Category Archives: Transhuman News

The year 2020 will go down in history as the annus horribilis for the human race; the year that millions of lives were forfeited to a tiny and inanimate virus with no sensate hope or ambition. Yet, the coronavirus has decimated millions, and left many millions more cowering in our helplessness. This is one terrible year when most humans, for whom death is often a distant thought, came face to face with the possibility of a sudden demise from a COVID-19 ambush. 2020 has been the very definition of uncertainty for everyone, from the mighty to the lowly. We all got sucked into the vortex palpable fearno one knew when the virus will strike, where it could be contracted, or how fatal it could be. COVID-19 became the most lethal of all the enemies humans have ever contended with. And it fueled our uncertainty in the very fact that we had no certain fact about its character and modus operandi.

As the usual tradition goes with the coming of a new year, we all welcomed 2020 with hope and resolutions. Governments made budgets, humans made plans, organizations made projections. The year was to be the usual in the trajectory of human activities and busyness. Children will be born, and adult will grow old and die. There will be achievements all around the world, and calamities too. The usual diseases will keep ravaging humanity, from cancer to tuberculosis. All the states of the world would battle their normal internal crises and predicament, and few resolutions would be made. And yet, we all neglected what had been on humanitys radar since humanity began its civilizational march many centuries ago; the very underbelly of humans desire to transcend themselves.

COVID-19 brought humanity very low. It humbled us at the very height of our civilizational achievements. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher, once perceptively remarked: The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization. Since the Stone Age, and then the Industrial Revolution, humanity has grown beyond its cradle which is the earth. We not only concretized the fragility of the earth; we also have turned our attention to the space. Humanity has arrived at what Mark Twain called the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities. This validates the Yoruba adage that when humans have eaten and are surfeited, they then look for unnecessary distractions.

After civilization had settled the issue of survival, it was then time for humans to transcend themselves, especially through the discoveries of science and technology and its limitless possibilities and dangers in ways that are often indistinguishable. When humans cracked the secret of the atom, we arrived at the nuclear reactor as well as the nuclear atomic bomb. We now contemplate a posthuman world with the breakthrough with artificial intelligence.

In its very essence, civilization commenced as humanitys search for survival. It has now been transformed into an exploration of our possible immortality. To be human is not only to be mortal, but to also have the capacity to perceive the infinite, which we do not see in our finitude. Humanity is trapped in the yearning for infinitude; the desire to undermine our mortality and live forever. Abraham Lincoln puts it better: Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality. And so, once the first land was tilled and farmed, agriculture enabled humans to conquer starvation. But it also enabled an abundance that helped us to keep staving off death. With medicine, humans started to invade the genetic code to hold off the principle of ageing encoded into our being. We started battling diseases and sicknesses, and also death. Immortality therefore lies in the achievement of civilization for humanity. We have to keep overreaching ourselves in other to be able to overreach our mortality.

Unfortunately, civilization is what makes you sick, says Paul Gauguin, the French post-impressionist artist. But more than this, civilization already puts in stock the pointer to what will eradicate humanitythe nuclear threat, and the virus. Since the combined effort of humanitys brilliant scientists unlocked the secret of the atom, the human race has remained on the precipice of self-destruction. When Hiroshima and Nagasaki snowballed into the atomic mushroom, we saw in that catastrophe, the possibility of undermining our own race for immortality. That is the paradox of civilization: it contained the seed for our immortality and our destruction in unequal proportion. In other words, we are more likely to be destroyed than to achieve immortality. If humanity is destroyed, then there will be no one left to remember us. This is where the insight of Emerson leads usthe civilization we have invented to ensure our immortality is what will most likely kill and efface us and all the infinitude we ever hoped for.

The reality of our accelerated mortality came alive in 2020. Nature rebelled against the unmitigated assault on her sanctity and exploitation. A family of the coronaviruses jumped its boundary and landed in the civilized space of humanity. And we were not prepared because we have always underestimated the virus. After all, we seem to have got the structure of most of the viruses we know and their epidemiological features. The common cold is one of the most dangerous ailment afflicting humanity, but we seem to have tamed it. What can we not tame? Yet, we have arrived at the limit of human hubris. And it is neither yet from aliens in outer spaces nor from artificial intelligence. It is from a lowly virus that is inorganic and inanimate. There is less we know about the virus and its behavior than we really know. The novelty of the coronavirus effectively undermines the accumulated scientific knowledge about its type that we have stockpiled for decades.

