Category Archives: Human Longevity

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Credit: International Society of Microbiota

The International Society of Microbiota Annual Meeting will be held on October 19-21 in Paris, Sorbonne University, and online. The ISM will gather leaders and microbiota actors to discuss the recent advances, innovations and therapeutical strategies. Targeting Microbiota 2022 will put together many complementary talks and topics, controversies and clinical advances from oral microbiota, to gut microbiota as well as vaginal microbiota.

Among the hot topics which will be discussed:

During these sessions, high-level speakers will cover many hot topics:

May the Microbiota of the Long-Lived Naked Mole-Rat Affect Human Health?

The naked mole-rat is a subterranean mouse-sized African mammal that shows astonishingly few age-related degenerative changes and seems to not be affected by cancer. These features make this wild rodent an excellent model to study the biology of healthy aging and longevity. Gerd Birkenmeier, University of Leipzig, Germany, and his team characterized for the first time the intestinal microbial ecosystem of the naked mole-rat in comparison to humans.

Interestingly, some compositional gut microbiota peculiarities were also shared with human gut microbial ecosystems of centenarians and Hadza hunter-gatherers, considered as models of a healthy gut microbiome and of a homeostatic and highly adaptive gut microbiota-host relationship, respectively. In addition, we found an enrichment of short-chain fatty acids and carbohydrate degradation products in naked mole-rat compared to human samples. The team has hope in using the FMT technique from the naked mole-rat to extend the lifespan of humans.

Gene Editing & Microbiome Therapy

Gene editing holds a promising future in microbiome therapy and exploring the complex interplay between members of the microbiome and our bodies. In this presentation, Nahla Mansour, National Research Center, Egypt, will highlight the re-emerging of gene editing tools and multiple strategies in microbiome therapy past, present, and future. She will describe the genetically engineered probiotic strains that have been constructed by her group, as well as their new project using CRISPR-Cas tools.

Probiotics and FMT as Add-on Therapies for Depression

Depression is a highly prevalent and burdensome psychiatric disorder. Even though antidepressants and further therapeutic approaches are widely applied, up to 30% of treatment-resistant patients experience residual symptoms when receiving optimized treatments. Therefore, the development of novel and more efficient treatment approaches is urgently needed.

In this talk, Andr Schmidt, University of Basel, Switzerland, presents data from a randomized controlled trial exploring clinical and biological effects along the MGB axis of probiotic supplementation in patients with depression. He further shows data from two depressed patients receiving fecal microbiota transplantation. These findings will be discussed in the view of current research and potential suggestions for future studies will be proposed aiming at developing microbial interventions for depression care.

Targeting Microbiota to Increase Cancer Immunotherapy Efficacy

Bertrand Routy, University of Montreal Hospital, Canada, explains that immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has revolutionized the treatment for several cancers, including the most common lung cancer type, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, only a minority of patients experience a long-lasting response and resistance to ICI treatment is common.

Recent efforts to increase the benefits of ICI to a greater majority of patients have involved strategies that target the gut microbiome to enhance the number of immune cells and their activity within the tumors, which translates into better outcome. Shifting the microbiome toward a more diverse and beneficial bacterial composition has also shown potential as a therapeutic approach to circumvent ICI resistance and enhance the immune T cell activity that promotes an ICI response.

Agenda, speakers, abstract submission and attendees

Submit your abstract before October 10.

More about the talks.

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More information about the registration process.

For more information about the ISM Annual Meeting & Conference, visit the ISM conference site or follow our social media: Facebook and LinkedIn.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Targeting Microbiota 2022, 9th World Congress, will be held in Sorbonne University, Paris, France, this October - EurekAlert

Why is exercise important? On the face of it, this may seem like a fairly simple question schooling systems across the world tell us exercise is a great way to stay fit and healthy. But what are the actual physiological benefits of raising your heart rate, and why are they so important to the human function?

Firstly, its important to understand what exercise is. For many, the phrase will trigger mental images of a session on the one of the best treadmills (opens in new tab), a HIIT bike workout (opens in new tab), or a trip to the gym, and this isnt far wrong. A 1985 Public Health Report (opens in new tab) seeking to pin down the term settled on a definition of, planned, structured, and repetitive bodily movement done to improve or maintain one or more components of physical fitness.

So, whether youre tracking your sets and reps while weight training (opens in new tab) for hypertrophy (opens in new tab) with the best adjustable dumbbells (opens in new tab), or setting out on a 10K with the aim of burning calories, youre taking part in exercise.

