Category Archives: Human Longevity

There is a fundamental difference between what can be designed and built and what makes sense. History provides a lesson in the shape of record-setting behemoths that have never since been equaled.

The Egyptian pyramids started small, and in just a few generations, some 4,500 years ago, there came Khufus enormous pyramid, which nobody has ever tried to surpass. Shipbuilders in ancient Greece kept on expanding the size of their oared vessels until they built, during the third century BCE, a tessarakonteres, with 4,000 oarsmen. That vessel was too heavy, too ponderous, and therefore a naval failure. And architect Filippo Brunelleschis vast cupola for Florences Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, built without scaffolding and finished in 1436, was never replicated.

The modern era has no shortage of such obvious overshoots. The boom in oil consumption following the Second World War led to ever-larger oil tankers, with sizes rising from 50,000 to 100,000 and 250,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt). Seven tankers exceeded 500,000 dwt, but their lives were short, and nobody has built a million-dwt tanker. Technically, it would have been possible, but such a ship would not fit through the Suez or Panama canals, and its draft would limit its operation to just a few ports.

The economy-class-only configuration of the Airbus A380 airliner was certified to carry up to 853 passengers, but it has not been a success. In 2021, just 16 years after it entered service, the last plane was delivered, a very truncated lifespan. Compare it with the hardly puny Boeing 747, which will see its final delivery in 2022, 53 years after the planes first flight, an almost human longevity. Clearly, the 747 was the right-sized record-breaker.

Of course, the most infamous overshoot of all airplane designs was Howard Hughess H-4 Hercules, dubbed the Spruce Goose, the largest plane ever made out of wood. It had a wingspan of nearly 100 meters, and it was propelled by eight reciprocating engines, but it became airborne only once, for less than a minute, on 2 November 1947, with Hughes himself at the controls.

Another right-size giant is Fords heavy and powerful F-150, now in its 14th generation: In the United States, it has been the bestselling pickup since 1977 and the best-selling vehicle since 1981. In contrast, the Hummer, a civilian version of a military assault vehicle, had a brief career but is now being resurrected in an even heavier electric version: The largest version using an internal combustion engine, the H1, weighed nearly 3.5 tonnes, the electric Hummer, 4.1 tonnes. I doubt we will see 14 generations of this beast.

But these lessons of excess carry little weight with designers and promoters pursuing record sizes. Architects discuss buildings taller than a mile, cruise ship designers have already packed nearly 7,000 people into a single vessel (Symphony of the Seas, built 2018) and people are dreaming about much larger floating cities (perfect for spreading the next pandemic virus). There are engineers who think that we will soon have wind turbines whose more than 200-meter diameter blades will fold, like palm fronds, in hurricanes.

Depending on where you stand you might see all of this either as an admirable quest for new horizons (a quintessential human striving) or irrational and wasteful overreach (a quintessential human hubris).

This article appears in the January 2022 print issue as Extreme Designs.

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Gigantism Is a Never-Ending Temptation for Engineers and Designers - IEEE Spectrum

The worlds great civilizations were forged contrary to family instinct. The Chinese created an objective system to select civil servants who would put the states interests above those of their families; the Christian world prohibited marriage among its clergy with similar intent and the Ottomans set up an administrative elite made up of foreign slaves who could not pass on the privileges they acquired during their lives to their children. All of this was designed to limit the impulse to put family interests above general ones.

However, these measures had limited success. There were archbishops who fathered children and the Ottoman Janissaries eventually reversed the prohibition on passing power to offspring. Family always wins out, perhaps because the famiy instinct is so ingrained in human nature.

Children hold incredible potential, but for it to be developed they require a prolonged and intensive care that frequently their parents are unable to meet. We are dependent for many years after birth and it is likely that this has encouraged some typical traits in the species. Recently, the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) published a study carried out by Harvard University researchers that suggested that active grandparenting favored humans maintaining physical fitness long after their prime reproductive years and that also explained why exercise is so beneficial in later life. This role of grandparents as the pillars of parenting could be the reason why women, contrary to what occurs in practically every other animal species, can live for decades after losing their reproductive ability.