Mercifully, 2020 has also become the year in which humanity has managed to get an understanding of the vaccination that will stop the virus in its deadly track. Of course, human beings have the resilience to always overcome whatever adversity is brought on them either naturally or by their own efforts. But then, humanity has brought itself too many times to the precipice of destruction not to take notice of the dangerous side of our existence and the search for immortality. Essentially, it is human hubris that brought the pandemic of 2020 upon us. It is our inability to take stock of our civilizational progress and how far we are willing to go to transcend our humanity. It is certain that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, for instance, and all the others almost ready for us will provide instant relief from the scourge of the COVID-19. But should the fact of the vaccines, or human resilience in the face of troubles, blind us to how far-fetched our search for immortality is, or how dangerous?

Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, has a piece of wisdom we can draw on: A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses. What insight do we need to urgently derive from this pandemic, and from others that have afflicted humankind? What deep lessons does COVID-19 teach us in 2020? It is simple: there is a need to de-escalate humanitys rush for self-destruction. If this family of coronavirus could make the fatal jump into the human host, there are so many more that can. Thus, the arrival of the breakthrough in vaccination against the coronavirus ought not be interpreted as the resumption of our human normality or the onslaught against nature. On the contrary, it ought to be a time to pause and reassess what it means to be human, and what civilization ought to mean.

And more than this, we need a redefinition of what it means to be immortal. Humans can only be immortal in the face of posterity and the state in which we leave the world. Posterity is our immortality. Unfortunately, the logic of civilization is often oriented towards a further exploitation of the universe with scant thought for what future generations will make of the progress we have achieved, and the failures we leave behind. It ought to be clear to humanity now that civilization is amok.

From the First to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, humans are barely managing the benefits of progress since we are ever confronted with the threat of imploding the world as we know it. 2020 and the pandemic make it very clear to us that we are nearer destruction, and the undermining of our own immortality, that we imagine. The COVID-19, uncontained, has the capacity to kill the whole of humanity. And we have barely even managed to get it arrested. And who knows what the future of more scientific and technological breakthrough holds? The coronavirus is insisting on the imperatives of weighing human progress on the scale of morality. Civilizational progress is not an unconditional good. It needs to be tempered by further thought on how our immortality can be retained in the womb of the future of those yet unborn.

Prof. Tunji Olaopa, Retired Federal Permanent Secretary & Directing Staff, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, tolaopa2003@gmail.com, tolaopa@isgpp.com.ng.

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2020, COVID-19 and Reflection on Human Immortality Tunji Olaopa - THISDAY Newspapers

Loose Women: Dr Hilary discusses how to live longer

WE ALL know someone who waltzed into their 60s looking 10 years younger, or someone who turned 50 looking weathered, exhausted, and a decade older than the candles on their birthday cake would suggest. The latest results in the biology of ageing show us this difference is more than just skin-deep. The differing rate of grey hair or wrinkles appearing is an external sign of the ageing process moving at different rates in different people. Were only just beginning to learn why this is, how we might be able to use medicine to change our rate of ageing, and how this could help us all lead longer and, most importantly, healthier lives.

Lets start by defining ageing, as understood by a biologist. The simplest definition is slightly morbid: how fast you age is how fast your risk of death changes with time.

Its well known that older people are more likely to die than younger ones, but the hard numbers are shocking.

As a 30-something, Ive got odds of death of roughly one in 1,000 per year; when Im 64, those odds will be more like one per cent, which still isnt bad; but, if Im lucky enough to make it into my 90s, my risk of not making my next birthday will be a sobering one in six life and death at the roll of a dice.

The reason for this is an exponential rise in the risk of disease. Were always being told to not smoke, to watch our weight, and to exercise to stave off problems like cancer and heart disease.

But eventually, no matter how well you live, these diseases will catch up with you simply because of your age.

