Death is Obsolete

U.S. goal for Alzheimer’s drug by 2025 too ambitious?

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO | Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:39am EST

(Reuters) – The U.S. government has set a deadline of 2025 for finding an effective way to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s disease, an ambitious target considering there is no cure on the horizon and one that sets a firm deadline unlike previous campaigns against cancer or AIDS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF7iD0B8jWU

A panel of Alzheimer’s experts this week has been fleshing out the first comprehensive plan by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fight Alzheimer’s disease, an effort mandated by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act signed into law by President Barack Obama last year.

The law called for the government to create a blueprint to beat Alzheimer’s but provided no new money for the effort.

More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, a brain disease that causes dementia and affects primarily elderly people. Some experts estimate the disease costs the United States more than $170 billion annually to treat.

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Scientists cause organs to spontaneously grow in tadpoles

Scientists: hey tadpoles! grow new organs please!

Scientists at Tufts University have found a way to cause tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the head area, suggesting organs can be made to grow by changing impulses in bioelectric current in cells.

The research is in the field of biomedicine breaks new ground because it identifies a control mechanism that can be used to trigger the formation of complex organs for transplantation or regenerative medicine applications.

The researchers manipulated membrane voltage of cells in the tadpole’s back and tail causing eyes to grow from cells in regions that were never thought to be able to form eyes. This suggests that cells from anywhere in the body can be triggered to form an eye or possibly another complete organ.

Cybercycling helps older adults fight cognitive decline

Helen Mirren shown here exercising with Wii Fit

Virtual reality exercise games, like the Wii Fit, may help older adults fight cognitive decline, researchers found.

Older adults who played a racing game by pedaling a stationary bike saw a significant boost in overall executive function on cognitive testing compared with stationary bike use alone (P=0.002), in a clinical trial by Cay Anderson-Hanley, PhD, of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and colleagues.

“Cybercycling” for three months in the trial reduced risk of clinical progression to mild cognitive impairment by a relative 23%, the group reported in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“Our findings give us hope that there can be an impact on improved brain health for older adults by this kind of synergistic mental and physical exercise,” Anderson-Hanley told MedPage Today. “The other thing is it’s a lot of fun.”

Participants in the trial often said they enjoyed exercise when playing the virtual reality game, she noted in an interview, which she suggested could help seniors start up and stick to a regimen.

Click here to read complete article and to see a video interview with Cay Anderson-Handley

David Brin: Mortality will be a major theme for the next 100 years.

The following is a short excerpt from David Brin’s brilliant essay, “Do We Really Want Immortality?”

A number of eminent writers like Robert Heinlein, Greg Bear, Kim Stanley Robinson and Gregory Benford have speculated on possible consequences, should Mister G. Reaper ever be forced to hang up his scythe and seek other employment. For example, if the Death Barrier comes crashing down, will we be able to keep shoehorning new humans into a world already crowded with earlier generations? Or else, as envisioned by author John Varley, might such a breakthrough demand draconian population-control measures, limiting each person to one direct heir per lifespan?

What if overcoming death proves expensive? Shall we return to the ancient belief, common in some cultures, that immortality is reserved for the rich and mighty? Nancy Kress has written books that vividly foresee a time when the teeming poor resent rich immortals. In contrast, author Joe Haldeman suggested simple rules of social engineering that may help keep such a prize within reach by all.

More people could wind up dying by violence and accidents than old age. Might we then start to hunker down in our homes, preserving our long-but-frail lives by avoiding all risk? Or would ennui drive the long-lived to seek new thrills, like extreme sports, bringing death back out of retirement in order to add spice to an otherwise-dull eternity?

To read Brin’s essay, click here.

David Brin, a scientist and best-selling author whose future-oriented novels include Earth, The Postman, and Hugo Award winners Startide Rising and The Uplift War, is a 2010 Fellow of the IEET. Brin is known as a leading commentator on modern technological, social, and political trends. His nonfiction book The Transparent Society won the Freedom of Speech Award from the American Library Association. Brin’s most recent novel, Kiln People, explores a fictional near future when people use cheap copies of themselves to be in two places at once. The Life Eaters—a graphic novel—explores a chilling alternative outcome of World War II.

 

David Brin: Mortality will be a major theme for the next 100 years.

David Brin: Mortality will be a major theme for the next 100 years.

The following is a short excerpt from David Brin’s brilliant essay, “Do We Really Want Immortality?” A number of eminent writers like Robert Heinlein, Greg Bear, Kim Stanley Robinson and Gregory Benford have speculated on possible consequences, should Mister G. Reaper ever be forced to hang up his scythe and seek other employment. For example, …

Continue reading “David Brin: Mortality will be a major theme for the next 100 years.”