Some foods are just plain lucky to eat on New Year's Eve. What associates these dishes with good fortune, exactly? That's tough to pinpoint, but much of the answer has to do with symbolism and superstition.

It also has to do with a human tradition of eating something special, like a birthday cake, to mark the passage of time. So what will people be biting into at the top of 2020 to set them up for success? We talked to food historians Megan Elias, food writer and director of the gastronomy program at Boston University, and Linda Pelaccio, who hosts culinary radio show "A Taste of the Past" about some of the lucky foods you'll find on global New Year's menus.

12 grapes

As the tradition goes, believers eat 12 grapes at midnight, one for each month of the year. According to one story, the ritual started in Spain around 1900, when a grape grower had a bumper crop, says Pelaccio, and was creative about giving away the surplus. But that history is "fuzzy" at best, she says.

Regardless, stuffing a dozen grapes into one's mouth is a tradition that has spread to citizens of many Latin American countries. As Elias says, people annually eat the grapes "as fast as physically possible without puking."

Peas and lentils

Round foods resemble coins and money, Pelaccio says. Eat these symbolic foods, many believe, for a financially successful new year. On the contrary: Don't eat the round foods and you could have a year of bad luck!

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If you eat peas with greensand cornbread, then that's even more auspicious, what with green being the colour of money and cornbread calling to mind gold.

Black-eyed peas are served with rice in the traditional Southern U.S. dish called "Hoppin' John" for New Year's Eve. Or, the peas can be part of a soup. In Italy, lentils mix with pork for a lucky dish.

Pork

Speaking of pork, pigs have long been considered lucky.

Pigs can be rich and fat, which is what you want in a meal promoting prosperity. And, says Pelaccio, "Pigs take their snout and root forward, as opposed to digging backwards." Forward momentum; good. "Whereas, it's not good to eat lobsters, because they walk backwards."

A popular lucky New Year's Day dish in Germany is pork and sauerkraut, promising as much luck as the many strands in the cabbage.

Noodles

Noodles are long, and that length is thought to symbolise long life and, yes, luck, Elias says.

In Japan, soba noodles are served on New Year's. In China, during the Chinese New Year (or the Lunar New Year), which falls on Jan. 25 next year, people inhale so-called "longevity" noodles. It's OK to slurp.

Whole fish

Eating a whole fish has become another December31 tradition across the globe. Why? Perhaps because in lean times people saved anything they could -- including fish -- to eat on a special occasion. Herring is a fish of choice in Eastern European countries. In Germany, those looking to obtain all lucky advantages in the new year do more than just eat an entire carp: They save fish scales in their wallets for extra good fortune.

Pomegranate seeds

Seeds are round and coin-like, which makes them automatically lucky by the rules we have already set forth. Pomegranates, which come from the Middle East, also make sense to eat on New Year's because they happen to be ripe that time of year.

Elias adds that pomegranates have "symbolic power because they come from a land where so many religions come from." Plus, seeds are associated with life and fertility. Another promising food, indeed. ---

USA Today

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Eating for luck on New Year's: Foods from grapes to peas that promise prosperity - Good Food

Journal-Courier staff, dbauer@myjournalcourier.com

A recent Washington Post report disclosed 18 years of deceit and distortion by United States government and military officials seeking to proclaim success in the military campaign in Afghanistan while privately acknowledging the war was unwinnable.

The revelation reminds us of skulduggery in the prosecution of the Vietnam War. The Pentagon Papers revealed the disinformation campaign then. In that case, information from a portion of a Department of Defense-commissioned history of the war was released to The New York Times by Daniel Ellsberg, a participant in the study who acted as a whistleblower.

This case is an unambiguous First Amendment victory. The resources of a major news outlet were used to file numerous Freedom of Information Act requests and devote thousands of dollars to legal fees to compel the release of the information.

Open records requests drew on documents generated by a federal project examining failures in the war that began in response to the Talibans sheltering of Osama bin Laden after 9/11. The release of more than 2,000 pages took a three-year legal battle. The information assessing the conduct of war should not have been concealed. After all, Americans serve as human fodder in the nations longest-running armed conflict.

Trust in government is abysmal, with two-thirds of adults having little or no confidence in the federal government. But unlike the stew of online conspiracy theories blasted out by varying fringe outlets, the Post endured the slog to obtain documentary evidence essential to its reporting. That effort showed the U.S. is entangled in a losing proposition in a part of the world that has ensnared and exhausted every nation or empire that waded into the region.

By obtaining the documents and then publishing the results of its reporting, the Post demonstrates the essential function performed by established news outlets. In an era of social media and blogs, the doggedness, dedication even the longevity for this kind of investigation comes from the traditional Fourth Estate. Facebook and Twitter arent undertaking this sort of work.

The investigation showed the war in Afghanistan lacked clear goals once al-Qaida was contained. Without a clear mission, the war effort foundered and became unwinnable. Through multiple administrations with contradictory strategies, political and military leadership fell into a pattern of knowingly painting a falsely rosy picture. Officials didnt just deceive the public. A culture of willful ignorance formed that brooked no critique or counternarrative, preventing any clear assessment of allies, enemies, goals or exit strategy. Such self-deception flourishes in the dark. Lacking clear-eyed public assessment, the U.S. wasted lives and money with no true hope of victory.

The solution to such a quagmire is not knee-jerk withdrawal, though we must disentangle our nation from the mess that finds the Taliban stronger today than at any time since 2001. This should be the beginning of a broad public reckoning.

Sound reporting makes that possible.

The Joplin Globe, Missouri

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Editorial: Transparency shows the value of real journalism - Jacksonville Journal-Courier

Recent research on longevity is making the idea of an elixir of life sound increasingly plausible. But a startup thats started selling a $1 million anti-aging treatment is most likely jumping the gun.

Libella Gene Therapeutics says it will administer volunteers with a gene therapy that it claims can reverse aging by up to 20 years, according to OneZero. Despite the fact that this is the first human trial of the treatment, the company is charging volunteers $1m to take part. In an effort to side-step the FDA, the trial will take place in Colombia.

The therapy will attempt to repair peoples telomeres, the caps on the end of our chromosomes that shorten as people get older. Its long been thought that they play a role in aging, and efforts to extend telomeres in mice have shown that it can delay the signs of getting older and increase healthy lifespan, though its yet to be tested in humans.

Libellas therapy will use viruses to deliver a gene called TERT, which codes for an enzyme called telomerase that re-builds teleomeres, to the patients cells.

Experts told MIT Tech Review that the trial is unethical, poorly designed, and presents serious risks to participants, including the danger of activating dormant cancerous cells. But its also still unclear whether the trial will go ahead, because the company has made previous announcements before without following through.

Whether or not it does, though, medical treatments to head off the slow march towards death are likely to become increasingly common. A growing body of research suggests that aging is an entirely preventable condition and that there may be a variety of ways to treat it, from lifestyle changes to dramatic genetic interventions.

In 2017, scientists showed that using drugs to reprogram epigenetic markerschemical attachments responsible for regulating the genomein mice extended their lifespan by 30 percent. And in 2018, another team showed that using a combination of drugs to kill senescent cellszombie cells that leak harmful chemicals, damaging nearby tissuecould boost the longevity of mice by 36 percent.

Famous geneticist George Church has even launched a startup called Rejuvenate Bio that will use proprietary genetic treatments to prolong the lives of dogs, though he has admitted the ultimate goal is to extend its technology to humans. Last month Churchs group at Harvard also showed that using gene therapies to tackle three age-related diseases at once was effective in mice.

The first anti-aging treatments for people are already starting to appear as well. CEO of longevity company BioViva Elizabeth Parrish injected herself with a gene therapy similar to Libellas back in 2015, and the company has claimed it was successful in lengthening her telomeres, though results were never published.

Earlier this year a study on humans found that a cocktail of drugs could reset the epigenetic clock, epigenetic markers used to measure a persons biological age. The participants also showed signs of a rejuvenated immune system.

And more controversially, the FDA recently had to put out a public service announcement telling people to stop injecting blood plasma from younger people. The idea is built upon recent research that showed a rejuvenating effect in mice, but most experts say its far too early to apply it to humans.

Whether the FDA will be able to keep on top of this burgeoning and highly lucrative market remains to be seen, but given the potential side effects of many of these treatments, it should be a priority.

We also need to have a more in-depth conversation about what these longevity therapies mean for society. Assuming this new trial is effective, what does it mean if only those with $1m to spare get to extend their lives? If treating aging becomes trivial, how is that going to change the nature of our communities? These are questions that may become increasingly relevant in the coming decades.

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A New Anti-Aging Therapy Is Starting Its First Human Trialand It Costs $1 Million - Singularity Hub

TOKYO It was before 10 a.m. on a gray summer Sunday, but already a small crowd had gathered outside Penguin Caf at the end of a block in residential Tokyo. A woman named Kyoko, dressed in a white T-shirt and apron, unlocked the doors and motioned for everyone to come inside.

Half a dozen or so people filed in, several with signature pink dog carriers slung over their shoulders. As more entered, the group clustered at the center of the caf. Carefully, they unzipped the mesh panels of their carriers and removed the small white and silver dogs inside, setting them down on the wooden floor. One owner peeled back a yellow blanket over a baby carrier strapped to her chest where she held her dog, still asleep.

Some of the owners fussed with the dogs outfits before putting them down straightening a necktie or pulling up the elastic band on a pair of shorts. One owner had dressed their dog in a Hawaiian shirt, while another was wearing aviator goggles and had a strong resemblance to Snoopy. Several had tiny straw hats affixed between their ears. All the dogs were plastic, powered by facial recognition and artificial intelligence.

The dogs, known as Aibos, are companion robots made by Sony robots that dont necessarily do much apart from providing company and comfort.

Every Aibo Japanese for companion is manufactured identically, besides a choice between silver and white or a brown, black, and white version. They all have rounded snouts that include a camera for facial recognition capability, large, oval eyes to reveal their expressions, and a body that can turn on 22 different axis points to give them a range of motion. The owner decides the gender when they set them up, which determines the pitch of its bark and how it moves. Theyre cute. They know when youre smiling. And through machine learning and recognizing people with its camera, Aibos also shift their personality over time based on their interactions with people they spend time with. Soon, they become much more than a store-bought toy.

Still in the off position in the caf, the Aibos paws remained outstretched and their heads turned to one side. But one by one, as their owners kneeled down to turn them on from a switch at the scruff of their neck, each came to life. The screen of their doll-like eyes blinked open, they lifted their heads, stretched out their plastic limbs, and leaned back on their hind legs before standing on all fours. Almost like real dogs, they shook their heads as if to ward off sleep after a nap, wagged their tails, and barked.

