Lifeboat Foundation

Oh, Cheez…We’re back to this question, again!

As a Bitcoin columnist, I get this question a lot. Today, an answer was requested at Quora.com, where I am the lead contributor on cryptocurrencies:

“Clearly, some people value Bitcoin. But How can
this be? There is nothing there to give it value!”

Many individuals, like the one who asked this question, suspect that Bitcoin was pulled out of thin air—and that it is not backed by gold, a government, or an authoritative redemption guaranty. After all, it is just open source code. What stops me from creating an ElleryCoin using the same code?!

Continue reading “Why does anyone attribute value to Bitcoin?” »

A review of the discoveries in lifespan extension reported in 2017.

Summary: a review of the discoveries in lifespan extension reported in 2017. [Author: Brady Hartman. This article first appeared on the LongevityFacts.com website. The article has been updated, and the title has been changed.]

Another year is over. Here’s a look back at the discoveries and articles covering lifespan extension science in 2017.

Continue reading “Reviewing the Lifespan Extension Discoveries of 2017” »

Summary: Biomarkers of aging would be a breakthrough that slashes the time and cost it currently takes to develop lifespan-extension drugs. [Author: Brady Hartman. This article first appeared on the LongevityFacts.com website. ]

Biomarkers of aging would revolutionize the development of lifespan-extension drugs, helping to bring them out of the laboratory and into the clinic in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost. The first scientist to come up with an effective biomarker of aging would produce a true breakthrough for the field of life extension.

Imagine that geroscientists have just developed a miraculous compound called Regulus that promises to extend human lifespans by a significant amount. Unfortunately, the researchers would not have an easy time testing Regulus because humans live a long time. Testing Regulus in mice, would help, but researchers would still have to test the drug’s lifespan-extending effects in humans. Before anti-aging physicians could prescribe Regulus, it would need to undergo an expensive and lengthy clinical trial.

Continue reading “We Need Breakthrough Biomarkers of Aging to Revolutionize Lifespan Extension” »

Summary: These breakthroughs in stem cell therapy could potentially rejuvenate our damaged organs with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Moreover, biotech firms are rushing to bring organ-rejuvenating cell therapies to the marketplace. [This article first appeared on the LongevityFacts.com website. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

Recent advances in stem cell therapies could translate into effective treatments for intractable diseases.

Stem cells are the repairmen of our bodies. Unlike our ordinary cells, stem cells can divide without limit and create fresh copies of nearly any tissue type to repair damaged organs. While we have an abundance of these repairmen in our youth, we experience stem cell decline as we age.

Continue reading “Breakthroughs Set To Revolutionize Stem Cell Therapy” »

Researchers find promising Alzheimer’s treatment with a diabetes drug that ‘significantly reversed memory loss.’

Promising alzheimer’s treatment using diabetes drug.

Scientists announced a drug that ‘significantly reversed memory loss’ in mice with Alzheimer’s disease.

Continue reading “(Video) Researchers Find Promising Alzheimer’s Treatment Using Diabetes Drug” »

Summary: New findings on maximum human lifespan shows that we have an upper limit due to the construction of our bodies and genetic constraints. However, anti-aging scientists may have discovered ways to overcome this limitation. [This article first appeared on the LongevityFacts website. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

Three new studies show that maximum human lifespan is limited to about 115 – 120 years due to genetic constraints, the construction of our bodies and an increasingly toxic environment.

These studies are hardly the first to conclude there is a maximum human lifespan. However, there may be a way to overcome this limitation.

IBM Q is an industry-first initiative to build commercially available universal quantum computers for business and science.

Watch video.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are one of the most thoroughly studied and understood stem cell types. They are used in a wide range of therapies, and the many studies using MSCs have enjoyed varied levels of success, depending on delivery methods, patients, co-therapies and other factors.

Today, we will be taking a look at MSCs and a new human clinical trial focused on treating osteoarthritis, an age-related inflammatory condition that leads to the breakdown of bone and cartilage.

Victor Björk, biologist and member of the LEAF teama report about a recent aging research conference that he attended in Germany. Victor is one of our more well-traveled writers, and he has the fortune to attend many interesting shows, events, and conferences in Europe. Today Victor reports on the DGfA Aging Conference and also interviews James Peyer from Apollo Ventures, an early-stage life science investor and company builder focused on translational research for age-related diseases.

An annual aging research conference

I took part in the yearly DGfA conference at the Max Planck Institute for Aging Research in Cologne on December 1–2, 2017. The event was organized by the German association for aging research, an interdisciplinary non-profit organization based in Nürnberg. Established in 1990, it conducts research on aging, including research on developing therapeutic options to treat age-related diseases.