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Subject: Next Big Future - 6 new articles

 

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"Next Big Future" - 6 new articles Key Gene Found Responsible for Chronic Inflammation, Accelerated Aging and Cancer DARPA invests $3.5 Million in TechShop for instant fabrication testbeds Interview: Elon Musk of Spacex talks reusable rockets and Mars missions Euclideon continues to make progess with atom-based graphics Treating Amyloidosis could extend maximum human lifespan Spacex Dragon has been captured by the space arm of the Space Station More Recent Articles Search Next Big Future Prior Mailing Archive Key Gene Found Responsible for Chronic Inflammation, Accelerated Aging and Cancer Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have, for the first time, identified a single gene that simultaneously controls inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer. "This was certainly an unexpected finding," said principal investigator Robert J. Schneider, PhD, the Albert Sabin Professor of Molecular Pathogenesis, associate director for translational research and co-director of the Breast Cancer Program at NYU Langone Medical Center. "It is rather uncommon for one gene to have two very different and very significant functions that tie together control of aging and inflammation. The two, if not regulated properly, can eventually lead to cancer development. It's an exciting scientific find." For decades, the scientific community has known that inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer are somehow intertwined, but the connection between them has remained largely a mystery, Dr. Schneider said. What was known, due in part to past studies by Schneider and his team, was that a gene called AUF1 controls inflammation by turning off the inflammatory response to stop the onset of septic shock. But this finding, while significant, did not explain a connection to accelerated aging and cancer. When the researchers deleted the AUF1 gene, accelerated aging occurred, so they continued to focus their research efforts on the gene. Now, more than a decade in the making, the mystery surrounding the connection between inflammation, advanced aging and cancer is finally being unraveled. The current study reveals that AUF1, a family of four related genes, not only controls the inflammatory response, but also maintains the integrity of chromosomes by activating the enzyme telomerase to repair the ends of chromosomes, thereby simultaneously reducing inflammation, preventing rapid aging and the development of cancer, Dr. Schneider explained. Molecular Cell - mRNA Decay Factor AUF1 Maintains Normal Aging, Telomere Maintenance, and Suppression of Senescence by Activation of Telomerase Transcription Read more » • Email to a friend • Article Search • DARPA invests $3.5 Million in TechShop for instant fabrication testbeds Venture Beat - A fundamental tenet of the modern maker movement is that everyone wants to build something. Especially the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Today DARPA took a break from funding next-generation weapons systems, advanced hypersonic aircraft, and frickin' laser beams to put $3.5 million into TechShop, the paradise for "inventors, makers, hackers, tinkerers, artists … and anyone else who wants to be able to make things that they dream up but don't have the tools, space or skills." TechShop currently operates 5 locations around the US, giving members access to a vast array of tools, building space, and lessons. In authentic military tradition, the project has a funky acronym: iFAB. The Instant Foundry Adaptive through Bits partnership between TechShop, DARPA, and the Department of Veteran Affairs is intended to "create a foundry to rapidly design and reconfigure manufacturing capabilities to support the fabrication of a wide array of military vehicles." DARPA - part of the Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) portfolio, is called Instant Foundry Adaptive through Bits (iFAB). iFAB seeks to create a foundry to rapidly design and reconfigure manufacturing capabilities to support the fabrication of a wide array of military vehicles. Now, thanks to a new collaboration between DARPA, the Department of Veterans Affairs and TechShop, a test-bed will exist to examine new methods and various approaches to creating an effective iFAB. At the same time, the facilities provide a space for innovators to access industrial tools, training and equipment needed to pursue their own 'make' ideas without the need for affiliation with a large manufacturer. Read more » • Email to a friend • Article Search • Interview: Elon Musk of Spacex talks reusable rockets and Mars missions New Scientist had an interview with Elon Musk of Spacex discussing the reusable rocket work. What kind of technology do you really want to advance, given the freedom you have to do it your own way? EM: The really big advance, the fundamental breakthrough that's needed, is a fully reusable rocket system. There was an attempt at that with the space shuttle but it failed. The space shuttle was only ever going to be partially reusable as the main tank - the primary flight structure to which the orbiter and booster were attached was discarded on every mission. And the parts that were reused were so difficult to reuse that the shuttle ended up costing four times more to run than an expendable rocket of equivalent payload capacity. The space shuttle was often used as an example of why you shouldn't even attempt to make something reusable. But one failed experiment does not invalidate the greater goal. If that was the case we'd never have had the light bulb. NS: Can you outline the