The success of species at large is reproductive, but ours achieved success with an increase in non-reproductive time

The grandmother hypothesis was developed through the study of older female members of the Hadza people of northern Tanzania. Kristen Hawkes, of the University of Utah, observed that these women were extremely active in gathering food that they then shared with their daughters. This generosity was conducive to them being given more grandchildren. Years later, an analysis of pre-industrial societies in Canada and Finland reached similar conclusions. At the beginning of the 17th century in Quebec, ecclesiastical records made it possible to determine that women who lived in the same parish as their mothers on average had 1.75 more children than their sisters who lived further away. In Finland, the results showed a similar tendency, as long as the grandmother was not over the age of 75.

Natural selection would have favored longevity in species made up of dependent individuals, says Mara Martinn Torres, director of the Spanish National Center for Research on Human Evolution (Cenieh). Fragile human babies and their huge brains would have had more chance of survival and development thanks to their grandmothers and in turn their efforts would have given our species the reward of a much longer and healthier life span than that of our close relatives, such as chimpanzees. These animals, which remain fertile their whole lives, suffer serious physical decline in their 30s and rarely make it to 40.

The paleoanthropologist Marina Lozano notes that it is estimated this essential function in grandmothers began with Homo erectus, a species that emerged around 1.8 million years ago. It is the first species of our genus to have a similar structure and life cycle to ours, with a more dilated growth in which lactation and childhood are separated and we have another stage, adolescence, says Lozano, of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution.

It is probable that grandmotherly help began with human species that predated our own, but it seems that around 50,000 years ago cultural transformations occurred that intensified the phenomenon. According to calculations by Central Michigan University researcher Rachel Caspari, based on the fossilized teeth of 768 individuals who lived over the past three million years, among Homo sapiens during the Upper Paleolithic, the number of individuals surviving until an age when they could become grandparents was greatly increased. In that period, for every 10 Neanderthals who died between the ages of 15 and 30, only four lived longer. Among Homo sapiens, that number rose to 20.

Sapiens had already been on the planet for tens of thousands of years, but around 60,000 years ago something happened that increased their capabilities. There is a palpable cultural sophistication; it is the age when hybridization with Neanderthals took place and it also when there was a migration out of Africa that coincided with migrations within the continent, says Antonio Rosas, director of the Paleoanthropology Department at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. This period was unique, something was happening and it is clear that it was changing social and cultural organization, something that would also change the value of grandparenting.

This capacity for cultural adaptation increased life expectancy among Homo sapiens, leading to larger numbers of grandparents in the population. Women are born with a number of egg cells that are distributed during their fertile years. On increasing life expectancy, there may have been a change that also increased the number of egg cells to maintain fertility for longer, but the presence of grandmothers without their own children to look after offered other advantages. Human females are among the few animal species that cannot reproduce until the end of their lives. The others are cetaceans with teeth, such as pilot whales, beluga whales, narwhals and orcas, which also have large brains.

During that period of reinforcing cultural and biological transformation, greater life expectancy would have been a driving force for the species, which after many millennia of survival was on its way to an unprecedented global expansion. Increased life expectancy allows for an overlapping of generations that makes it possible to accumulate exceptional wealth. The Australopiths never knew their grandparents. Being able to bring together three generations in one home is a hive of knowledge that other species do not have. Humans do not have to start from zero with every generation. That completely alters the value of older people, says Martinn Torres.

These societies, in which grandparents gained more and more importance, were responsible for artistic creations such as the cave paintings at Altamira in Spain and Lascaux in France. They were able to improve their hunting techniques and survived and prospered during the Ice Age in Europe, during which the Neanderthals disappeared. This peculiar species, that had been so fragile for so long, achieved its success in an almost paradoxical way, says Martinn Torres. The success of species at large is reproductive, but ours achieved success with an increase in non-reproductive time.

The developmental needs of the brain, the organ where intelligence resides, but above all the social skills of humans, changed other traits of human biology that at the same time reinforced cultural changes that transformed the planet. The childcare input of grandparents was one of the traits that defined human singularity. As on other occasions, the strength of the species was to be found among some of its weakest members.

English version by Rob Train.

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The grandmother hypothesis: How humankind owes its success to matriarchs - EL PAS in English

Q: I really want next year to be the year I become as healthy as possible. Can you help me figure out a plan and schedule?

Casey R., Santa Rosa, Calif.

A: Bravo! You are planning ahead and making a public declaration of your intention to live a healthier and happier life! That shows how serious you are about achieving your goals.