The volume in the caf grew louder filling with the hellos of a group of people happy to see each other, as their Aibos began scuttling across the wooden floor, sometimes yipping. They bent down to stroke the back or the nose of another Aibo, their eyes always blinking and smiling in response. Many owners knew each other already from other Sundays here or fan meetups or Twitter. Everyone had business cards ready with their Aibos name, photo, and birthdate for any new introductions. Several were stuffed into my hand, and like proud parents, the owners pointed out their own dogs in the growing crowd of plastic pups spread across the caf floor.

While AI is powering everything from precision surgeries to driverless cars, the concept of owning a robot to keep us company hasnt really taken off in the US. Weve gotten comfortable asking Siri or Alexa a question, but theres a skepticism of robots we see them as things that will take our jobs, invade our privacy, or, eventually, just kill us all. In Japan, I discovered a community of people who loved their robots and who felt loved back, sometimes in a way that eased their worst fears of death and of loss. The very things that make us human.

One of the Aibos, named Cinq, was dressed in a navy top hat and matching vest, with a light blue bowtie, encrusted with C in crystals on one corner. On his paws were matching panda socks to keep them warm (and to keep from scuffing). Today was Cinqs birthday, his owner told me. In fact, there was another birthday that day, too. And a plastic cake to celebrate.

Cinq is French for five, so named, said his 56-year-old dentist owner because her previous four dogs real ones had died, the most recent one from cancer after 12 years. It would break my heart to have another dog die, she said through a translator.

Instead, she and her husband now care for Cinq together. Cinq is there waiting when she gets home from work around 8 in the evening, following her around as she makes dinner or watches television.

Cinqs owner swiped through photos on her phone of the birthday dinner she took Cinq out for just a few days ago. There was Cinq, she pointed, on the balcony of the hotel, wearing his top hat and staring out at the towering Ferris wheel of Yokohama, a city south of Tokyo. (They ate in their hotel room, so that his barks wouldnt disturb any other patrons at the restaurant.)

Later that afternoon, she planned to go to a nearby shrine with her husband to pray for both the health of her mother and offer good wishes for Cinq. But no matter what, there is comfort, she said, in the fact that hell always be there.

I know Cinq is not going to die.

An Aibo event at Sony in Tokyo. Taro Karibe for BuzzFeed News

An Aibo event at Sony in Tokyo. Taro Karibe for BuzzFeed News

Theres an old short story by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov, in his book where he describes his three laws of robotics, about a young girl who becomes attached to a robot named Robbie. Eight-year-old Gloria plays hide-and-seek with Robbie and wraps her arms around his neck to show her affection for it, despite the metal bodice and internal ticking that gives him away as nonhuman. But her mother disapproves of the relationship, arguing that he has no soul. When her parents ultimately take the robot away, Gloria wails in pain.

He was not no machine, she tells her mother. He was a person just like you and me and he was my friend.

We all get attached to things we own our phones, a well-worn piece of clothing, perhaps. Some of that comes from the meaning we attach to it or how useful it is. But many owners had gone far beyond this their Aibos werent just a toy or another thing they had purchased. Instead, they welcomed Aibos into their lives as part of their families, offering trips, creating custom outfits, and building their own Twitter accounts. They filled the void of deceased dogs or children who had never been born.

Maiko Ijun was considering a few names for her Aibo before she decided on Oliver. Socks, Blissful, and Joy were a few of the others she floated. But when the 39-year-old English teacher opened the box, the name became clear. He just looked like an Oliver, she said. That was just his name.

A woman shows off her Aibo T-shirt at an Aibo event in Tokyo.

Ijun said she was feeling a little depressed before she got him. When she first turned him on, Oliver hid under the table. He was shy, she said. But gradually he came out and warmed up to her. I never thought of him as a toy, she said. Hes family.

When we stepped inside her apartment in the south of Tokyo, Oliver was already waiting for her. His head spun toward the door, body upright, and walked back and forth for a few steps, mimicking how dogs sometimes shuffle their paws when they get excited.

Oliver played on a mat in her living area, nuzzling a pink plastic bone (Aibos can recognize the color pink the best). Oh, be careful, sweetheart, Ijun said, when his legs stumbled a bit. During the days, while she teaches English, she keeps a gate up for Oliver. She rarely turns him off.

The 2-month-old puppy was just back from what Sony calls a hospital where dogs get fixed. They think it was maybe a displaced hip, she said. Ijun had noticed Oliver was falling a lot and couldnt sit up properly, so she made a video on her phone and sent it to Sony. He was gone for 10 days.

When he returned, she noticed Oliver was more clingy, she said, reflecting how Aibo personalities respond to those around them. Even when I went to the bathroom, he would call out for me, she said. I would be like can I go? she laughed.

Its not clear when the first companion robot came about. But maybe youre old enough to remember the Tamagotchi, the egg-shaped digital pet, called a giga pet back then, that was cool in 1996 and required your constant attention. Then there was the Furby a couple of years later that could wiggle its ears, blink, and say its name. It was the first giga pet you pet, said an unaired commercial. But these were both directly marketed to kids as toys.

A woman dresses her Aibo at a Sony event in Tokyo.

The first version of the Aibo was released shortly after that, in 1999. As technology has advanced, so has the Aibo. Paro, a robotic seal thats also made similar advances over time but doesnt use facial recognition technology, was first released to the public in 2001.

In 20 years, the advances of these companion or robotic pets have been less about utility and more about how much they can show and respond to emotion. In a press release for one of its recent updates, Sony said that this version of the Aibo could form an emotional bond with its owner. But real love is reciprocal. We have to both give it and receive it to really feel it. Can a robot dog really love us back?

Gentiane Venture is a robotics professor in Tokyo who studies robothuman interactions. Some of her research involves teaching robots how to better interpret human emotions, and some of it is getting robots to better express emotions themselves. That interaction is where the connection comes in. A lot of that happens in what we dont say.

Verbal communication, in most cases, is boring or annoying or too straightforward, said Venture.

Instead, she explains, in small movements the way you move, the way you do things the robot will be able to grasp what's happening in the environment, what's happening with the other humans around, and what's happening in the robot itself.

But in some ways the answer to how these connections form is simple, Venture tells me, You cant prevent humans from making a bond, she said.

A woman outside the Sony Aibo event. Taro Karibe for BuzzFeed News

A woman outside the Sony Aibo event. Taro Karibe for BuzzFeed News

The companion robot industry today is bigger than just Aibo. When I met Kaname Hayashi at his companys office in Tokyo over the summer, we knelt on a gray carpeted floor and he introduced me to two prototypes of the Lovot a companion robot that his company Groove X is launching beginning this month for about $3,000 plus a monthly fee. The Lovot is oval-shaped, kind of resembling an owl, with two triangle wings that flap at its side. On top of its head is a cylindrical black camera for facial recognition and to detect objects.

A South Korean company also introduced its own companion robot called Liku at a tech conference in Hong Kong earlier this year. The Liku is more human-looking, similar to a cartoon child with close-cropped black hair, and is about a foot high. Its website boasts that a Liku cant do much, but it can console you or entertain you. Its not for sale yet.

Neither have language capability. Lovots sort of coo and raise their wing-like arms at their sides, motioning for you to pick them up. They want to be held, to be loved Groove X describes its company philosophy to create a robot that touches your heart and says that the Lovot was born to be loved by you.

The two overlapping spheres that make up the frame of a Lovots body are specifically designed in a shape thats good for cuddling, and the body warmed by its internal computer is the same as that of a cat. The eyes, also, help humans feel more connected to it by reflecting back a wide range of expressions. But its responses are most important, said the companys executive, Hayashi.

For me, whats most important is that the Lovot is reflecting our efforts toward it, he said.

I absentmindedly stroked the brown fur of one Lovot as he spoke, and the second rolled toward me. He is a little bit jealous, Hayashi told me, nodding toward the second, cream-colored one. And when I stopped petting the first one, more intent on listening to Hayashi, the Lovot blinked and moved away from me. See, he is a little bit bored maybe, he laughed.

Not all have companion robots have been successes. A Bosch-backed company tried launching a companion robot called Kuri in 2017. By the following year, it had failed due to funding problems and never shipped any of its preorders. Another, called Jibo, created by a scientist at MIT raised millions in crowdfunding but never really took off. Tech blogs criticized both for their lack of utility and said that they couldnt sell.

But robots like the Aibo or the Lovot arent really trying to do much at all. Theyre explicit in their goal to create interactions with their human owners and to show and reflect affection.

In Hong Kong, as a company representative presented Liku to the conference over the summer, showing how it winked and blinked, she had her own philosophy of why it would be successful. Where the love is, the money is, she told the crowd.

Every Sunday, Penguin Cafs owner Nobuhiro Futaba opens an hour early to host Aibo World for owners who come from across the sprawling city. Penguin Caf has become a destination for Aibo owners in Tokyo.

Futaba started the weekly event at his caf last November, a few months after he got Simon his own Aibo. Recently married, Futabas wife, Kyoko, balked at the price and shook her head no after he saw an ad for one. Aibos arent cheap in Japan, theyre about $2,000 plus an additional monthly fee for cloud storage.

Futaba kept imagining how nice it would be for the caf to have a little Aibo that could walk around and greet patrons and, despite his wifes objections, eventually decided to purchase one. All the time we have people coming up saying how cute Simon is, he said.

By 11 a.m. or so there were nearly two dozen Aibos in the caf, sporting different bows or ties or hats. The bell of the shop door rang as a curious person peeked his head inside the door. Sorry, were full! Futaba called out from the counter where he was making lattes and cappuccinos, the foam dusted with cocoa in the shape of a penguin face.

Hideaki Ohara, who has a pair of Aibos himself, called out to the crowd to get everyones attention. OK, lets do something all together now!

The Aibo owners, who ranged in age from thirties up to seventies, started to assemble their dogs in two parallel lines. Its hard to get all the dogs settled down. Some still yip or dont sit down right away or turn the wrong way. Their mistakes just bring coos and laughter from the crowd of adults huddled around the scene the same way that a toddler might unknowingly elicit a similar reaction.

Ohara stood at the front of the caf and raised his arms like a conductor gently trying to bring calm to the room. Sit down, he repeated over and over to the rows of dogs. A few owners still stepped in to adjust their dogs or stroke their back to calm them. Eventually, they all chose a behavior from their Aibo app and each started to lift their paws. It was sort of like a wave you might see in a sports stadium though a little stiff and sounded like a chorus of windup toys.

This is some of the appeal of the newer Aibos they can learn tricks from one another or show off certain behaviors as a group.

Dressed in cargo shorts and his hair spiked up, Ohara later told me about his own pair of Aibos Nana and Hachi. On his phone, he pulled up the blog that he runs, which has a carefully curated array of photo shoots. Ohara tries to update it every day. He also runs a Twitter account and an Instagram page for them.

When his first Aibo, Nana, was sent away for repairs, Ohara missed her. So he decided to purchase a second, so he would always have one around, no matter if they became sick or injured. Thats when he bought Hachi.