Now, on to the main event. Why is exercise so important?

This list is almost endless, Liam Walton, validation lead at sports engineering company INCUS Performance, told Live Science. However, with qualifications in Sports Biomechanics, Applied Sport and Exercise Science, as well as years working in the fitness industry, he is better placed than most to provide an answer.

Below, he explains some of the key reasons why exercise is so important and beneficial to human function, including the positive impact participation can have on positive longevity, proprioception and the reduced risk of lifestyle-related diseases.

One of the most important benefits of exercise is reducing the risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes or heart disease, Walton says.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, with one person dying every 36 seconds from cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (opens in new tab).

Walton continues: Daily exercise has been scientifically proven (in a 2019 study published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity (opens in new tab)) to reduce the risk of heart disease, with 30 minutes of moderate exercise completed five times a week being enough to make a difference.

Hearing that exercise can be beneficial to heart health may be nothing new to you. But why exactly does it have such a positive impact?

The heart is a muscle, and like all muscles it needs regular stimulation to stay strong and healthy, Walton says. Without regular exercise, fatty material builds up in the arteries which increases your risk of suffering from a heart attack.

A 2018 study published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (opens in new tab) stated that endurance training is associated with elevated levels of circulating high density lipoprotein (HDL) and, to a lesser extent, a reduction in triglyceride levels - both changes that can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

It later adds: Physical activity can ameliorate a variety of cardiovascular disease risk factors such as dyslipidemia (the imbalance of lipids) or hypertension (high blood pressure).

In essence, what we mean by the term positive longevity is exercising in the present to ensure you remain healthy and functional in the future.

It may be difficult for younger people to imagine being elderly and a lot of people just workout for aesthetics, but exercise should be thought of as a long-term investment, he says. Being healthy and active now will prevent conditions such as osteoporosis (a health condition that weakens the bones, making them more likely to break) later in life, which can have a huge impact on mobility and quality of life when were older.

Practicing positive longevity involves looking after your organs, muscles and joints. And what is one of the key ways of achieving this? You guessed it: exercise.

You should think of your body like a car - it needs constant maintenance to keep running well, Walton says. For our bones and joints, resistance training could increase bone density (as suggested in this study published in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise) meaning you are less likely to break or fracture bones as you get older.

According to the World Health Organisation (opens in new tab), falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide. By doing regular exercise and keeping your bones and muscles strong as well as improving balance and coordination you will reduce your risk of falls later in life.

A factor that is often overlooked when considering the benefits of exercise, Walton describes proprioception as the awareness you have of your body in a space.

It relates to coordination, he says. Someone with good proprioception is less likely to injure themselves through small accidents such as tripping down a curb and twisting an ankle, or cutting a finger in the kitchen.

Regular exercise can really improve your proprioception and coordination, meaning if you are a clumsy person, you can fix that.

Arguably the best-documented impact of exercise is its potential to affect body composition, which comprises factors such as body fat percentage and muscle mass. Whether youre hitting the gym to pack on slabs of muscle or slipping into the saddle of one of the best exercise bikes (opens in new tab) in an attempt to lose weight, many people are motivated to work out by the possibility of making changes to their frame.

After reviewing existing literature on the topic, a 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome (opens in new tab) stated: The effect of exercise on obesity is larger in outward appearance (BMI and waist circumference) than in practical factors (weight and body fat percentage).

However, exercise can still have a positive impact in preventing or reversing symptoms of obesity, with the studys authors concluding: We suggest that individuals with obesity should exercise consistently to achieve significant improvements in their health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that being overweight or obese can have a serious impact on health.

It continues: Carrying extra fat leads to serious health consequences such as cardiovascular disease (mainly heart disease and stroke), type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis, and some cancers (endometrial, breast and colon). These conditions cause premature death and substantial disability.

What is not widely known is that the risk of health problems starts when someone is only very slightly overweight, and that the likelihood of problems increases as someone becomes more and more overweight. Many of these conditions cause long-term suffering for individuals and families.

The WHO says becoming overweight or obese is largely preventable if individuals are able to achieve an energy balance between calories consumed on one hand, and calories used on the other hand.

The organization says: To increase calories used, people can boost their levels of physical activity to at least 30 minutes of regular, moderate-intensity activity on most days.

This, combined with heightened levels of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) (opens in new tab) and an appropriate diet, can help you achieve a calorie maintenance or calorie deficit (opens in new tab), preventing or reversing symptoms of overweight and obesity.