By following the lifestyle adjustments suggested in my book What to Eat When and the longevity-extending tips in The Great Age Reboot (due out in 2022), you can put together a plan that is both easy to follow and loaded with great rewards.

The What to Eat When formula says eat only when the sun is up: a window of approximately 12 hours, depending on the time of year. This allows for a resting period (or fasting) and can help you break the habit of bingeing on snacks.

The guide also suggests you eat most of your food for breakfast and lunch. Aim to consume 80 percent of your daily calories before 3 p.m.

As for what you eat during these recommended times: You know the drill: plant-based, free of added sugars, no red or processed meats and no ultraprocessed foods.

Move it to lose it and gain a longer, healthier life. In The Great Age Reboot, I list steps you can take to self-engineer your fitness.

Walk 10,000 steps a day or the equivalent one minute of activity equals about 100 steps.

Get two or three sessions of strength training a week include core-strengtheners to avoid back problems down the road.

Do cardio exercise that increases your heart rate three times a week for 20 minutes. Aim for 80 percent of your age-adjusted heart rate (figure it by subtracting your age from 220 and then taking 80 percent of that).

Take 40 jumps in place a day. This increases lymphatic flow, bone density and spine health.

Q: Cancer seems to run in my family, and I want to do everything I can to help prevent it from happening to me. Can you tell me about cancer-fighting foods?

John Y., Indianapolis

A: You are right to fight! Genetic predispositions do not always mean you are going to develop whatever condition they are affiliated with. Your lifestyle choices can activate that predisposition or help squelch it! And food is a powerful tool when it comes to helping prevent cancer.

Some of our favorites are berries, lentils, kale, spinach, cauliflower, 100 percent whole grains and turmeric.

Berries: Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries contain phytochemicals such as anthocyanins and a powerful antioxidant, pterostilbene, that reduce chronic bodywide inflammation (from obesity, red meats, added sugars, stress and poor sleep habits). Chronic inflammation ups the risk of cancer substantially. Berries also contain something called ellagic acid; laboratory studies show it has antiviral, antibacterial, antioxidant and cancer-preventive properties.

Lentils: High-fiber foods nurture good gut bacteria and may reduce the risk of colon cancer. They also help control appetite and weight being overweight is associated with an increased risk of 12 cancers.

Kale, cauliflower and spinach: Kale and other cruciferous veggies, like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, contain glucosinolate, which can cause tumor cells to die. Spinach contains carotenoids that may help fight cancer. It also has glycoglycerolipids certain formulations may inhibit some forms of breast cancer.

Whole grains: They contain fiber, phytochemicals and minerals that help fight cancer. One metastudy looked at the diets of 786,000 people and found that eating 7 grams of whole grains daily was associated with a 20 percent decrease in the risk of dying from cancer.

Turmeric: This tasty spice may do more than add flavor to your favorite foods. Laboratory and animal research indicates it may prevent cancer, slow its spread, make chemotherapy more effective and protect healthy cells from damage by radiation therapy. Confirmation in high-quality human trials is needed.

Contact Dr. Roizen at sharecare.com.

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Launch a new you with the new year - Houston Chronicle

Longevity and mental health biotechs take note: Korify Capital is putting together a $100 million venture fund targeting your space and is looking to build a portfolio of 15 to 20 companies across Europe, the U.S. and Israel.

The targeted $100 million investment vehicle, which is expected to close around the middle of next year, is the first fund of Korify, the international venture arm of Swiss family office Infinitas Capital. Infinitas is active in multiple areas outside of biotech, notably real estate, but has been tracking advances in aging and mental health research and has decided the time is right to enter the space.

There are a lot of opportunities coming from academia. We have made a lot of progress in research that is now hopefully about to get translated into human applications in the coming years, and we've made great progress on the animal front and can actually do quite a lot. They're already prolonging lifespan, Robin Lauber, co-founder and chairman of Infinitas, said.

Lauber and Davide Ottolini, co-founder of Korify, each identify COVID-19 as an accelerant, both because it has increased the interest of generalist investors in longevity and because it could spur innovation in the historically moribund mental health sector. With large biopharma companies pulling back from central nervous system research, Korify sees room for smaller biotechs to build on academic progress, creating investment opportunities for the new VC fund.

RELATED: Cambrian snags $100M for 14 assets, 3-5 trials within 18 months

Theres not like a couple of dominant companies that just own the space, Lauber said. Rather, there's a lot of disruption happening at the smaller scale, in smaller biotech companies, that are very lucrative to invest in and very interesting from an investor's perspective.