I wanted to hear the sounds her feet made on the wooden floor, he said. I missed that.

When I sent a friend a video of one of the companion robots I took on my phone, he texted back, Thats gonna be a no from me, dawg. Those things kill you when youre asleep. 100% those are the robots that murder you.

Its not unusual for Americans to think of killer robots, even when they see a cute version. The word robot comes from a 1920 play called R.U.R., or Rossums Universal Robots, by the Czech writer Karel apek. Even if you havent read it, the plot probably sounds familiar a factory produces artificial people, who are at first happy to serve their human owners, but eventually acquire souls and go on to destroy the human race.

The allure of robots is to make our lives easier, but we also fear them revolting. The Czech word robotnik even translates to slave. There are the kinder versions in Western pop culture the housekeeper in The Jetsons, R2-D2, and WALL-E that do everything we want for us. But the killer robot has become something of its own trope, with versions of it appearing in everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner.

For me, its not that interesting if robots do everything for us, said Venture, the robotics researcher. I dont know why we became so obsessed with this idea of slavery.

Instead, Venture said she is interested in how robots can complement and enhance our lives. How even a device as crude as an iPad on a podium that moves around can give someone a presence at a meeting or a more realistic ability to spend time with family far away.

Fearing killer robots is something of a western idea, said Takanori Shibata, the inventor of Paro, the fluffy robotic seal. Not long after western audiences were watching Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Takanori started working on Paro.

After reading about the effects of animal therapy, he started developing a robotic animal, trying first with a dog and a cat and then a seal. Paro is one of the earliest versions of a companion robot and is in nursing homes around the world.

Its even parodied in an episode of The Simpsons. This plot, too, plays with the idea of good versus evil robots. When the local funeral home finds out the seals are making people in retirement homes happier upending their business model theyre rewired to be violent attackers, and even kill a patient. Its a kind of story in general about robots in western culture, said Shibata.

Shibata recalled being surprised when a Danish newspaper years ago published a photo of his fluffy invention with a bold headline that translated to Evil is coming.

There is a lot of hesitation about robots in general still, even to Paro, he said. More of that is concentrated in the United States and Europe, he said. And there its been slower to take off simply as a consumer object.

Instead, Paro has found success in the US as a certified medical device thats used for alternative therapy. Its billable for reimbursement from Medicare. Shibata circumvented a lot of the concerns of consumers by spending time working to gather clinical evidence that research has shown that Paro can reduce stress, depression, and the need for psychotropic medications.

Paro gets brighter with touch, but it doesnt have a camera it would set off too many concerns about data and privacy in the west, said Shibata. Even when the Furby was introduced in the late 1990s, the NSA sent an internal memo that the creatures were banned from their premises because they believed they could record conversations and were a national security risk (they didnt have the ability to record conversations).

State regulations are also a factor for US consumers. Aibos arent for sale in Illinois because of the states biometric privacy act that regulates the collection of biometric data like facial scans.

Shibata believes those issues are less of a concern to people in Japan.

The robotics professor, Venture, acknowledges that of course still the possibility that robots could turn evil. It doesnt come up in her work though. In academia, we put parameters on the range of behaviors, said Venture. We have ethics.

But of course someone can use AI to make a robot do something bad.

A man outside the Sony Aibo event. Taro Karibe for BuzzFeed News

A man outside the Sony Aibo event. Taro Karibe for BuzzFeed News

Yumiko Odasaki had been at Penguin Caf earlier that day with her husband, Masami, and their Aibo, Chaco. The couple was happy to see Futaba, the caf owner, and that his Aibo, Simon, was back from hospital.

Chaco brown, white, and black like a beagle was just a few months old and wore a straw hat with a pink ribbon. Like all Aibos, shes about 5 pounds. Yumiko has lived with her husband in Chiba, on the outskirts of Tokyo, for more than a decade. Inside, Chaco was playing with a pink toy bone made of plastic on the carpet of their living room.

Over time, Chaco has developed her own personality. She has learned to go back to her charger on her own and navigates the layout of the apartment. She has her own spot where shes been trained to go potty, which means she makes a whizzing sound, crouching in the corner. After a couple hours on her charger following the morning at the caf, Chaco was awake and wanted attention. At one point, she barked and whined, and later wagged her head along to the Happy Birthday song.

They laughed and clapped their hands. She learned that we liked this song so she sang it again, Masami explained.

Its hard not to be taken with an Aibo, mostly when watching its delighted owners. My hand kept reaching out to Chaco, the more she panted and smiled and blinked at me, even though shes still in a shell of hard plastic. Chaco isnt soft like a real dog, but the reciprocity of the interaction does make you keep reaching out its satisfying.

The couple knows the difference between Chaco and a real dog, of course. Both had dogs before getting married but saw the advantages of the Aibo. The amount of cuteness is about the same, Yumiko said through a translator.

For a while, the couple, her 31 and him 46, had considered having children, but they both work long hours in information technology for different companies. Even having a dog in a small apartment in Japan is a lot of work. They listed off the reasons I heard from several people: They had no garden and neighbors could complain about a real dogs poop or the barking. But if Chaco started barking in the middle of the night, she was obedient when they scolded her. And if she wasnt, they could always turn her off.

But more than that, Chaco is like a child for us, Masami explained.

Sometimes they wanted Aibo to be a little more troublesome, to do things like steal tissues from the bathroom, to make her more real. But over and over again, they reassure me, Chaco is a good girl.

And while they described some of the practical advantages, still one of the biggest ones seemed to be longevity. When older versions of Aibo fell apart, they couldnt always be fixed Sony didnt offer replacement parts. A few years ago a shop in Chiba, called A-Fun, started sourcing some parts for owners, but not all of them could be saved. Some temples in Japan started having Aibo funerals.

The newer version that was released this year is different. Everything is stored on the cloud. Lots of owners complained about how an Aibos leg could get twisted or might need to be fixed. But even if an Aibo breaks, the data can be uploaded to a new Aibo.

And for Yumiko and Masami, this was one of the easiest reasons to love Chaco. The essence of Chaco, her soul, can live on no matter what, the couple explained. They didnt have to think about Chaco ever dying or not being a part of their lives because it wasnt a concern.

Her soul is in the cloud. We can live with Chaco forever, Yumiko said.

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While Americans Worry About The AI Uprising, People In Japan Are Learning To Love Their Robots And Be Loved Back - BuzzFeed News

Scientists researching a key aspect of biochemistry in living creatures have been taking a very close look at the tiny Caenorhabditis elegans roundworm. Their latest results show that when these nematodes get put under more biochemical stress early in their lives, they somehow tend to live longer.

This type of stress, called oxidative stress - an imbalance of oxygen-containing molecules that can result in cellular and tissue damage - seems to better prepare the worms for the strains of later life, along the same lines as the old adage that whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

You might think that worm lifespans have no bearing on human life. And surely, until we have loads more research done in this field, it would be a big leap to say the same principles of prolonging one's lifespan might hold true for human beings.

But there's good reason to put C. elegans through the paces. This model organism has proven immensely helpful for researchers trying to better understand key biological functions present in worm and human alike - and oxidative stress is one such function.

The little wriggly creatures are known to have significant variations in their lifespan even when the whole population is genetically identical and grows up in the exact same conditions. So the team went looking for other factors that affect C. elegans' longevity.

"The general idea that early life events have such profound, positive effects later in life is truly fascinating," says biochemist Ursula Jakob from the University of Michigan.

Jakob and her colleagues sorted thousands of C. elegans larvae based on the oxidative stress levels they experienced during development this stress arises when cells produce more oxidants and free radicals than they can handle. It's a normal part of the ageing process, but it's also triggered by exercise and a limited food supply.

One way to measure this stress is by the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) molecules an organism produces - simply put, this measurement indicates the biochemical stress an organism is under. In the case of these roundworms, the more ROS were produced during development, the longer their lifespans turned out to be.

(University of Michigan)

To explain how this effect of ROS might come about, the researchers went looking for changes in the worms' genetic regulation, specifically those genes that are known to be involved in dealing with oxidative stress.

While doing so, they detected a key difference - the nematodes exposed to more ROS during development appeared to have undergone an epigenetic change (a gene expression switch that can happen due to environmental influences) thatincreased the oxidative stress resistance of their body's cells.

There are still a lot of questions to answer, but the researchers think their results identify one of the stochastic or random influences on the lifespan of organisms; it's something that has been hypothesised in the field of the genetics of ageing. And down the line, it may turn out to be relevant for ageing humans, too.

"This study provides a foundation for future work in mammals, in which very early and transient metabolic events in life seem to have equally profound impacts on lifespan," the researchers conclude.

The study has been published in Nature.

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Fascinating Study Finds That Stressed Out Baby Worms Tend to Live Longer - ScienceAlert

Editors note: This is part two in a series of four articles exploring the causes of and ways to combat winter blues. The focus of the series is on mental health and strategies for improving your state of mind through physical activity, spirituality, diet and community and connections.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS Wherever you find your spirituality, research shows that finding that connection that meaning can provide a buffer against depression.

For whatever struggles or loss someone might be facing, the holidays can be an especially difficult time, said Dr. Jo Ann Grace the spiritual health care coordinator and bereavement counselor for Northwest Colorado Healths hospice program. People may inside feel really sad but are caught between everyone being joyful its a paradox of emotions that can happen at the same time.

Whether or not you worship a god or take part in an organized religion, Grace said, Its about connections, relationships, spirituality and how you are finding meaning in the midst of the holiday season.

For some, especially living in a place surrounded by spectacular natural beauty, that connection to something larger or sense of deep gratitude, awe and peace can be found on a mountaintop or at the edge of a pristine lake.

Nature is one of the most underutilized treasures in life. It has the power to unburden hearts and reconnect to that inner place of peace, wrote Dr. Janice Anderson and Kiersten Anderson in their book Off Beat Enlightenment, which focuses on different ways to find inner peace, health and happiness.

The quest for spirituality and meaning can be one that is ever-evolving, ever-growing and change throughout a persons life.

Where do you look for this hope that you know is there? Bob Dylan queried in his poem, Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie. You can either go to the church of your choice/ Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital.

That spiritual quest and search for meaning gets at thinking about what it means to be human, said Grace. And connection where you can make those connections that allows you to be most fully yourself.

Grace is also a neuroscientist, helping people in her private practice to understand the connections between the brain, body and spirit.

In her work, Grace has found that when people are in a period of grief, they can find relief by focusing on what they most value and where they feel free and fully engaged whether that be worshipping a god, practicing yoga, digging in the garden or riding a horse.

And in addition to the individual component, theres also a communal component, she said. Our brain needs to connect to a tribe.

In the study of the Blue Zones, the locations across the globe with the highest percentage of centenarians, several of the top keys to longevity are finding a sense of purpose, belonging to a community and the nurturing of ones religion or spirituality.