This is a highly individualized question with answers that will vary from person to person. However, Walton does have advice for anyone looking to improve their health by incorporating a sustainable fitness routine into their weekly schedule.

Official physical activity recommendations (opens in new tab) suggest that 150 minutes of moderate exercise

per week is enough to stay healthy, he says. However, its important to note that an overall sedentary lifestyle with a one-hour visit to the gym each day is not enough to combat the negative effects of said lifestyle. Instead, its best to make long-term changes to make your lifestyle more wholly active.

This could include walking to work instead of driving, if this is possible. If not, try parking further away and walking the last 10 minutes. Or, if you use public transport, get off a few stops early and walk the rest of the way.

Try to include a walk or even a run on your lunch break and travel under your own power (walk or cycle) as much as possible. Small changes really add up and are the best way to prevent the negative effects of an inactive lifestyle.

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Why is exercise important, according to the science? - Livescience.com

It may be a surprising fact that many older men lose the Y chromosome in their white blood cells when they hit a certain age.

Now, new research finds that this genetic change can cause serious heart problems and increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Known as mLOY, or mosaic Loss Of Y, this genetic change affects at least 20 percent of 60-year-old men and 40 percent of 70-year-old men, according to researchers at the University of Virginia and Uppsala University in Sweden.

The Y is lost during cell division and is more common in tissues and organs with high cell division rates, such as the blood, Lars Forsberg, Ph.D., a study co-author and an associate professor at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University, told Healthline. Replicated risk factors are age, smoking, and genetic predisposition.

The new study, led by Forsberg and Kenneth Walsh, Ph.D., a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, establishes a causal link between chromosome loss and the development of fibrosis in the heart, impaired heart function, and death from cardiovascular diseases in men.

Researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to remove the Y chromosome from white blood cells in lab mice. They found that mLOY caused direct damage to the animals internal organs and that mice with mLOY died younger than mice without mLOY.

Examination of mice with mLOY showed an increased scarring of the heart, known as fibrosis. We see that mLOY causes the fibrosis which leads to a decline in heart function, said Forsberg.

The researchers reported that mLOY in a certain type of white blood cell in the heart muscle, called cardiac macrophages, stimulated a known signaling pathway that leads to increased fibrosis.

When the researchers blocked this pathway, known as heart trigger high transforming growth factor 1 (TGF-1), they said the pathological changes in the heart caused by mLOY could be reversed.

An epidemiological study in humans also showed that mLOY is a significant risk factor for death from cardiovascular disease in men.

For that portion of the study, Forsberg, Walsh and colleagues looked at genetic and cardiovascular data on 500,000 individuals ages 40 to 70 in the UK Biobank.

The researchers reported that individuals with mLOY at the start of the study had about a 30% higher risk of dying from heart disease during the 11-year follow-up period than those who did not have mLOY.

This observation is in line with the results from the mouse model and suggests that mLOY has a direct physiological effect also in humans, said Forsberg.

The type of heart disease associated with mLOY is called non-ischemic heart failure.

This form is poorly understood relative to the classic ischemic heart failure, [which] results from blockage of a major artery that supplies blood to the heart muscle, Forsberg said.

He added that there are very few treatment options available for non-ischemic heart failure.

We could look at it as identifying what we might otherwise just call age-related degeneration, Dr. Rigved Tadwalkar, a cardiologist at Providence Saint Johns Health Center in California, told Healthline. It gives us a target to try to mitigate these effects of aging.

Forsberg said routine testing for the loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells could help prevent cardiovascular disease.

mLOY testing of aging males would identify the men [who] would likely benefit from medical checkups and preventive treatments, Forsberg said. Loss of the Y chromosome can be relatively easy to measure. If validated by further research, the loss of Y can be used as a prognostic assay or it potentially can be used to guide therapies.

For example, men with mLOY in blood could be directed to undergo an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) analysis to determine whether he has a buildup of connective tissue/fibrosis in his heart and other organs, he said. If that is found to be the case, he could be put on anti-fibrosis medications.

An FDA-approved antifibrosis medication exists for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and this drug is currently being explored for its utility in conditions that involve cardiac and kidney fibrosis, Forsberg added. In addition, there is a lot of interest in developing new fibrosis medications by pharmaceutical companies. It is possible that men with loss of the Y chromosome would have a superior response to these medications.

Past studies also have suggested that mLOY is linked to excessive fibrosis in the kidneys and lungs. Researchers also have begun laying the groundwork for creating a genetic screening test to assess mLOY risk.

