant pollution and fish health impacts, including male fish that had been "feminized" and developed eggs.

"In areas ranging from pristine, high mountain lakes of the United States to ocean waters off the coasts of France and Spain, we've now found evidence of possible human-caused pollution that's bad enough to have pathological impacts on fish," said Michael Kent, a professor of microbiology in the OSU College of Science, co-author on both these research projects and an international expert on fish disease.

"Deep in the ocean one might have thought that the level of contamination and its biological impact would be less," Kent said. "That may not be the case. The pathological changes we're seeing are clearly the type associated with exposure to toxins and carcinogens."

However, linking these changes in the deep water fish to pollution is preliminary at this time, the researchers said, because these same changes may also be caused by naturally-occurring compounds. Follow up chemical analyses would provide more conclusive links with the pathological changes and man's activity, they said.

Few, if any health surveys of this type have been done on the fish living on the continental slopes, the researchers said. Most past studies have looked only at their parasite fauna, not more internal biological problems such as liver damage. The issues are important, however, since there's growing interest in these areas as a fisheries resource, as other fisheries on the shallower continental shelf become depleted.

As the sea deepens along these continental slopes, it's been known that it can act as a sink for heavy metal contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and lead, and organic contaminants such as PCBs and pesticides. Some of the "intersex" fish that have been discovered elsewhere are also believed to have mutated sex organs caused by "endocrine disrupting chemicals" that can mimic estrogens.

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A mile deep, ocean fish facing health impacts from human pollution

Human Longevity Secrets: Avoid Toxins

By: Top Sites

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Human Longevity Secrets: Avoid Toxins - Video

Human life expectancy varies significantly across the world, ranging from just 45years in Swaziland to 82 years in Switzerland. How does that compare to the planets longest-living animals? TheGalpagos tortoiseiswell known for its exceptionally long lifespan and some animals have reached the grand old age of 177. Harriet, a tortoise reputed to have been collected by Charles Darwin, died in 2006 aged 175. Another tortoise named Adwaita, who also died in 2006, may well have been 250 years old at the time of his death.

Aldabra giant tortoises from Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles also live long lives, but like their elderlycousinsin the GalpagosIslands, their exact ages are difficult to record as they tend to outlive their human observers. Discovery News put an interesting ranking of the planets longest-living animals together and you can find the top 10 listed in the infographic below.

UNSPECIFIED OCTOBER 28: Galapagos giant tortoise (Testudo elephantopus) on lawn (Photo by DEA / F. GALARDI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The prize for the oldest animal in the world goes to the Ocean Quahog, a bivalve mollusc living on the seabed of the North Atlantic Ocean. They show amazing longevity, living approximately 400 years. One example, named Ming the clam, had a reported age of 507 years, which would make it the longest living non-colonial metazoan species with an authenticated lifespan ever discovered. The Bowhead Whale and Rougheye Rockfish also live extremely long lives about 211 and 205 years respectively!

*Click below to enlarge (charted byStatista)

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These Are The Planet's Longest-Living Animals [Infographic]

NEW YORK, March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The lucrative growth rate of the augmentation market in the future is the major driving factor for the human augmentation market. Human augmentation has not only made human beings' life easier but has also resulted in its longevity. In the product category of human augmentation, the "wearable augmentation" is expected to have a higher market size as compared to the "in-built augmentation". The major reason behind its large market size is the growing demand for sophisticated gadgets. The eye-wear holds the highest market share in the North American human augmentation market, due to the presence of a large number of market players, which are launching new products in this region. The North American market is estimated to grow at the highest growth rate between 2014 and 2020.

The global human augmentation market is expected to reach up to $1135 million by 2020, at a CAGR of 43.5% between 2014 and 2020.

The global human augmentation market has been segmented into three categories that include: products segment, application, and geography. The product segment includes the in-built augmentation and wearable augmentation types. The application segment includes the medical, defense, industrial, and others segments. The human augmentation market has also been segmented on the basis of geography. The market by geography has been classified into various economic regions such as North America, Europe, APAC, and ROW.

The major players that offer various products in the human augmentation market are B-Temia Inc. (U.S.), BrainGate Company (U.S.), Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. (U.S.), Google Inc. (U.S.), Raytheon Company (U.S.), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (South Korea), and Vuzix Corporation (U.S.).

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Human Augmentation Market by Product, Application, & Geography - Global Forecast to 2020

2015 1st Annual UCLA HBA Healthcare Conference: Lunch Keynote - Peter Diamandis
Peter H. Diamandis, M.D. X PRIZE Foundation, Chairman CEO Human Longevity Inc. (HLI), Co-Founder Vice-Chairman.

By: UCLA Anderson HBA

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2015 1st Annual UCLA HBA Healthcare Conference: Lunch Keynote - Peter Diamandis - Video