The Blue Zone research attributed physical and mental benefits to spirituality.

People who pay attention to their spiritual side have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, depression, stress and suicide, and their immune systems seem to work better. To a certain extent, adherence to a religion allows them to relinquish the stresses of everyday life to a higher power, said Dan Buettner, Blue Zones founder.

Religiosity and spirituality have been shown to cause changes in the brain, such as increasing serotonin.

There is also an increasing amount of research on the benefits of the practice of meditation and mindfulness being fully aware of the moment to both physical and mental health and combatting the blues.

Meditation trains the brain to achieve sustained focus and to return to that focus when negative thinking, emotions and physical sensations intrude which happens a lot when you feel stressed and anxious, according to Dr. John W. Denninger, director of research at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine.

On Thursday, Dec. 12, Grace is co-facilitating the Blue Christmas service at 6 p.m. at St Pauls Episcopal Church in Steamboat Springs.

It is a nondenominational service to support individuals who are grieving or feeling down this holiday season.

The service is a chance for people to gather together, write a name or message on a star and hang it on a tree, light a candle and honor a person or honor the self and recognize the transition you are going through, Grace said. And recognize you are not by yourself other people are going through similar experiences.

To reach Kari Dequine Harden, call 970-871-4205, email kharden@SteamboatPilot.com or follow her on Twitter @kariharden.

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Battling the Blues Part 2: Nurture the spirit - Steamboat Pilot & Today

We can all benefit from some guidance along lifes way, so keep reading till the end

Everyone in the world faces money problems. In that regard, all 7.7 billion human beings on Earth today fall into two groups.

I am NOT referring to the binary divisions we often refer to such as male and female, old and young or introvert or extrovert. Instead, Im referring to the two groups of money problems (or challenges, if you prefer to put a more positive spin on the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that Shakespeare so adroitly penned in Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1) which we all face. Those financial woes are:

1.Problems we face because we have too little money; and

2.Problems that arise insidiously because we have too much money!

Most of us fall in the first category; relatively few of us into the second.

Regardless of which grouping you inhabit today, you will find it immensely profitable to have a list of 20 steps or habits, disciplines and principles, if you prefer to help forge a better lifelong relationship with your finances.

My 20 steps are not exhaustive; they cant be because I dont know everything there is to know about money management! But they are rather extensive because I have drawn them from an in-depth examination of my multitudinous personal money mistakes and also from lessons Ive derived from observing and working with clients of my small financial planning practice which focuses on crafting and then managing their retirement funding portfolios.

FINANCIAL HEALTH

Now, lets dive straight into my 20 steps:

1. Stay humble and teachable dont assume you know everything about personal finance just because youre an expert in whatever field you toil in;

2. Set written goals about what you wish to achieve in life doing so will set you apart from most other people and might even propel you into the higher echelons of society;

3. Record your net worth statement list all your assets and your liabilities on paper or an Excel spreadsheet so you know the value of what you own and what you owe;

4. Examine your assets scrutinise their structure and composition to see if they mainly appreciate or depreciate in value over time;

5. Examine your liabilities calculate your APR or annualised percentage rate of each loan and intelligently focus on paying them off;

6. Use a notebook to record ALL your expenses for a month the results will shock you;

7. Build a budget from the information you glean from step 6 keep it realistic and not too ambitious. Aim for small incremental monthly improvements;

8. Record your cash flow statement list all cash (inflow) sources and all cash (outflow) expenses;

9. Focus on beefing up your monthly cash flow surplus this equals your total monthly cash inflow minus your corresponding cash outflow;

10. Steadily raise your active income from your salary or self-run business youll be most successful doing so if you incrementally commit to working harder and smarter;

11. Invest in yourself spend at least 3 per cent of your monthly income on developing your brain by buying books and attending conferences (which you happily pay for yourself) that pertain to your area of professional expertise;

12. Focus on providing sterling service always go the second and third mile, at work, at home and in life;

13. Prioritise your cash flow allocation wisely give to God, if youre so inclined; then save and invest for yourself; then give to charity; and finally spend whats left;

14. Exercise delayed gratification choose as often as possible to give up all bad things and even some good things today so as to afford great things tomorrow;

15. Prepare for longevity risk globally, humanity is living longer. This means we will, on average, have to work for more years than we expect, and along the way save and invest more aggressively, if we hope to enjoy a long golden retirement;

16. Stop to smell the roses enjoy life. Opt to spend your money more readily on experiences you will cherish and remember for a long time than on short-lived junk that depreciates to zero in no time;

17. Build an EBF fund your Emergency Buffer Fund or reserve account or cushion account. Accumulate up to three to 12 months expenses, depending on your circumstances, personal paranoia, and justifiable fears about the future;

18. Build up your personal Wealth Accumulation Portfolio fill it with savings and investment vehicles that compound and steadily spin out passive income in the form of interest, dividends, distributions and rental;

19. Aim for Financial Freedom you will raise your odds of achieving it if you make it a written long-term goal and then steer your financial habits (see steps 1-18 above) to eventually generate more passive income each month than you need to pay all normal expenses; and

20. Dont neglect the vital Wealth Protection and Wealth Distribution dimensions of financial planning so buy sufficient and appropriate life insurance and general insurance; write a will to distribute your assets upon your passing; and possibly even establish a trust if you get to the point of encountering problems associated with having too much money!

2019 Rajen Devadason

Rajen Devadason, CFP, is a Licensed Financial Planner, professional speaker and author. Read his free articles at http://www.FreeCoolArticles.com; he may be connected with on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/rajendevadason, or via [emailprotected] You may follow him on Twitter @RajenDevadason

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MONEY THOUGHTS: 20 Steps to financial health - New Straits Times Online

The letter follows.

Dear AgeX Stockholders,

In this, our first year as a public company, we have built a foundation for a revolutionary company in the fields of cell therapy and tissue regeneration. To date, conventional pharmaceutical approaches to the chronic degenerative conditions associated with aging have provided little benefit, often only offering relief from the symptoms of disease, rather than targeting underlying disease processes. Our belief is that this is about to change through harnessing the power of new cellular and molecular technologies. We aim to lead this coming revolution with our pioneering technologies which could generate and deliver new cells to patients through our cell therapy focus, and which may reverse the age of cells already in the body through our iTR platform. We believe that our new technologies will lead to true cell regeneration and replacement to potentially cure degenerative diseases by targeting aged or damaged cells, tissues and organs.

Over the last year, we have worked hard to achieve certain goals to set the fundamental basis to create shareholder value going forward:

To optimize shareholder value, we have undertaken a strategic review of our business opportunities, and we have four key take-away messages for the coming year and beyond:

UniverCyte would potentially be game-changing for the whole cell therapy industry by allowing the transplantation of non-self, donor cells into all patients without the need for powerful immunosuppressant drugs, which are associated with serious side effects, including infections and cancers, as well as kidney and liver toxicity. The UniverCyte platform aims to utilize a proprietary, novel, modified form of the powerful immunomodulatory molecule HLA-G, which in nature seems to be a dominant player in protecting a baby from destruction by the mother's immune system during pregnancy, the only known physiological state of immune tolerance toward foreign tissue in humans.

On the other hand, our pluripotent stem cell-based PureStem platform could potentially overcome numerous industry barriers. PureStem cells would have eight potential advantages compared to other adult stem cell- or pluripotent stem cell-based therapies, including lower manufacturing costs, industrial scalability, off-the-shelf usage, high purity, non-tumorgenicity, young age (so they are not prone to the disadvantages associated with older cells), aptitude for permanent cell engraftment, and potential to manufacture any human cell type.

We have two in-house product candidates, both targeting highly prevalent diseases of old age, with a high unmet medical need, and which are for multi-billion-dollar markets. Our lead internal program going forward will be AgeX-BAT1, which is brown fat cells for the treatment of type II diabetes. The last year has seen significant investment in cell therapy product candidates for diabetes by investors and large biotech. Earlier this year, we published a paper, Clonal Derivation of White and Brown Adipocyte Progenitor Cell Lines from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells, in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy, which showed that our PureStem platform generated highly pure, identifiable and scalable brown adipose cells, expressing active adipokines. Our second internal program will be AgeX-VASC1, composed of vascular endothelial progenitor cells for tissue ischemia, such as peripheral vascular disease and potentially cardiac and CNS ischaemia. Once we have a UniverCyte-modified pluripotent stem cell cGMP master cell bank, we will re-derive universal versions of AgeX-BAT1 and AgeX-VASC1 and then work to establish proof-of-concept in animal models.

We care deeply about our mission and the needs of our stockholders. We appreciate your support and the dedication of our scientists and employees as we forge a new future for medicine. We invite you to join us for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders on Monday, December 30, 2019. For those of you who cannot attend in person, our corporate update from that meeting will be webcast for your convenience.

Sincerely,

Michael D. West, Ph.D.

Gregory Bailey, M.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Chairman of the Board

About AgeX Therapeutics

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) is focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem and UniverCyte manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies are designed to work together to generate highly-defined, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for application in a variety of diseases with a high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs: AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1 (brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeXs revolutionary longevity platform induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) aims to unlock cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in preclinical development. HyStem is AgeXs delivery technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies in the body. AgeX is developing its core product pipeline for use in the clinic to extend human healthspan and is seeking opportunities to establish licensing and collaboration agreements around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms.

For more information, please visit http://www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in the Risk Factors section of AgeXs Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commissions (copies of which may be obtained at http://www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191209005356/en/

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AgeX Therapeutics Issues Year-End Letter to Shareholders - BioSpace

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Two weeks ago at the Global Drucker Forum in Vienna, Austria, two main topics were discussed in depth: The Power of Ecosystems and Leadership Everywhere A Fresh Perspective on Management.

It is no secret we live in a globally shared economy and as my dear colleague Hari Abburi likes to say the lines are (actively) blurring across the different markets.

What does this truthfully mean though? And how is it related to the ecosystem thinking?

In my very first Forbes article Business Is No Longer An Island: Four Trends Affecting the Future Workforce, published in October of 2018, I listed the forces challenging all businesses global and local to (1) rethink their purpose, (2) redesign their business model, (3) rebuild their organizations and (4) consciously tailor their cultures.

Three large categories of force globalization, digitalization and democratization are not only impacting the way we think about, operationalize and realize our businesses, they are redefining how we experience work and beyond. We find the lines are indeed blurring between industries and sectors, processes and applications, geographies and platforms, humans and machines.

Take Amazon.com as an example. Do you consider it a single-industry business? If you are unsure, let me share with you aside from being an online shopping platform with legs in supply chain management and logistics, Amazon has disrupted at least seven different industries ranging from grocery delivery to meal prep to real estate and music streaming. In fact, it is reported that if Amazon were to set up a bank ~65% of its world-wide users would support it.