Tadwalkar said that mLOY is certainly not talked about in day-to-day clinical practice among cardiologists.

Although therapies to address mLOY are currently limited, he said, a cost-effective screening test would at least help get the condition on clinicians radar.

It could also provide an opportunity to assess patients for other cardiovascular risk factors that can be addressed.

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Men's Loss of Y Chromosome and Heart Disease Risk - Healthline

The transportation sector, powered by the internal combustion engine (ICE) accounts for 27 per cent of global CO2 emissions.

ICE is a generic term used to describe several types of engines, all variations on a theme reciprocating, rotary, turbine, two stroke and four stroke, burning gasoline, diesel, biofuels or kerosene. Amazingly, with all of our ingenuity, the ICE was the best we could come up with, a noisy, inefficient and polluting engine, a major contributor to climate change and air pollution, and a serious detriment to our health, and that of the planet. Powering not only transportation, ICEs have motorized all manner of industrial, commercial and recreational equipment, from chainsaws to personal watercraft, and generate not only greenhouse gases but soot and nitrogen and sulphur oxides, responsible for serious air pollution and smog. The addition of tetraethyl lead to gasoline further contributed to human health issues and increases in lead pollution.

Frustratingly, NAFTA, Chapter 11, in protecting profits over people and the environment, allowed Ethyl Corporation to sue the Canadian government when it banned MMT, another gasoline additive and neurotoxin, once again demonstrating the power of the corporation over government, the environment and human health. Although catalytic converters, computerized engine management, and the elimination of lead from fuels have reduced some emissions, ICEs remain a major contributor of greenhouse gases.

There are many reasons for the longevity of the ICE, not the least of which is its support by the petroleum and vehicle manufacturing industries. It is confounding that consumers continue to buy ever larger and thirstier vehicles. Manufacturers, supported by oil companies, are more than happy to sell these gas guzzlers because they are so profitable, while the vehicle manufacturing lobby has successfully pushed back against more stringent fuel consumption standards. Those who take public transportation, drive a fuel efficient or electric vehicle are subsidizing these highway leviathans. Manufacturers and auto journalists talk about horsepower, torque and other metrics of power and speed, but it isnt bigger, more powerful and polluting vehicles that we need, as should be obvious from the carnage on our streets and our rapidly changing climate.

The cleanest engine is an electric one. Although ICE infrastructure is well entrenched, as electric vehicles make inroads it appears that the era of the ICE may be coming to a close.

Hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles will replace ICEs as electrical grids are upgraded and we move away from fossil fuels to wholly renewable sources, assuming the necessary electrical and battery charging infrastructures are in place. Battery development is evolving, and range anxiety and charging times should be resolved. Infrastructure, safety and energy density issues appear to rule out hydrogen as a viable source of fuel in an ICE or a fuel cell. How the electricity is produced and distributed is a major issue. Although nuclear, hydro, wind, solar or other non-fossil-fuel sources produce clean greenhouse gas free electricity, they come with their own significant environmental and carbon footprints.

The life cycle of any vehicle, however powered, must be factored in to its carbon footprint. It is an oxymoron to describe an electric vehicle as zero emissions since it doesnt take into account the energy consumed and emissions released from extraction of raw materials, the manufacturing process, and disposition of the vehicle when it reaches the end of its life. Nor does it consider if the process is linear or circular, with recovery of materials to be reused/upcycled. Battery recycling is critical as raw materials such as lithium and other rare earth metals are sourced from a relatively few countries and are subject to geopolitical forces.

In the end, with a net greenhouse gas benefit of going electric, the future of transportation is electrifying.

Wayne Poole lives in Dundas.

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Opinion | The end of the internal combustion engine era is in sight - Hamilton Spectator

Its no secret that technology has changed the way we learn and work. We are now in the age of visual information where graphical content plays a role in every part of most peoples lives. Considering 65 percent of the population are visual learners, graphics are key to engaging employees in training and development strategies.

Finding solutions to engage and optimize the screen-based learning experience is a vital concern. Simply put, companies need cost-effective, agile solutions that allow them to implement scenario-based learning modules with little effort.

The good news is that the technology is here. Once viewed as nothing more than a tool for entertainment, animation can be extremely effective to engage and educate the employees of todays businesses.

Animated visuals help summarize content into smaller, easier-to-process segments of information, offering more comprehensibility than text or audio-based explanations.

Keep reading to discover how you can leverage the power of animation to help your employees learn faster and work smarter.