economics? EM: The fuel, oxidiser and pressurant on a Falcon 9 rocket accounts for about 0.3 per cent of the cost of the mission, about $200,000. But each mission costs $60 million because we have to make a new rocket every time. Any reusable rocket would only last for a certain number of launches and would still have some maintenance costs. If a reusable rocket could last 200 launches then it would depreciate by $300,000 per launch and if there was $500,000 per launch in maintenance and service, then fuel + depreciation + maintenance would be $1 million. The reusable rocket would be 60 times cheaper than a single use rocket. Read more » • Email to a friend • Article Search • Euclideon continues to make progess with atom-based graphics Euclideon is an Australian company that claims to have developed a new technology for rendering 3-d graphics. This technology, which Euclideon calls atomistic rendering, can render images in extremely high detail. Euclideon has recently released a demo that shows the extremely detailed objects which the engine is capable of rendering in real time. The technology of unlimited detail has been controversial within the gaming community, and Euclideon has received some criticism for among other things not showing an animation using atomistic rendering. In an interview with Sander Olson for Next Big Future, Euclideon founder and CEO Bruce Dell discusses the potential of this technology for both gaming and non-gaming applications, the next products that Euclideon will release, and the fundamental advantages of atoms over polygons. Bruce Dell Question: How did you initially start working on ways to improve 3-d graphics? Euclideon invented a new way to run unlimited amounts of point cloud data in real time. Normally 3d graphics are made out of flat shapes called polygons. Point cloud data is where you make everything out of little atoms. Other systems have been made that can run 3D objects made from atoms, but our system is many times faster and can run atom based graphics in unlimited quantities, We have been using 64 atoms per cubic millimeter so our graphics are of a much higher detail than most people are used to. Read more » • Email to a friend • Article Search • Treating Amyloidosis could extend maximum human lifespan Extreme Longevity - Supercentenarians and transthyretin amyloidosis: The next frontier of human life extension (Preventitive Medicine Journal, 3 pages) Supercentenarians are persons who have lived beyond the age of 110. Currently there are only about 80 such known individuals in the world whose age is verified. In a newly published review Drs. Stephen Coles and Thomas Young of the UCLA Gerontology Research Group point out what it may be that is killing supercentenarians: amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is a disease state hallmarked by the deposition of fibers of abnormally clumped masses of transthyretin. The protein transthyretin normally acts to carry thyroid and other hormones. Mutations in the gene make the fibers abnormally sticky and they tend to clump into long fibers which are deposited in multiple organs. Through early onset amyloidosis leads to disease, it is of interests that supercentanarians all seem to have significant amounts of it. Though not proven it is possible the amyloid is killing them. These persons have already escaped the typical causes of death however they have lived for so long, the normally innocuous amounts of amyloid that increase with age may actually become toxic to them because they have lived so many years. Where this line of reasoning gets exciting is that experimental drugs exists which may eliminate amyloid. These drugs are being studied for young persons with pathological amyloidosis. If they work, what would happen if they were adminstered to persons over age 95? Perhaps it is possible they could become the first drugs to extend human lifespan beyond current theoretical limits. Is amyloidosis a part of the aging process, or is it merely one more chronic disease that can be treated? Will treating amyloidosis lead to increases in human lifespan? Both first-generation and second-generation drugs, such as Diltiazem, Verapamil, Celastrol, 4-PDA, taurine-conjugated ursodeoxycholic acid, and CHPHC, are under development for the management of the disease (Coelho et al., 2008; Balch et al., 2008). It seems to us that these questions may lead us to the next frontier in the extension of human lifespan. At the very least, the recognition that amyloidosis is a common and treatable condition in the oldest old should lead supercentenarians to having a better quality of life in the future, a further confirmation of what has been called the "Compression of Morbidity" Read more » • Email to a friend • Article Search • Spacex Dragon has been captured by the space arm of the Space Station SpaceX is planning to webcast Dragon's historic attempt to visit the space station live Friday morning starting at approximately 4:30 AM PT / 7:30 AM ET. NASA TV should have a webcast Spacex should have a webcast 6:50 AM PST. The SpaceX Dragon capsule has arrived at the 10-meter hold point. The International Space Station crew has received the "go" for capture. Capture complete 7:00 am PST the space station arm has the Dragon Read more » • Email to a friend • Article Search • More Recent Articles Experimental realization of an array of broadband 20% invisibility cloaks that operates in the visible frequency Nine Ways to Bias Open-Source AGI Toward Friendliness Stem-cell-growing surface enables bone repair Researchers find a way to delay aging of stem cells Bioengineers Make DNA Into a Living Computer Memory

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