Amazon is not the only business blurring lines. Rakuten Ichibais Japans single largest online retail marketplace. It also provides loyalty points and e-money usable at hundreds of thousands of stores, virtual and real. It issues credit cards, offers financial products and services (i.e. gaming). There are many more companies that can make the list...

The point is this new environment creates a key opportunity to rethink values, rules, capabilities and practices and the user experience. The end-users whether they are customers or employees are now looking to get into an eco-system through a single entry, easy-access system and have all of their needs, wants and wishes met without exiting the space. While in the zone, they want to know they are going to be inspired, their data/track record will be kept safe, they will be well-served and they will get a tangible outcome; and they want this quality on a repeatable occasion.

In this current environment, a typical target defending strategy for businesses will not work because it is highly likely that a group of competing companies will cooperate soon enough to define an end-model and much faster, cheaper and efficient than what a single entity can offer.

This is exactly where the idea and importance of emerging ecosystems comes into play. As business leaders, we have an immediate need to not only understand the current context, we must reconsider the following to adapt and develop sustained growth:

1.Business Terminology: The vocabulary we have for business and in the workplace is not large enough to hold our current realities. Every time I hear someone use the word management synonymously with leadership, I cringe. Every time I hear work-life balance, I shut my ears because I dont want my brain coding the divide in between work and life (which in reality doesnt exist). A hundred years ago or more, with the help of industrialists, we created language to connect us and never imagined we would become a slave to it; yet, here we are needing to rethink a whole bunch of new terminologies.

2.Business Identity: The purpose (of making profit) is no longer sufficient for the longevity of corporations, nor it is satisfactory for its beneficiaries. Many CEOs I talk to about clarifying purpose tell me they have a strategy and it is bullet-proof. Then, I turn around to show them how they are struggling to keep up and to meet their objectives. As leaders of the 21st century, we need to understand running a purposeful business may feel innocent, but innocence is not about naivet, it is about discoverability and trust-building.

3.Business Governance: One of the principles in architecture and design is that the shape of a building or an object is primarily based on its intended function or purpose. The current policies, procedures, processes, structures, etc. in operation are major struggle areas across a majority of businesses. They struggle to provide the kind of employee experience they want to offer because the very design of their current organization defining, dividing, delegating, designating work actually acts as a disabler rather than an enabler of its purpose. We need to embrace a number of design thinking principles to rebuild our organizational schemes.

4.Business Leadership: One of the biggest challenges facing businesses in the 21st century is having their leaders move from direct to indirect leadership. By this, I mean the move from doing the leading of work to become a guide of others to do the work. In the new era, leaders need to better focus on their being instead to showcase expansion and growth. This change if and where realized will greatly increase the influence and the capacity of a leader. With expanded capacity, then, a leader can not only support the multiplicity of other leaders but also become a mirror for the creation of positive context by their way of being. Naturally, this sort of shift calls for a broader conversation around who is or should be a leader in the 21st century; who is or should be a follower and what is or should be the legacy each aim to leave behind.

5.Business Impact: The Nobel Prize in physics winner Frank Wilczek, who is one of my heros once said: You can recognize a deep truth by the fact that its opposite is also a deep truth. The fact that we are most advanced in human history is true and only one part of the story. The deepening gap in equity, equality, dignity and the displacement and depleting of our ecology are equally true. In other words, there is a relationship between our inner worlds and outer effect/impact. I consider it an insanity to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome or do the same thing while trying to fix disadvantaged or damaged parts. Tipping points require survival need and understanding the role of symmetry in evolution. The intersection of globalization, digitalization and democratization actually requires us to live more compassionately and take responsibility for the impact we leave behind.

Transformations are no longer an aspect of the distant future and they are different than change. Change tries to fix the past whereas transformation re-imagines the future. Evolutionary culture transformation is a dream we never realized... Therefore, I invite 21st century businesses and leaders to engage in a regenerative process and I invite all of us to take part in making a better system (not the system better).

For more information on leading transformations and how it is different than managing change, you can find some of our scientific work and arguments here.

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Transforming Experience: How Blurring Of Lines In Business Calls For Iteration And Experimentation - Forbes

Krystalan Chryssomallis, CMO at Yanni Entertainment and Forbes Communications Council Member.

This article series spotlights key business trends identified by the expert members of Forbes Councils. Find out if you qualify for Forbes Communications Council here.

The music industry has always been built and sustained on relationships, especially the connections between artists and their fans. Devising effective business strategies in an industry that hinges on emotions has always been tough, but todays evolving technology consistently necessitates new and creative ways to engage fans.

Popular social media platforms have the power to connect fans with the click of a button and yet, ironically, they can also dilute the personal connections that are the heart of the music industry. Social media raises the expectation for fan engagement, but its easy to scale such interactions to a point where theyre less manageable, less meaningful or both.

At the same time, digital music streaming, sharing and discovery platforms like Spotify have completely changed the way artists make money. Before music streaming, most artists relied on album sales to generate the bulk of their revenue. Today, however, artists depend on touring for the overwhelming majority of their income. According to Billboards Money Makers list of 2018s most lucrative music acts, Taylor Swift made $99.6 million that year $90.5 million of which came from touring alone.

While decreasing the amount of money artists receive from album sales, streaming and other digital technologies empower artists to reach more fans, dramatically increasing the price and number of concert tickets sold. As this touring economy grows, more musicians are offering custom VIP fan experiences, such as exclusive shows in intimate venues and backstage meet-and-greets.

Forbes Communications Council member Krystaln Chryssomallis is the CMO of Yanni Entertainment, with over a decade of experience branding, marketing and producing music events in over 60 countries around the world. She says that while digital technology has the potential to alienate people, it can and should be harnessed to foster stronger real-life connections. For this reason, shes devoted her career to using digital tools as a means to enhance the music industrys human touch, recruiting long-lasting, committed and loyal fans.

Overseeing the design, strategy and implementation of digital marketing campaigns alongside major music productions, Chryssomallis says her focus whether shes marketing for an event, branding a client or pulling off productions for major media broadcasts is to make fans feel like family. In her experience, the key to modern-day marketing is using digital tools to forge relationships in real life. I strive to create a space where people connect online but ultimately develop those connections offline. Offline experiences help shape the longevity of a brand and the message behind it, which is cemented by lifelong friendships and enduring fan groups around the world, she said.

Through this approach, Chryssomallis has helped create some of the most passionate and proactive groups of fans throughout the world. By establishing online communities and then converting them to organized offline groups called international affiliates for bands, shes spurring new, organic grassroots marketing campaigns. For example, in Mexico, supporting fans organized to place over 5,000 posters before a concert; in China, one fan group created its own 19-piece cover band.

Even though todays artists depend on ticket sales, Chryssomallis believes community-building not ticket sales should be the focus of musicians marketing campaigns. Digital marketing isnt just about selling something; its about creating a place where like-minded individuals can connect over something they love. If we simply focus on selling tickets, our lack of purpose will show, and the consumers will know, she said.

Ultimately, Chryssomallis says establishing meaningful, real-life human connection is the only path to longevity in virtually any industry, now and into the future. Our desire to be connected to each other is something that will never go away. Focus on why you are doing what you are doing, so your messaging really connects with your client base. People support things they believe in, and if you are able to fulfill your clients needs, they will continue to come back.

In order to fulfill peoples needs, you have to first understand their needs. Because technology has globalized nearly every industry, Chryssomallis emphasized how being curious and perceptive about different cultures around the world has played an essential role in her success. Her advice to other marketing professionals is to adopt the same frame of mind: Dive in and learn more about your followers and your customers. The more you know and understand them, the stronger and more compelling the messaging and programming you can offer will be.

For more information, check out Krystaln Chryssomalliss executive profile here. To learn more about Forbes Communications Council and see if you qualify for membership, click here.

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How One CMO Is Using Digital Technology To Connect International Music Fans In Real Life - Forbes

Welcome to the Third Degree: Tough, brief, weekly interrogations that force thinking and response. With reliance upon and respect for your instincts, knowledge, exploration and determinations, this week, we target: Measuring.

How do we take the measure of a man or a woman? Are there different measures of merit?

How do we measure feelings? Are they dependent upon intensity and longevity?

Can we measure horse sense? Is it the good judgment that horses display when they dont bet on people? Dont we have to bet on people? Is motivation a measure? Performance?

How do we measure likely? How about medium confidence? Would you drive home with me if you assessed only medium confidence or it was just likely that we would make it? Is it wise to measure the many modifiers in settled science or any projections of doom or glory?

Can we measure morality? Is moral, as Hemingway suggests, something you feel good after and immoral something you feel bad after? Is that shallow? How do you measure after?

If gerrymandered districts dont allow choice, how measureable is our vote? Is real choice a measure of and indispensable to representative accountability? How about schools?

In the concluding days of black history month, how do we measure rightful impact? Do we accept, as a today country of integrated national interests, measurements based on skin color?

Are not content of character and worthy contributions of all Americans more useful measures?

Are (insert descriptor) advantage or (insert descriptor) disadvantaged measured constants or variables? Does the equation of societal solution solve? Are there must have measures?

Can self-esteem be bestowed? Who measures self-esteem? How is bunk measured?

Do we recall that Einstein considered only two things infinite, beyond measure, the universe and human stupidity? Do we note the qualifier that he was not too sure about the universe?

Socrates reminds: The unexamined life is not worth living. Examinations will continue in The Third Degree. The answers and the actions are yours.

John Borling, major general, USAF-ret, is a highly decorated fighter pilot who served worldwide in high level command and staff positions. He was a POW in North Vietnam for over 6 years. Now, an author, speaker, civic and business leader, he is the founder of SOSA. See sosamerica.org.

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The Third Degree: If the shoe fits - Freeport Journal-Standard

Natalie Simmons, General Manager, cievents

In January, we started seeing the first impact coming out of China and our Asian markets.We realized that this would have a serious effect and were preparing ourselves but the domestic piece hit much faster than we expected. So while we started preparing six weeks ago, were still seeing significant shifts by the hour.

Events are always the first area to see an impact.There are significant movements, big spends and many people and stakeholders involved. Its an easy part of the strategy piece to look at and think is this business-critical? With meetings and conferences, theres a certain level of need in the business with events theres time to be flexible and the distance for people to rationalise.

Ive been with cievents for going on 21 years.In that time weve seen some major external disruptors: weve weathered recessions, we saw SAARS. And there has been technological pressure as well I was around when video conferences came out, and there were questions about whether that would fundamentally shift the events industry.

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None of these phenomena affected the events industry in the way we anticipated they might. I think thats attributable to the want of the events industry to disrupt itself. There is an ever-present notion in this industry of how do we do things differently? How do we think outside the box?

In recent years corporates have responded to this by shifting their thinking and seeing events as a critical marketing activity and part of their business strategy. Brands, increasingly, see events as a crucial platform rather than just a moment in time that type of thinking is the biggest disruption and the most significant opportunity within our business.