At the top of this list is its ability to create original brand-compliant content within budget. Lets face it: Creating original content is expensive. With animation software, theres no need to hire production crews that bill tons of hours, hire actors, find locations, rent cameras and lighting equipment, capture footage, pay for editing, and worry about distribution or other complications.

These capabilities, used in conjunction with interactive content authoring platforms, also allow animators to immerse learners in scenario-based learning simulations that make training more fun and engaging.

Who knows how we will be using the animated content were creating today. But as animators continue to implement new tactics and push the boundaries of whats possible, we will be sure to see the animation, gamification, and learning AI all play a vital role for talent and development (T&D).

Videos can be used to introduce new concepts, explain difficult topics, or detail step-by-step instructions to employeesno matter where they are. Companies can also manage employees, by providing a storable database of videos that provide clear visual instruction.

This reinforcement helps to ensure employees are working towards the same goal and have access to the training they need to complete a task.

Animate your next T&D video with Vyond!

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Animation Increasingly Part of Successful T&D Strategies - ATD

The UK should name heatwaves as part of an effective early warning system. Leading UK scientists believe this will protect the most vulnerable.

As the UK faces a heatwave and potentially record-breaking temperatures this week, with climate change increasing the frequency of such events in the future, The Physiological Society is calling for heatwaves to be named similar to storms.

The Physiological Society is the largest group of physiologists in Europe. Society is focused on understanding how the body works, including how the body copes in response to heat and extreme weather.

Calls for improved early warning systems for heatwaves are included in a report The Society is launching this Wednesday (13 July) at an event in London on the health policy implications of climate change. The report highlights policy priorities for the Government in response to climate changes impact on human health, as well as identifying areas of gaps in research that need to be addressed.

The UK Met Office currently names storms alphabetically to aid the communication of approaching severe weather through the media and government agencies. Seville has recently started naming heatwaves as excessively hot weather becomes more frequent.

Speaking ahead of the event on Wednesday, Professor Mike Tipton from The Physiological Society, said:

This week could potentially see record-breaking temperatures here in the UK. Just like preparing for a storm in winter, people need to take action to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

Extreme heat isnt just a problem on your summer holidays, due to climate change we are increasingly seeing very hot weather here in the UK. Even one day of very hot weather can present a risk, but consecutive days of high temperatures triggers a heatwave that requires specific actions to keep people safe.

As part of raising awareness of the threat from heatwaves in the UK, heatwaves should be named in the same way as we name storms. It makes the risk to health clear and that people cant expect to continue as normal during the heatwave. This will aid the communication of approaching heatwaves through the media and government agencies. This is especially helpful for those who dont have as ready access to the internet or weather apps on smartphones.

As the science of how the body works, physiology explains the impact of hot weather on our health. We can use this knowledge to advise on ways to keep the body cool and design early warning systems that provide tailored advice to the most vulnerable or those who have to work in the heat.

UK scientists believe this will enable people to better plan ahead and take measures that could save lives. Such knowledge can also assist in smart building design and urban development, both of which will amongst the developments needed going into a hotter future.

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UK Scientists Call For Naming of Heatwaves To Save Lives - Longevity LIVE - Longevity LIVE

The stars of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are spilling all their fashion secrets!

Garcelle Beauvais, Crystal Kung Minkoff, Erika Jayne, Dorit Kemsley, Kyle Richards, and Sutton Stracke are appearing again on a new season of the official Real Housewives of Beverly Hills After Show, which debuts this Wednesday (at 9 p.m. ET) on BravoTV.com.

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the show, in a clip that shows the ladies discussing their varying style approaches.

For Beauvais, who wears a magenta knee-length dress from Solace London on the show, she looks for garments that will have longevity. "I wanted something chic, easy that lives a long time because this lives a long time," the 55-year-old actress explains in the clip, pal Stracke noting that strategy is known as "slow fashion."

Stracke, 50, seems to have the opposite approach wearing a Dries Van Noten mini black dress with a statement piece of pink fabric cascading from the front to the floor.

RELATED: Sutton Stracke Reflects on Best RHOBH Style Moments: 'In Rome, I Couldn't Stop Staring at Erica'

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS -- Season:12 -- Pictured: (l-r) Diana Jenkins, Crystal Minkoff, Erika Girardi, Kyle Richards, Garcelle Beauvais, Dorit Kemsley, Lisa Rinna, Sutton Stracke

Tommy Garcia/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty The cast of RHOBH

RELATED: RHOBH's Dorit Kemsley Breaks Down Her Style Secrets - and Reveals Her Husband Steals from Boy George's Closet

For Kemsley, 46, and Jayne, 51, their feelings around fashion change by the minute.