Korify plans to invest in 15 to 20 such biotechs, with a focus on later-stage platform companies. That focus is evident in Korifys decision to make Cambrian Biopharma its first investment. Cambrian, which exited stealth in February, has disclosed $160 million in financing this year to advance a pipeline of 14 drug candidates designed to target biological drivers of aging.

We like their approach of being very diversified, with multiple shots on multiple targets, Lauber said. They also are very aware of the current regulatory systems that are in place. We don't really have any solid longevity biomarkers, so their strategy is set up in a way that they can get there with the current FDA framework.

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Aiming to make 70 the new 50, Korify rolls out $100M longevity and mental health venture fund - FierceBiotech

As the final presents are bought and wrapped, and the sherry begins to flow, one question is hot on the tongue of families world-wide this festive season: When will you put down your phone and stop checking crypto?

Little do they understand the woes of a turbulent month of bearish Bitcoin divergence, nor do they understand the endless possibilities of what could happen next only one thing is certain its Christmas and its time to enjoy it.

In the festive spirit, Coin Rivet has compiled a barometer reading of experts crypto market sentiments for 2022 so you dont have to this holiday season.

For many of the experts, Web 3.0 has been veritably left out this year, although the significance of the sub-sector will continue to grow into 2022. Web 3.0 is focused on extending user utility in a decentralised capacity, and naturally this will place users as the central focus within the emergent technology.

Julian Sawyer, CEO of Bitstamp the worlds longest-standing crypto exchange, was keen to assert the viewpoint that customer interaction is a vitally human component of high tech systems.

In crypto especially, we use tech to drive our products and our business, however, our customer service is a space where we can be human, he explained.

The technical jargon in our industry is what causes customers to get confused or frustrated and we strive to be a place where people can enter the market with confidence.

In 2022, the focus should be on innovating products that provide a better customer experience, not to use the technology to separate potential customers out. As more people talk about metaverses, cyborgs and alternative realities, Im betting that people are going to want to talk to real people.

And Matt Zhang, the Founder of Hivemind Capital (a $1.5bn crypto fund built on the back of Algorand), concurs with this opinion adding the decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) will revolutionise user engagement in the future of industry, and the tech sector will be first.

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In 2022, we will see more companies explore alternative governance models using DAO and blockchain technology, highlighted Zhang.

This trend will be particularly obvious in the consumer tech sector, where consumers feedback on products shapes the longevity of the companies that provide those services in the first place.

Many have been quick to label 2021 as the year of institutional crypto adoption, however, the experts seem to suggest this moment is far from over amid economic concerns and the current state of adoption.

Diogo Monica, President of Anchorage Digital the first federally chartered crypto bank, explained how institutional adoption of crypto represented a generational wealth transfer that is evidenced by a maturing multi-asset class industry.

Its no longer just speculative investing in Bitcoin or Ethereum; were talking about NFTs, DeFi, remittances, capital preservation, and many other verticals, explained Diogo.

Well also see Bitcoin continue to act as a hedge against inflation, which continues to be important as rates rise.

Finally, banks and fintechs will continue to add support for crypto services across the board, as 2021 has shown us that the massive transfer of wealth to the millennial generation is well under way, and their needs are much different than their predecessors.

And Matthew Gould, CEO of Unstoppable Domains, a leading NFT domain name platform, highlighted how the standout performance of stablecoins in 2021 demonstrated the genuine utility of crypto to individuals and banks alike.

Stablecoins had a breakout year in 2021, reaching a market cap of over $152 billion. I predict that by 2024, the total market cap of stablecoins will reach $1 trillion, said Gould.

The biggest thing thats going to win over crypto skeptics is utility, and stablecoins are the best example of this stablecoins represent everything good about crypto without the speculation or the FOMO aspect, especially when you look at regulated stablecoins like USDC.

Kosala Hemachandra, the CEO of MyEtherWallet, believes that 2022 will deliver a new wave of NFT hype as the real use-cases finally emerge and come to fruition.

In 2022, Im looking forward to physical items such as car titles and house deeds becoming NFTs, said Hemachandra.

This will introduce a whole new game to crypto. NFTs are easy to understand, similar to collectibles in the real world.

Every wave of NFTs brings something new to the table, which means we havent even seen the full glory of NFTs yet.