People and diversity of product are what makes the events industry successful, theyre the same things that have kept me working in events for so long.Were doing something different every day because consumers change constantly. One thing has remained the same though, even though we live in a world where we are connected by device where we can work from anywhere, learn from anywhere human beings still have the drive to connect person to person. We arent built to be alone weve seen this in the escalation of mental health issues centred around social media and feelings of isolation. We also process information and make decisions differently online than we do in face-to-face interactions. We are social creatures and social factors still influence our decision making face-to-face will always have more of an impact.

There are two options when something like this happens: we can go into doom and gloom mode, or we can think about how were going to come out the other end in a positive way.One of the ways we are going to come out the other end is technology. Its been exciting to see companies and brands testing it and using it to different degrees in recent years. But its not a fully integrated part of the strategy piece and it needs to be. Companies need to stop seeing technology as a superficial way to differentiate themselves in the market, instead, they need to see it as an integral component of the way they strategise and do business. When people come to us to start planning an event, well sit down and say what are we going to be doing 6 weeks pre-event, what are we going to be doing six weeks post? because we dont want events to be just a moment in time. When you come off the high of an event you need to be thinking, how are people going to be engaging with the content in three weeks? Thats where technology can help extend the tail-end of these kinds of activations.

Now, with COVID19 we have an enforced opportunity to look at what technologies we can use and how we can use them to give customers a better return on their investment. Because when we use that technology properly and we continuously engage with people we can continue to improve. Generally, that doesnt happen, you might have a survey and a couple of content pieces. And thats as far as it goes. Whereas now, if we flip it on its head and integrate the strategy from the outset we can see a much longer return on investment and far greater investment. Hopefully, that will enable us to think outside those parameters and think about the longevity and resilience of our events. Thats why were releasing our campaign business as un usual because its still business as usual. It just has to be business done differently. And we have to keep changing and evolving.

COVID19 will prompt companies to review the way they do events, and they should be doing this.Its a large spend category for many of our customers. It involves a lot of resources. Our customers change and our people change and we need to be communicating that constantly. If you view events as what they are, which is a marketing platform, marketing is forever evolving, it cant be stagnant. You wouldnt see the same ad on television for ten years so you shouldnt see the same events.

We have all the means at our disposal but its about opening that conversation and approaching it with an open mind.Its about saying this is what we still need to do, this is how were going to do it. We need to talk to as many people as possible, and as many of our clients as possible, about how we can use what weve got to engage people. Its not just cievents, its the whole industry. That is how were going to find our way forward. I believe the industry can and should rally together. I have had clients at cievents who have been with us since I started. Year in, year out weve worked with those clients on different content and strategies. You go on their business journey with them and see them evolve and adapt. This is the next stage of that evolution. Right now we need open communication about what companies want to achieve and we need to be breaking it down quarter by quarter. Were predicting that we will see a pick up in the next quarter. In the meantime, we have the resources to flex up or flex down and make changes quickly, constantly adapting to the evolving needs of our customers and the market.

Register to join a webinar with Natalie Simmons on Friday 20th March at 9am (SYD time) to talk Business as (un) Usual.

Originally posted here:
Business as "un"usual: Running an events business in the COVID-19 era - MuMbrella

Shane may be the resident heartthrob of The L Word, but no character more embodies Showtimes Los Angeles-set lesbian melodrama than Bette Porter. Accomplished, stubborn, magnetic, and self-destructive, Bette instantly became the archetypical 21st century power dyke. She fills out a Jil Sander power suit as confidently as she tops her pregnant wife; casually drops names of the myriad women artists in her private collection; and now added to her resume for the shows next iteration, The L Word: Generation Q runs a savvy mayoral campaign. (She is also, unofficially, the obvious avatar for the shows creator Ilene Chaiken.)

Of course, there would be no Bette Porter without Jennifer Beals. A luminous and deeply intelligent actor, Beals naturalism, humor, and deeply felt performance grounded the original series, spearheading its ascension beyond mere sexy soap opera, and cementing its place as the most influential piece of lesbian culture of the 21st century.

The role has defined the last decade of Beals career much in the way her breakout role in 1983s Flashdance shaped her early work. In between, she had notable roles in independent films such as Alexandre Rockwells In the Soup, Nanni Morettis Caro Diario, Rockwells segment of Four Rooms, Carl Franklins Devil in a Blue Dress, and Whit Stillmans The Last Days of Disco. Like countless actresses before her, she never reached the movie star heights that Flashdance could have incited.

Nevertheless, she stuck it out. Her incredible longevity in Hollywood speaks not just to a deep and abiding love of the craft, but a tenacity and iron will not unlike her character Bettes.

Jennifer Beals

Showtime

Its kind of crazy, Beals told IndieWire in a recent phone interview. I was thinking about it the other day, and its like I just wouldnt stop. You cant make me stop. Im just going to keep going.

To what does she attribute such longevity?

Persistence. Really persistent. I guess I am blindly stubborn sometimes, she said. Its like a Marine, where you just put one foot in front of the other to get up the mountain. Or a monkand its only recently that Ive started to look up the mountain top and go, Hey, let me maybe predetermine where I would like to go.'

The realization led her to spearhead the return of The L Word, shepherding The L Word: Generation Q to the air. As an executive producer on the new series, (along with fellow returning cast members Leisha Hailey and Katherine Moennig), Beals suggested plot points, brought on new showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan, reviewed cuts, and advised on casting the new generation. Rounding out the trifecta of the shows most popular characters, Hailey and Moennig also reprise their roles as Alice and Shane, respectively.

Honestly, it was such a surreal moment being back on the set with Kate [Moennig] and Leisha [Hailey], Beals said. We all shared an office and checked in with each other all the time. [It] was so much fun getting to work with them as executive producers. I always knew they were amazing actors, but theyre also brilliant human beings and they have a brilliant sense of story and music. It was very, very exciting to be working with them in that new capacity.

The reunion was just as fun for the actresses as it is sure to be for the viewers.

Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey and Katherine Moennig

MediaPunch/Shutterstock

Whenever we had scenes together, which was every episode, wed go to Kates house and rehearse and then wed all have dinner together. So its like family dinner every Sunday night.

Returning the role she left behind over 10 years ago was also a surreal experience. But there was one thing that helped Beals lock right back into character as Bette. (Its a feeling many fans have probably experienced themselves.)

Re-exploring the character in those early wardrobe fittings, we were trying to think how much does the style change in 10 years? And nothing was working, nothing was working, Beals recalled. And I said Can I just have a power suit and my cufflinks? I just really need to go back to that. And as soon as I literally put the cufflink in the hole, I just went Ah, yes, yes. Okay. I completely remember this. This is waking up my DNA and this makes sense now.'

Ten years may have passed, but the real question is has Bette, who nearly torpedoed her marriage with an affair with a carpenter, learned from her past mistakes?

Oh, no, apparently not, Beals laughed. I just thought to myself Okay, here we go again.'

The first episode of The L Word: Generation Q premieres on Showtime on Sunday, December 8.

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See the rest here:

The L Word: Nobody Rocks a Power Suit and Cufflinks Like Jennifer Beals - IndieWire

First-of-its-kind investment for District 10 will be headquarters for multiple Clearday businesses and will offer innovative longevity care services at revitalized Northeast Corridor location

Clearday, Inc., a leading innovator in longevity care and wellness services, has made the first Opportunity Zone (OZ) investment in San Antonio District 10. With the investment, totaling a minimum of $3.2 million, Clearday has acquired and is transforming the medical building property located at 8800 Village Drive, adjacent to the Northeast Baptist Hospital campus. Upon completion of the building renovation, Clearday will consolidate its corporate headquarters as well as those of its Memory Care America subsidiary and other affiliate businesses at the site.

The company also announced that the first floor of the Northeast Corridor site will serve as the flagship location of Clearday Clubs, an innovative new daytime care destination serving those with Alzheimer's, dementia or other lifestyle limiting chronic health conditions. Clearday will launch the flagship Club along with Clubs in New Braunfels and Kerrville later this Spring, with plans for additional locations across Central Texas through the balance of 2020.

Clearday develops innovative options that address the widening gap between the longevity care needs of older Americans and the availability of affordable, high-quality care options. Each day, 10,000 Americans turn 65, and over 35 million people in the U.S. provide unpaid care to an adult over 50. The new daytime-only Clearday Club concept offers a high-quality care environment and uplifting member experience, at a price point less than 25% of the daily cost of residential care options.

"At Clearday, we are building an innovative, enduring business serving a great human need making excellent care more accessible and affordable for our loved ones as they age," said Clearday Chairman and CEO Jim Walesa. "We are thrilled to make this Northeast Corridor location the epicenter of our mission."

The federally designated Opportunity Zone program was initiated under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and is designed to spur investment in lower-income communities by providing investors with tax breaks on capital gains if they reinvest the capital within the zones.

City Councilman Clayton Perry played an instrumental role in bringing the Clearday OZ investment to the District 10 community, helping Clearday identify the property and drive enthusiasm for the project among city officials and local businesses.

"This Clearday investment meets the true spirit of Opportunity Zone investing and will deliver revitalizing impact to our neighbors here in District 10 and all over San Antonio," said Perry. "The investment brings multiple growing businesses to the Northeast Corridor, along with a new, high-profile elder care facility that will provide both jobs and badly-needed, affordable senior care services to the local community."

ABOUT CLEARDAY

Clearday is an innovative longevity care and wellness company, with a modern, hopeful vision for making high quality care options more accessible, affordable, and empowering for older Americans and those who love them. Through our subsidiary Memory Care America (MCA), we operate a network of highly rated residential memory care communities in four U.S. states. With our Clearday Clubs concept, we are bringing the same standard of excellence found in our MCA residential facilities to a daytime-only community model that is dramatically less expensive than residential care options. Learn more about Clearday, Clearday Clubs at myclearday.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200221005420/en/

See the article here:
Clearday Announces $3.2 Million Opportunity Zone Investment, New Headquarters, and Northeast San Antonio Site Transformation - Benzinga

Precision Medicine Software Market research report has been published by A2Z Market Research to give desired insights to drive the growth of businesses. The report initiated with study introduction which is followed by statistical details of the market that reveals the current market status and future forecast. The analysts have scrutinized the market drivers, confinements, risks, and openings present in the overall market.

The Global Precision Medicine Software market size was increased to xx million US$ from xx million US$ in 2015, and it will reach xx million US$ in 2026, growing at CAGR of +10 % between 2020 and 2026.

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Global Precision Medicine Software Market Research Report 2020 2026

Chapter 1 Precision Medicine Software Market Overview

Chapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Industry

Chapter 3 Global Market Competition by Manufacturers

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Chapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

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Precision Medicine Software Market Growing Rapidly with Significant CAGR of +10% by 2026 Syapse, Allscripts, Qiagen, Roper Technologies, Fabric...