"I always dress according to my mood," says Kemsley, wearing a black pleaded mini skirt and neutral top. "It's like, I wake up in the morning and I just think, 'Okay, what am I going to? What am I doing? And how am I feeling?' This was just the vibe that I was feeling."

"I was feeling very Miami, tropical vibes," adds Jayne of her menswear inspired blue top, by Casablanca. "I always view things as fun."

Both ladies collaborate with their hair and makeup teams to create their final looks. And despite their reputation for always being dressed to the nines, Kemsley and Jayne agree they don't judge others for doing their own thing.

Story continues

"This is what I like to do. If someone else enjoys doing something else, I'm cool with that too," Jayne says. "I don't expect everyone to wake up and want to put on men's shirts, pumps and a pound of hair. ... When other people are like, 'Well, I don't need my glam' don't s--- on us because we like to have a good time."

"Absolutely," Kemsley says. "To each their own."

"And you can always tell when it's forced," says Jayne. "You can always tell when someone told them they should wear something."

RELATED: Erika Girardi Jokes She's Now Wearing Clothes Twice amid Legal Woes: 'Not the Worst Thing'

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS -- Pictured: (l-r) Crystal Kung Minkoff, Dorit Kemsley, Lisa Rinna, Erika Girardi, Kyle Richards, Kathy Hilton, Sutton Stracke, Garcelle Beauvais -- (Photo by: Nicole Weingart/Bravo)

Nicole Weingart/Bravo

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Kung Minkoff, 39, is one of those people who does her own thing. "I'm conservative, so I like to be covered up," she says in the After Show while dressed in a Zimmermann pink blouse, white Favorite Daughter pants and Joe's Jeans pumps. "I've been really busy so this is what I threw together."

Richards, 53, was equally busy. "My inspiration was I had no time so I grabbed two suits out of my closet and ran out the door," the Halloween actress says, pointing to her pink suit. "I don't have a stylist so sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

The full Real Housewives of Beverly Hills After Show episode premieres Wednesday on BravoTV.com.

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The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Cast Discuss Their Style Inspiration: 'To Each Their Own' - Yahoo Entertainment

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!

Its a simple and obvious fact: Businesses cant exist without customers. In no uncertain terms, they are their lifeblood.

Along with this, companies would be nothing without their first line of defense: Their customer service agents.

While this seems like a basic understanding, customer service has suffered in recent years with the advent of chatbots, online messaging and similar automated tools. While seemingly more convenient, these technologies are impersonalized and can lead to more customer frustration and sometimes even their abandonment of a company or brand altogether.

But human-centered customer experience (CX) is undergoing a renaissance of sorts what Jeff Fettes, founder and CEO of Laivly, calls self-service 3.0. To survive in this new landscape, organizations must arm their agents with the best possible tools, Fettes said. The company today announced the launch of its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, designed specifically for contact centers.

Your frontline team is dealing with your customers; they are the conduit to your customers, Fettes said. A good customer experience starts with a good agent experience.

According to Grand View Research, the global contact center software market will reach $149.58 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of more than 23%. Likewise, according to Markets and Markets, the global cloud-based contact center market was $17.1 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to $54.6 billion by 2027. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just over 26%.

The Markets and Markets report emphasizes, Incorporating cutting-edge technologies such as AI, ML and analytics enables organizations to connect with their customers for better, efficient, and insightful customer experiences.

AI is powering this new era of CX, with companies such as Laivly, Zendesk, Genesys and Nice specializing in such tools. Some of the largest players have staked a claim in the growing market, as well, including IBMs Watson Assistant or Google Clouds Contact Center AI, for instance, or similar offerings from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

The pendulum is finally swinging back from hyper-automation to human-led conversation, but weve got some work to do, said Christina McAllister, senior analyst with Forrester. Organizations are beginning to embark on a journey to change the culture of their contact centers.Service delivered by human agents (not robots) is what drives positive customer outcomes.

Forrester predicts that companies will continue to leverage and accelerate AI programs, particularly when it comes to agent-facing use cases. As they do so, they must address agent burnout, advocate for agent career development, and transition from cost-centric key performance indicators (KPIs) to customer-centric ones.

Gone are the days of bolt-on AI applications, McAllister wrote. Forward-thinking companies will infuse AI across the employee workflow, facilitating greater collaboration among humans and their machine counterparts.