Speaking to the metaverse, Colin Pape (Founder of Presearch), argued 2022 would be a battleground year that would see centralised entities and decentralised networks duke out ownership of online interactions.

Our collective shift towards the metaverse will continue to accelerate. This raises major concerns about privacy, explained Pape.

Its not just your Facebook account, its a shift to everything being online. Centralised companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon will vie for control over our digital lives, so we need to focus on building a future that is a net positive.

The best way to do this is by offering alternatives to big tech platforms. As we shift towards a future in the metaverse, we should prioritise decentralised, open-source platforms, and educate people on alternatives to the centralised big tech platforms they use every day.

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Crypto experts break-down their 2022 industry predictions - Yahoo Finance

TUESDAY, Dec. 21, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Intermittent fasting is all the rage due to its potential health benefits, and now a new review shows this style of eating really does produce weight loss and may even improve certain markers of heart health.

Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term for several diets that alternate between feasts and fasts. The 5:2 diet involves eating normally five days of the week and restricting your calories on the other two days. Alternate-day fasting calls for a fast day-feast day-fast day pattern. In contrast, time-restricted eating refers to eating only during specific time windows each day.

"The new study demonstrates that the different forms of intermittent fasting, i.e., alternate-day fasting, the 5:2 diet and time-restricted feeding, are all effective weight loss interventions for people with obesity," said study author Krista Varady, director of the Human Nutrition Research Unit at the University of Illinois, in Chicago.

"Intermittent fasting may be an effective means of lowering heart disease risk by decreasing blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein [LDL] or 'bad' cholesterol, and triglycerides," she said. What's more, these diets may help prevent type 2 diabetes by lowering insulin resistance and fasting insulin levels.

Most of these benefits likely stem from weight loss.

"All of these regimens induce a calorie restriction of 15% to 30% daily, which results in weight loss," Varady said. "When an obese person loses weight, they almost always see reductions in LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and insulin resistance."

For the review, the researchers analyzed 11 studies that comprised 130 trials of various intermittent fasting regimens. When the investigators looked at all of the studies as a whole, intermittent fasting did produce weight loss and improvements in risk factors for heart health. However, only alternate-day fasting and the 5:2 diet resulted in a clinically significant weight loss of more than 5%, the study showed.

The findings were published online Dec. 17 in JAMA Network Open.

So, should you or shouldn't you jump on the intermittent fasting bandwagon, and if you do, which method is right for you?

Two experts who were not involved with the study agreed that it's too early to make any blanket recommendations.

"The study provides strong evidence that some, but not all, of the regimens result in weight loss and related decreases in body mass metrics and improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors, such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure and measures of insulin resistance," said Benjamin Horne. He is the director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The methods in this study that showed the most profound benefits tend to be the most difficult to follow, he noted. "Future studies should evaluate the ability of the average person to adhere to these regimens, because it is unclear that they are sustainable over the long term," Horne said.

The study also could not address if intermittent fasting reduces heart attacks or strokes or extends longevity. "It is unknown whether the average person can adhere to any of the four intermittent fasting regimens for a long enough period of time [years or decades] to affect those outcomes," Horne added.

And importantly, he asked, can weight loss can be sustained without continuing the regimen?

There are also safety considerations. "The hype surrounding intermittent fasting may be leading to harms to unsuspecting people who want to achieve better health," Horne explained, "especially people with diagnosed chronic diseases and asymptomatic health conditions."

New York City dietician Robin Foroutan isn't a fan of the difficult-to-stick-with intermittent fasting regimens that showed the greatest benefits in this study.

"I only recommend time-restricted eating and fasting-mimicking diets," said Foroutan. Fasting-mimicking diets work by tricking your body into thinking that you're fasting even though you're still eating. These methods are easier to follow so people are more likely to stay the course.

The bottom line? Always talk to your doctor before starting a new eating regimen, she said.

More information

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has more on the various types of intermittent fasting.

SOURCES: Krista Varady, PhD, professor, nutrition, and director, Human Nutrition Research Unit, University of Illinois, Chicago; Robin Foroutan, MS, RDN, dietitian, New York City; Benjamin Horne, PhD, director, cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology, Intermountain Heart Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah; JAMA Network Open, Dec. 17, 2021, online

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Big Review Confirms Power of Fasting Diets for Weight Loss - HealthDay News