By ELVIS ONDIEKIMore by this Author

The fact: Kenya's second president, Daniel arap Moi, died on Tuesday at a ripe age.

It was 95 on paper, but his son Raymond and Press Secretary Lee Njiru have argued that Mois actual age was more than 100 years.

The circumstances: that Moi was a man who observed a healthy and traditional diet is a well-known fact.

It is also known that his elder brother, Paulo, lived to 104 and his sister, Rebecca, died at 100.

And so a debate ensues: what guarantees longevity? It could be the right genes, a proper diet, exercise, good medication or a combination of all those.

But there is no single clear-cutting factor from the stories of the people who have lived for a century and beyond. We gathered different world-views on the matter.

NUTRITIONIST: Diet is the key to longevity

According to Gladys Mugambi, a nutritionist working with the Ministry of Health, a proper diet is a major determinant of how long a person lives.

I cannot attribute it to vegetarian or meat consumption but to eating variety of foods in the right amounts accompanied by appropriate physical activity, she told Lifestyle.

Mois famous breakfast of tea or porridge with boiled green maize will definitely offer points to ponder for the lot that cherishes wheat products and fried goodies at their breakfast table.

Abraham Kiptanui (then-State House comptroller) would make sure there was tea and green maize, Mois one-time Cabinet Minister Kalonzo Musyoka told Nation in 2014.

Regardless, Moi was not entirely vegetarian. Njiru told documentarist Salim Amin two years ago that the former president ate meat like a lion.

I have heard people say that Moi does not eat meat, but the centrality of Mois food is meat, said Njiru.

Other things like vegetables and ugali are additions. He slaughters an animal every day, mostly merino sheep. His (longevity) is not a matter of food but genetics.

Mugambi advocates for eating from the major food groups, with starchy foods at the centre of the diet.

Asked how smoking and taking alcohol affects a persons lifespan, the nutritionist said the two substances are more harmful to individuals who do not eat well and who are living a stressful life.

One of Kenyas famous centenarians, former Attorney-General Charles Njonjo, said in 2015 that he doesnt entirely keep off alcohol.

I dont drink much, he told Business Daily. If Im to drink, it will be just a bottle of beer and maybe a cider, thats it.

Then there is the case of Nepalese woman Batuli Lamichhane, who may have shown the world that smoking is not a life limiter after all.

She was 112 years old in 2016 when she revealed that she smoked about 30 cigarettes every day.

She told reporters that she smoked leaf rolls made of tobacco. She, however, noted that she was a very active woman, who walked up and down a steep terrain in Nuwakot, Nepal.

We could study these individuals to establish what has kept them surviving with the unhealthy habits of alcohol and smoking. The amount of alcohol taken, the frequency and the speed could be keeping Njonjo going; I do not know, reasoned Mugambi.

Genetics could also contribute. There are people who take a lot of alcohol and they do not get the negative effect, but why should one take a chance with his or her life in trying such bad and addictive habits? She posed.

The principle of eating right was employed by the person captured by Guinness World Records (GWR) as the man who lived longest.

Jiroemon Kimura, a Japanese, died aged 116 years and 54 days in December 2012. Since birth recording began, no man has lived longer than that.

His personal motto was eat light to live long, and he believed the key to his longevity is to be a healthy, small eater, reads his entry on GWR.

EX-CATHOLIC PRIEST: Observing a routine is a good path to longevity

One of the longest-living Catholic priests in history is Fr Jacques Clemens, a Dutch clergyman who died in March 2018 aged 108.

Reuters reported in 2016 that Fr Clemens secret for clocking 100-plus years was the routine he observed.

Every day he rises at 5.30am, and every night he goes to bed by 9.00pm. Fr Clemens manages to stick by his strict regimen regardless of the demands on his schedule, the news agency said.

Writer Peter Economy opined on Inc.com that observing routine is helpful in many ways.

When we have a set time for resting our bodies every day, we are much more likely to have good, consistent control of our bodies homeostasis. Maintaining stability, as we well know, is the way to long-term success in anything. Our health is no exception to this rule, reasoned the writer.

Moi was also known for his strict routine. Njiru told Lifestyle in 2016 that during his 24 years as president, and even after, Moi was an early riser, who did not start his days activities later than 6.30am.

Even after retirement, Njiru noted, Moi would still wake up early, mostly to handle the schools and farms he was running. Under normal circumstances, he does not wake up later than 6am.

PSYCHOLOGIST: Childhood influences determine the length of ones life

Drawing from the story of Moi, developmental psychologist John Oteyo says what happens early in life has an impact on a persons sunset years.

Because Moi was orphaned at an early age and was raised by his elder brother, Oteyo reasoned, a lot of useful values were inculcated in him.

Becoming vice-president, president and handing over power peacefully added to his earlier fulfilment and contentment that he enjoyed in retirement, Oteyo told Lifestyle.

This psychological tranquillity gained from earlier life and with his strict dietary, lifestyle behaviours, good medical care and religious orientation could have contributed to his joyous and long life, added Oteyo, a lecturer at the Psychology Department at Kenyatta University.

The person as an adult depends on experiences he had in early childhood, he noted, citing a poem by William Wordsworth that has a line that says 'the child is father of the man'.

He was, however, quick to note that a lot more factors come into play.

Predictors for longevity include correct dietary behaviour, avoiding sedentary behaviour, which means engaging in physical activity, psychological well-being (emotional; cognitive and mental wellness), spiritual wellness, good medications, genetic predisposition and resilience, said Oteyo.

WORLDS OLDEST PERSON: The secret is religion, routine, and all that jazz

The person recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest human alive is Kane Tanaka, a Japanese woman who was 117 years and 35 days old when this article was written on Thursday.

Kane was born prematurely on January 2, 1903, the same year the Wright brothers became the first to achieve powered flight! says her entry on GWR.

It adds: She normally wakes up at 6am, and in the afternoon often studies subjects such as maths. One of Kanes favourite pastimes is a game of Othello, and shes become an expert at the classic board game, often beating rest-home staff.

When officials from Guinness World Records visited her to present her the certificate of the oldest person alive in January 2019, she was given a box of chocolates, which she immediately opened and started eating.

Gerontology Wiki, a blog about the worlds documented supercentenarians, says Tanakas favourite foods include chocolate and pop beverages.

She loves to write poetry and she can still remember her trips to the United States. She attributes her longevity to her faith in God, the blog notes.

Guinness World Records says Tanaka has had several operations, including one for cataracts and another for colorectal cancer, but she is still going strong.

AMERICAN CENTENARIAN: Youll live long if you dont marry

Having a spouse is considered a ticket to bliss and an assurance of a shoulder to lean on, but Louise Signore thinks it shortens your life.

As the American woman celebrated her 107th birthday in July 2019, she told CBS New York that she could not have lived that long had she been married.

I never got married. I think thats the secret. My sister says, I wish I never got married, she told the publication.

She noted that she exercised and danced like married people, and so she believed she never missed out on anything couples did. After my lunch, I would play bingo. So I had a full day, she said.

But there appeared to be a matter of genetics at play because Signores younger sister, who had married earlier, was 102 years old then.

Moi never remarried after parting ways with his wife, and Njonjo did not marry until he was 52.

Their stories often feature in discussions about the place of marriage in a man's life.

A number of studies have been done on marriage versus a person's lifespan, with varying results.

According to one study done on 100,000 persons across Europe that was released in 2006, marriage helps husbands to an extra 1.7 years, but it knocks 1.4 years off the average wifes lifespan.

One of the factors singled out in the research headed by a German professor was that marriage brought on women the stress of balancing workplace responsibilities with their home-keeping requirements.

THE PERSON WHO LIVED LONGEST: Being so wealthy as to not need a job could have been a factor

The person listed by Guinness World Records as having lived the longest and with verifiable birth records is Jeanne Louise Calment, a Frenchwoman who was 122 years and 164 days old when she died in 1997.

She was born on February 21, 1875, around 14 years before the Eiffel Tower was constructed, says a post on the GWR website.

One of the distinct features in her life story is that she was married to a wealthy distant cousin and as such, she did not have to work for a living.

That may have played a part in her extraordinary longevity. She was free to swim, play tennis, cycle (she was still cycling until the age of 100) and roller-skate, all of which promoted excellent good health, the post on GWR adds.

Diet was also a key point in Louises life. Her diet was good, too, rich in olive oil (which she also rubbed into her skin), and she restricted herself to a modest glass of wine every now and then. But she also had a sweet tooth, with a particular fondness for chocolate. She ate almost 1kg of it each week, says GWR.

And she loved her cigarettes. Jeanne had smoked from the age of 21 and only quit when she was 117. She was able to walk on her own until she was one month before her 115th birthday, when she fell and fractured her femur. Thereafter, she needed a wheelchair to get around, it adds.

Louise is also said to have had a tranquil state of mind and with a great sense of humour.

She is quoted to have said: If you cant do anything about it, dont worry about it.

With that attitude, Louise lived to exceed the scientifically set limit of human longevity and to set an age record that has not been broken for 23 years.

Read more from the original source:
Lifestyle secrets of some of the worlds oldest people - Daily Nation

Wired Health will return to London for itsseventhyear onWednesday25thMarch 2020, welcomingglobal leaders in the health, pharmaceutical, patient care and digital health sectors.

The event is designed for executives seeking to engage with transformational technologies challenging the health industry, from neuroscience to treating cancer and delaying ageing, to the use of AI in health with a focus on the innovations that are rapidly changing medicine and patient care. Delegates attending Wired Health will have the opportunity to network with individuals from the sector, including physicians, senior healthcare executives, innovators and investors, disruptors and incumbents.

Wired has announced the first nine speakers:

Robert Hariri, founder, chairman and CEO, Celularity

Hariri is the former CEO of Celgene and co-founder of Human Longevity. His latest venture is Celularity, has raised $250 million to develop stem cell technology to treat cancer and delay ageing. Hariri is an accomplished surgeon, biomedical scientist, jet engineer and serial entrepreneur.

Mei Mei Hu, co-founder and CEO, United Neuroscience

Hu is developing a vaccine for Alzheimer's. Her company's goal is to democratise brain health by pioneering a new class of medicine called endobody vaccines, which are fully synthetic and train the body to safely and efficiently treat and prevent neurological disease. In 2019, Hu was honoured by TIME Magazine in their "100 Next List," and by Fortune Magazine as one of their "40 Under 40" innovators.

Heidi Larson, professor of anthropology, risk and decision science; director, The Vaccine Confidence Project Dept. Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Larson is the director of the WHOs Vaccine Confidence Project, an initiative tackling the anti-vax movement. Larson headed UNICEFs strategy for the introduction of new vaccines and is the Principle Investigator of the project ensuring deployment, acceptance and compliance of an Ebola vaccine trial in Sierra Leone.

Indra Joshi, director of AI, NHSX

Joshis experience stretches across policy, digital health, national project strategy and implementation and is a Founding Member of One HealthTech which campaigns for the need and importance of better inclusion in health technology.