Laivlys platform dubbed SIDD (for systems integrated distributed dashboard) sits on an agents laptop and layers AI, ML and automation onto existing technology. This helps to streamline workflows, analyze customers in real-time and guide agents to the best outcomes, according to Fettes.

SIDD can draft email and chat responses, recommend and perform agent tasks, and can even block actions to avoid agent mistakes. For instance, disabling a refund button until it recognizes that an agent has worked through the designated workflow sequence. The tool also provides summaries of upcoming calls based on existing customer information and input, and guides them through the process of dealing with that particular case.

We liken it to a GPS system for a call center agent, said Fettes. SIDD really acts like a person would. It collects information using automation, reacts using automation, and it does it based on what is happening in real time. It is able to interrupt its own workflow intuitively.

The results, Fettes said, are simplified processes and task performances, consistent customer experiences, reduction in technical loads, and agents who are able to devote more of their attention to providing empathetic service.

Your AI is watching the screen all the time, providing additional oversight, assistance and support, he said.

The companys tailored orchestration layer ties an agents tech stack together without the use of back-end application programming interfaces (APIs), Fettes said, allowing for near-instant integration and the flexibility to change along with business needs.

Contact center systems typically have pretty extensive tech stacks, he pointed out anywhere from a handful to up to more than a dozen. We wanted to add AI, ML and/or automation anywhere inside that tech stack, he said.

Laivly employs human-in-the-loop AI, partnering its automated ML tuners with a team of human tuners. This creates a unique scenario and adds an extra layer of common sense to the tuning, Fettes said. It also allows companies and agents to gain insights more quickly.

Fettes described many existing AI and automation customer service tools as a little more fluffy and nebulous in terms of what they do. Many of these apply a top-down approach that is dependent on management teams to then take action on collected data.

Whats different about Laivly is its a bottom-up approach, Fettes said. Were starting right at the agents. Instead of being a management tool, Laivly is a performance tool.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Laivly has quietly built its contact center technology since its founding in July 2017. This involved careful selection of its initial customers. According to Fettes, these have included top Fortune 500 companies in -commerce, technology and consumer goods.

Early adopters are already achieving 50% to 300% return on investment (ROI), he said, and are seeing dramatic gains when it comes to agent job longevity and job satisfaction. In a recent survey, 88.5% of agents using Laivly said it was helpful or very helpful in delivering a better customer experience. Furthermore, 78% of agents said they would be disappointed or very disappointed if they had to do their jobs without the tool.

The company is led by a team of data scientists, developers and researchers well versed in customer service. Fettes himself was a contact center agent and manager for more than 20 years, and in fact had his first exposure to the industry as a kid his mother owned a telephone answering service and he and his brother sometimes helped answer those calls. He most recently cofounded 24-7 Intouch. The global business process outsourcing company partners with brands on contact center strategy, recruiting, IT, HR and workforce planning.

Laivly is born of [a] group of people who managed call centers and were agents ourselves, Fettes said. I know what I would want to use if I was answering a call or a direct message. We know what (agents) need. We built a tool to be popular with the superuser.

Such technologies are filling spaces where fully automated tools have often failed, he said, describing an initial huge rush to self-service once such tools first became available, then an era of self-service 2.0 with the arrival of chatbots and messenger platforms.

Now, technology is coming together with people again, Fettes said, to create this self-service 3.0.

This technology is really starting to emerge, and its a game changer, he said. Within the next five to 10 years, companies like Laivly at the forefront will coalesce into something thats an industry standard.

Ultimately, Fettes predicted: Every single contact center program, or a vast majority, will be using a tool like this.

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Laivly adds AI, ML and automation to improve CX - VentureBeat

Pale Blue Dot, taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft, showing Earth captured as a pale dot suspended in a sunbeam from beyond Neptunes orbit prior to the Voyager team turning off the onboard cameras. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA engineers will meet next month to discuss the possibility of shutting down scientific instruments to conserve power on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft after 44 years of service. These twin probes have traversed the reach of our Suns magnetic field and are the farthest-traveled human-made probes. Although Voyager 1 has four instruments that are still operational, and Voyager 2 has five, the radioactive energy sources on the spacecraft are producing only 40% of their original capacity, causing scientists and engineers to consider further decreasing power requirements to extend the missions until the 2030s.

