Longevity science

"I'm right on the cusp," he adds. "I think some of us will make it through"—he means baby boomers, who can hope to experience practical immortality if they hang on for another 15 years.

By then, Mr. Kurzweil expects medical technology to be adding a year of life expectancy every year. We will start to outrun our own deaths. And then the wonders really begin. The little computers in our hands that now give us access to all the world's information via the Web will become little computers in our brains giving us access to all the world's information. Our world will become a world of near-infinite, virtual possibilities.

 

 

Metoprolol had already been identified by me as a life extending drug based on two human RCTs which reported mortality reductions in hypertensives that exceeded the standard mortality rate, as well as the control groups. PMID: 3293400, PMID: 1682683. 

 

There is no indication that these hypertensives should have mortality rates better than the general population, therefore the bettering of the standard mortality rates makes these drugs anti-aging.

 

THE BENEFIT IS ABOUT 45% EQUALING BETTER THAN A SIX YEAR LIFE EXTENSION FOR HUMANS

Chronic diseases linked to obesity and overconsumption of food are now a bigger global healthcare burden than illness and disease caused by malnutrition, according to the most comprehensive disease report ever produced on global health issues.

Dead bodies can provide organs for transplants, now they might become a source of stem cells too. Huge numbers of stem cells can still be mined from bone marrow five days after death to be potentially used in a variety of life-saving treatments.

 

Human bone marrow contains mesenchymal stem cells, which can develop into bone, cartilage, fat and other cell types. MSCs can be transplanted and the type of cell they form depends on where they are injected. Cells injected into the heart, for example, can form healthy new tissue, a useful therapy for people with chronic heart conditions.

 

 

How much life do you get from exercise?

 

To sum it up, the more you do it, the longer you live. For example, 75 minutes of brisk walking per week equates to an extra 1.8 years of life expectancy as opposed to staying sedentary. Increase that to 150–299 minutes of brisk walking per week and the gain in life expectancy goes up to 3.4 years. Make it 450 minutes per week and the estimated life expectancy jumps by 4.5 years.

 

The study also found that people whose weight is above the recommended level still benefit from physical activity .

Gerontologists and demographers have argued about this for a long time, with the balance of opinion heavily influenced by the changes seen in the wealthiest nations’ “survival curves” — graphs showing, broadly speaking, the proportion of an initial population that survived to a given age.

How do they do it?

 

There are two types of worm that can regenerate their cells indefinitely, leading researchers to question—is this a key to immortality?

The latest in the fight against ever dying is a gene therapy that gives mice a healthy dose of telomerase, the enzyme that keeps our chromosomes – and thus our cells and bodies – “young.”

 

The therapy extended the lifespans of mice by 24 percent and, at least so far, the therapy appears to be completely safe...

"No one is better at predicting the future" than Ray Kurzweil.

~Bill Gates

 

Humans are continually changing their own world and positions. We transcend limitations far more successfully than any other species. As we push developing technologies further, we are approaching a time when the difference between human and machine is no longer a meaningful distinction. This time has been dubbed 'the Singularity' by Ray Kurzweil, one of society's most credible and well-known futurists.

 

In this interview, Ray talks about how the technology he has predicted will change the face of life and death. Though the report focuses closely on his desire to create an avatar of his dead father, keep in mind that is just one aspect of the ideas.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute have identified a genetic program that promotes longevity of roundworms (nematodes) in cold environments — and this genetic program also exists in warm-blooded animals, including humans.

 

“This raises the intriguing possibility that exposure to cold air — or pharmacological stimulation of the cold-sensitive genetic program — may promote longevity in mammals,” said Shawn Xu, LSI faculty member and the Bernard W. Agranoff Collegiate Professor in the Life Sciences at the U-M Medical School.

 

Scientists had long assumed that animals live longer in cold environments because of a passive thermodynamic process, reasoning that low temperatures reduce the rate of chemical reactions and thereby slow the rate of aging.

 

 

“Exercise can partially reverse the effects of the aging process ... a minimum quantity and quality of exercise decreases the risk of death, prevents development of certain cancers, lowers the risk of osteoporosis, and increases longevity.” (Gremeaux V et al. 2012)

 Now, a data analysis from Canada pinpoints the lifespan extension different groups can expect from regular, moderate exercise. 

 

 

GDP $ per capita vs. life expectancy for 180 countries. In 2007 everyone lives longer than in 1970 because the health system is better, but in both cases,

 

Global lifespans have risen dramatically in the past 40 years, but the increased life expectancy is not benefitting body equally, say University of Toronto researchers. In particular, adult males from low- and middle-income countries are losing ground.

A few weeks ago, PBS NewsHour ran a 10-minute piece with Kurzweil titled “As Humans and Computers Merge…Immortality?” from correspondent Paul Solman for his economics-focused Making Sen$e of Financial News.

 

Solman probes Kurzweil for some insights about where technology is headed in the coming decades, covering topics like artificial intelligence, extending lifespans through supplementation, and digital resurrection of the deceased as avatars.

Older people who take vitamin D and calcium supplements may live a bit longer than their peers, according to an international review of several studies covering more than 70,000 people.

 

The percentage may sound small, but over a population, the numbers are significant.

Some two-thirds of cancer are caused by lifestyle choices, says Otis Brawley, chief medical offer of the American Cancer Society.

 

But routine screening, which causes over-diagnosing, is not the answer.

"People worldwide are living three years longer than expected on average, pushing up the costs of aging by 50 percent, and governments and pension funds are ill prepared, the International Monetary Fund said.

 

Already the cost of caring for aging baby boomers is beginning to strain government budgets, particularly in advanced economies where by 2050 the elderly will match the numbers of workers almost one for one. The IMF study shows that the problem is global and that longevity is a bigger risk than thought.”