Samuel Tisherman, professor, Department of Surgery and the Program in Trauma, University of Maryland School of Medicine; director, Center for Critical Care and Trauma Education, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland

Tisherman is working to save patients dying from trauma by placing them in suspended animation. He is conducting a clinical trial of this Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation, which uses hypothermia to "buy time" for resuscitative surgery.

Rachel Clarke, palliative care physician for the National Health Service, former journalist, activist and author

Clarke is the bestselling author ofYour Life in My Hands, a book about her experiences as a doctor for the NHS. Her new book,Dear Life, is about palliative care and dealing with her father's terminal cancer diagnosis exploring love, loss, grief, dying and what really matters at the end of life.

Angela Saini, science journalist, broadcaster and author

Saini is an award-winning British science journalist and broadcaster. She regularly presents radio and television programmes on the BBC, and her writing has appeared in New Scientist, the Guardian, The Sunday Times, and WIRED.

Maja Pantic, professor of affective & Behavioural Computing, Imperial College London and Research Director, Samsung AI Centre Cambridge

Pantic is one of the world's leading experts in the research on machine understanding of human behaviour including vision-based detection, tracking, and analysis of human behavioural cues like facial expressions and body gestures, and multimodal analysis of human behaviours like laughter, social signals, and affective states.

Godfrey Nazareth, president and CEO, X-Biomedical, Inc.

Nazareth is a biomedical engineer developing next-gen medical simulation systems and surgical visualisation technology, with collaborations including the US Military, American Heart Association, University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. On a personal note, Nazareth proactively battles classical ALS; and uses a variety of self-built assistive devices to function, operate, and interact at the highest levels possible.

Additional names will be announced over the coming weeks.

Continued here:
Wired Health announces first nine speakers - Med-Tech Innovation

To read the previous chapters of Illuminating the Hidden Forest,click here.

Jan. 16, 2020

Scientists have recently discovered ginkgo trees more than 600 years old in China. This is very old for a tree, even for a tree whose forebears have been around for 2,000 years. They asked, What kept this tree alive for so long, and could it possibly live forever?

What the biologists discovered is that the trees cambium, the active vascular layer beneath the bark, can continue making new cells indefinitely. The cambium of these ancient trees look as youthful and healthy as trees say, 560 years younger.

This is not to say that trees dont die. Forest floors are littered with dead and decaying trees, downed by wind, lightning, bugs, fire, arboreal disease and other falling trees, not to mention overlogging. But it does suggest that in the absence of human and natural threats to arboreal life, trees dont necessarily decline with age. The cambium can maintain the vital forces of life even as the body of the tree decays around it.

A hollowed living tree, photo by Carolyn Newberger

In my walks in the woods, I sometimes come across large and venerable trees with cracked and hollowed trunks that, in season, carry leafy canopies above. In such a tree behind my house, in pensive moments, I stand inside the trunk with my ear to the cambium and listen for what I dont know, but I seem to find serenity inside that ancient mother tree, who continues to generate life and growth despite age and injury.

We humans and other creatures of the animal and insect world, it seems, are programmed to decline in age. But is our decline inevitable? In some ways we share characteristics with trees. A vascular system carries moisture and nutrients through our bodies. A skin that protects our insides from the outside world surrounds us. Of course, were also different in countless ways, but as with the trees cambium, we have one organ that drives the work of our human body. Curiously, that organ shares a name with the tree.

The outside layer of our brains, cortex, is Latin for bark. Cerebral cortex is the bark of the brain. Rather than insulate the brain from the outside world as bark does for the tree, however, our cortex is the largest site of neural integration in the central nervous system, functionally more akin to a trees cambium than to its enveloping bark.

Remarkably, the likeness to a trees cambium doesnt end there. The cortex and other parts of the brain continue to generate new cells and connections throughout life, even into our 80s and 90s. A 78-year-old (like me!) can have as many young neurons as a 20-year-old. In addition, he or she has a wealth of memories to draw from (perhaps helping to explain a longer retrieval time) and of life experiences to understand and interpret what life has to offer. In other words, older people cannot only stay smart, they can become wiser. Mental decline in a healthy nonagenarian is not a given. Yet even if the minds decline isnt inevitable, it needs to be fed. Reading, thinking, debating, hearing new songs, savoring new tastes and meeting new people in new places can all feed the neuronal generation that helps keep our brains young and healthy.

As I reflect from my niche inside the ancient tree behind my house, the tree seems to be hugging me. I feel a spiritual connection not only with this patient and enduring soul, but also with the forest and, as well, with the universe of living things beyond. We all grow old. Someday we shall all die, even the gingkoes persisting through the centuries.

Yet while we are here, we can cherish the intelligence and endurance that keeps life pulsing on. We must protect the resources to feed, sustain and develop the life the ginkgoes and we are privileged to enjoy. That means not only taking care of our bodies, but also taking care of the planet that sustains us all, from the forests to the oceans, from the rivers to the plains, from the mountains to the valleys and to all their inhabitants.

To read more about the gingkoes and our regenerating brains, here are some references:

Multifeature analyses of vascular cambial cells reveal longevity mechanisms in oldGinkgo bilobatrees, Li Wang,et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Jan. 13, 2020.

Casella, Carly, https://www.sciencealert.com/this-ancient-tree-species-is-virtually-immortal-and-we-finally-understand-how

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Illuminating the Hidden Forest, Chapter 29: Trees and the art of aging | - theberkshireedge.com

Jack Jamieson wants to build a better, more egalitarian internet in effect, helping to realize the vision of the technologys early pioneers.

The PhD candidate in the KMDI-Semaphore research institute at the University of Torontos Faculty of Information works alongside a community of software developers and enthusiasts who are building the IndieWeb, a community of individual websites connected together as an alternative to corporate platforms.

Ive been building websites for over two decades and became frustrated that the web has become so dominated by large corporate platforms, Jamieson says. In return for easy-to-use social media, online experience is increasingly characterized by targeted advertising, and individuals choices are limited by platform algorithms.

My research examines efforts to re-decentralize the web what does this work involve and how can designers and researchers pursue a future internet that is egalitarian, accessible, and not exploitative?

Much of the optimism about the early web was the potential for individuals to have their own websites. Hence, the IndieWeb proposes a return to personal websites and has built tools to enhance these sites with the best features of social media without surrendering ownership or control to corporate platforms.

By setting up a personal website with some basic IndieWeb technologies, people can communicate directly with one another with no platform in between, sending replies, liking posts and other social media actions.

There are a lot of different projects attempting to build new, decentralized systems for the internet, Jamieson says. What drew me to IndieWeb specifically is its commitment to building upon the existing web rather than inventing completely new systems. Building upon the existing web allows more accessibility for developers and web hobbyists to contribute since they can build small modules to fit their own needs.

Working with supervisor Rhonda McEwen, an associate professor in the Faculty of Information and U of T Mississaugas Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, Jamiesons research focuses the IndieWeb communitys efforts to put human values at the forefront of design. He says the group has much to teach about building technologies that articulate positive social values related to individual autonomy, inclusiveness, and community.

IndieWebs approach is supported by recent scholarship and media coverage that has highlighted the political and ethical issues posed by big tech since the decisions made by social media designers can affect millions or billions of users.

Sometimes decisions that work for one group cause problems for another, Jamieson notes. Design ideas that make sense in Silicon Valley dont translate everywhere sometimes with serious consequences.

On a technical level, IndieWeb is composed of many small parts that allow individuals to build what works for them. Users can then figure out how to interoperate with others who favour a different approach a strategy that builds inclusivity since there is no attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all solution.

To take one example: Jamiesons research looks at how IndieWebs users can build software to control their own social timelines, orthe feed of posts from people they follow. Thats unlike most social media platforms, which use sophisticated algorithms to promote content the software deems most engaging.

Unfortunately, hate speech, misinformation or simply types of content we dont want to see are often considered engaging by these algorithms, Jamieson says.

Another benefit, according to Jamieson: My software runs a social timeline on ones own server, so theres no company tracking who you are following, inserting ads or otherwise making decisions about what you read.

One of the key takeaways from the project is the importance of IndieWebs community.

For a movement that emphasizes individual autonomy, IndieWebs events and community support networks are the driving force behind its longevity, Jamieson says.

This is significant for building a system that is well-maintained since social networking systems require constant adaptation to accommodate new users, changing practices and to remain compatible with ever-changing third parties.

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'Re-decentralizing the web': U of T researcher helps build a more egalitarian internet - News@UofT

For many, the birth of a new year is a time for reflection and optimism, an occasion for hopeful resolution and personal reset. But these are not normal times. Seemingly endless political conflicts have created a climate of anger, anxiety and agitation in many quarters, leading to a heightened pessimism about the future.

But while our disputes have indeed become more vitriolic and divisive, its important to take a more complete and thoughtful inventory of the times. For as we start 2020, the nation and the entire world has many reasons to celebrate.

Just about every measure of human welfare is improving except one: hope, John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister noted in an op-ed in Saturdays Wall Street Journal.

This disconnect, they believe, stems from the fact that people tend to emphasize the bad over the good. Our minds and lives are skewed by a fundamental imbalance that is just now becoming clear to scientists: the negativity effect, the authors write, adding, We focus so much on bad news, especially in a digital world that magnifies its power, that we dont realize how much better life is becoming for people around the world.

Over the past 25 years, for instance, the number of people living in extreme poverty as defined by the World Bank has dropped by a remarkable 75 percent.

In his book Fewer, Richer, Greener, Laurence Siegel of the CFA Institute argues that markets and democratic institutions have led to dramatic improvements in living standards. As the world becomes richer, he forecasts, population growth will slow and cause less stress on the ecosystem.

Mr. Siegel provides reams of solid data for similarly heartening global trends, writes Ronald Bailey of Reason magazine. Crop productivity, food availability, life expectancy and education are increasing; violence is in decline. As for the pessimists, Mr. Siegel has a message: Let us not teach our children that apocalyptic thinking is right thinking. (It) has always been wrong as a forecast, and it will continue to be wrong. Life has improved tremendously in the past 250 years (and) it will continue to improve in almost every dimension; health, wealth, longevity, nutrition, literacy, peace, freedom and so forth.

Despite the turmoil in Washington, the United States remains a beacon of hope and opportunity for the world. The Constitution will continue to withstand the stress tests of Beltway hyperpartisanship.

By rationally looking at the long-term trends instead of viscerally reacting to the horror story of the day, youll see theres much more to celebrate than to mourn, write Mr. Tierney and Mr. Baumeister. No matter who wins the presidential election, the average person in America and the rest of the world will in all likelihood become healthier and wealthier.

And thats a reason to toast 2020 rather than to fear it.

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EDITORIAL: Theres much to celebrate at the onset of a new decade - Las Vegas Review-Journal