Driven by a cosmic alignment that occurs every 176 years, NASAlaunched the Voyager spacecraft in 1977 to take advantage of a fortuitousalignment of the outer planets that lessened travel time to Neptune from 30 to12 years. Having successfully navigated obstacles such as crossing the asteroidbelt unscathed and performing repeated gravity assists, the missions werespectacularly successful. The Voyager spacecraft revealed that the satellitesof Jupiter and Saturn are not dead, icy bodies as previously thought, butinstead are dynamic, geologically active worlds. Additional discoveries includedthe wide variety of geologic terrains across the different moons and gas giants,which continue to inspire planetary scientists to expand our collectiveknowledge of these distant regions.

NASA began culling less-critical components of the spacecraft in 2019, turning off heaters and specific scientific instruments to maximize their longevity while continuing to collect plasma and magnetic data about interstellar space. Voyager 1 and 2 will continue their outward journeys long after their missions officially end. Each probe carries a gold-plated phonographic record encoded with images, sounds, and greetings from Earth in case intelligent life finds and collects the probes as they continue their journeys, in the very human hope that we are not alone in the universe. READ MORE

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Voyager 1 and 2 Spacecraft Enter Final Phase of Their Mission | Planetary News - Planetary News

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As the sun rose on Monday over southeast England, three bison emerged from a corral into a new woodland home as part of an ambitious project to transform the natural environment.

The trio immediately began munching birch tree leaves in the ancient woods near Canterbury, to restore and manage the area with their behaviour -- and minimal human interference.

It marks the first time in millennia that European bison -- the continent's largest land mammal and the closest living relative to ancient steppe bison that once roamed Britain -- will live in wild conditions once again.

"(It's a) really momentous occasion today," Mark Habben, of the Wildwood Trust which is leading the five-year conservation project, told AFP.

"It couldn't have gone any better... they took a glance back, looked at us and then disappeared into the woodlands," he added, moments after the release.

The female bison -- one matriarch and two younger cows -- will now graze, eat bark, fell trees and take so-called dust baths, churning up the ground in the woods.

This creates a multitude of benefits, helping other species forge habitats as the bison become the perfect "ecosystem engineers".

"We're doing this to restore the environment and restore a native English woodland and everything that thrives in and around that kind of habitat," explained Habben, saying it was "critically important".

"We don't want to be using machinery... using native resources, ecosystem engineers as we like to call them -- in the form in this case of the European bison -- is exactly the right thing to do."

The female bison, which arrived after living on smaller enclosures in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, will be joined by a bull at the site, owned by the Kent Wildlife Trust charity, in the coming months.

The bull's arrival from Germany was delayed due to Britain's post-Brexit bureaucracy for importing animals.

The herd will initially have 55 hectares (136 acres) of fenced woodland to roam within, before their habitable space is eventually increased to 200 hectares.

It is hoped the bull will breed with the females to increase the size of the herd, with the Kent site licensed to hold up to 20.

The bison will also soon be joined by other grazing animals including ponies from Exmoor, southwest England, Iron Age pigs and Longhorn cattle, which will aid the bid to create a variety of natural habitats.

"This is a model for what we would hope could be rolled out much (more) broadly across the UK, to similar landscapes, utilising bison," said Habben.

"I like to think bison that we bred on this project by the time they reach maturity... there'll be other projects looking to do the same kind of thing.

"And we can move bison around to continue this really amazing work that these animals are going to do."

After roaming the continent for millennia, the last wild European bison became extinct on the continent in 1927, due to hunting and habitat loss.

However, 50 animals remained in captive collections which have provided the basis for an extensive and intensive breeding programme, according to the project's conservationists.

The trio now calling the Kent woodland home are some of their descendants.

"The bison that we've selected are part of the European endangered species breeding programme," said Habben.

"We selected the animals based on their genetics... but also their location and source of origin was very important".

Another central aim of the habitat restoration project -- costing 1.1 million ($1.3 million) and largely funded by donors -- is to help British ecosystems cope with climate change and severe biodiversity loss.

The bison's impact will gradually alterthe forest away from a monoculture and create wetter areas that will store carbon, reducing emissions driving up temperatures, while also reducing flood risk.

In a sign of the stakes, their release Monday coincides with a heatwave sweeping parts of Europe that is set to break Britain's all-time temperature record early this week.

Habben calls the coincidence "extremely relevant".

"It's an incredible story, really, that we're releasing bison to help restore ecosystems, which help restore the environment and hopefully have some impact on climate change".

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European Bison Reintroduced To Roam Freely In Britain - Barron's