The risk from being old dwarfs those from other sources: for example, having high blood pressure doubles your risk of having a heart attack; being 80 rather than 40 multiplies your risk by 10.

The end result of all seven or eight billion people on Earth running this gauntlet is that ageing is the single largest cause of death.

Of the roughly 150,000 people who die every day, more than 100,000 die of ageing.

Global life expectancy was 72.6 years in 2019, which surveys show is higher than most of us realise.

This is fantastic news, and means that people around the world are living longer, healthier lives than ever before but it also means many people in most countries are living long enough to suffer the diseases and dysfunctions of ageing.

Humans have a risk of death that doubles every eight years or so. That eight-year doubling time defines our rate of ageing as a species.

However, weve already seen how some people defy those odds, for better or worse. Studies show that people who look older on the outside are biologically older on the inside.

One 2009 scientific paper asked a panel to assess peoples ages based on a picture of their face, and found that those who looked older were at greater risk of death, even after accounting for how old they really were.

One of the factors that can affect your rate of ageing is your genes.

The good news for most is that the effect isnt as large as you might think: recent research suggests that maybe 10 to 20 per cent of how long you live is determined by genes. The rest is down to lifestyle and luck.

Whether your parents or grandparents made it to 65 or 85, it doesnt put a ceiling on how long you can live, and theres plenty to play for if you try to live well.

However, the place where genetics seems to make a very big difference is in extreme long life, particularly in those who live to over 100 years old.

If you have a parent or sibling who makes it to 100, youre something like 10 times more likely to do so yourself than someone who didnt.

Look at the royals: the Queen Mother was 101 years old when she died, the Queen is 94, and Prince Philip is 99 I wouldnt bet against a future King Charles (currently 72) having a decently long reign, even if his mum has a few more years in her.

And Prue Leith at 80 and Sir David Attenborough at 94 defy the years as broadcasters.

We know that animals age at remarkably different rates to us.

Were used to watching pet dogs and cats age in a similar way to humans becoming frail, losing hearing and vision, and finally dying but on a much shorter timetable than their owners.

Hamsters, gerbils or mice age faster still. But people with a pet tortoise know that, depending on the species, their animals might outlive them. And some types dont just age slower than people: they dont age at all.

These tortoises display what scientists call negligible senescence, also known as biological immortality.

This means that their risk of death doesnt change depending on how old they are.

Since their average risk of death is around one or two per cent per year, some lucky animals can live for more than 100 years.

One of the worlds oldest, a tortoise called Jonathan living on the island of St Helena, is nearing his 190th birthday.

The fact that the rate of ageing can be so different between different people and animals shows us something remarkable: ageing isnt inevitable.

Theres nothing written in the laws of biology that dictates how fast animals must get old, or even that ageing is necessary at all.

The question is, can humans learn from tortoises example, and become biologically immortal ourselves?

This wouldnt mean living forever but it would mean longer, healthier lives, putting off frailty, forgetfulness, hearing loss, impotence, incontinence, disease and all the other trials of old age until later in life.

And it isnt science fiction either: the latest breakthroughs in the lab show slowing and even reversing ageing is possible.

Scientists have identified hallmarks of the ageing process the biological changes that drive everything from wrinkles, to muscle loss, to an increased risk of cancer.

Even more excitingly, weve got treatments for these hallmarks, some of which are already being trialled in humans.

If they work, they could allow us to prevent many of the problems of ageing simultaneously.

Probably the most exciting are senolytic drugs, which kill aged senescent cells that accumulate in our bodies as we get older.

These are cells that have divided too many times, or suffered catastrophic levels of damage.

They stop dividing, and start sending out molecular messages to let the immune system know that they need clearing up.

Most senescent cells are dealt with by our immune system as requested, but a handful slip through the net and, ironically, its their calls for help that seem to accelerate the ageing process.

These messenger molecules accelerate many of the problems of ageing, and can even encourage other cells to turn senescent, causing a vicious cycle that amplifies as we get older.

Giving mice senolytic drugs to kill these cells seems to make them biologically younger: a 2018 study which prescribed them to 24-month-old mice (roughly equivalent to 70 years in humans) made them live a month or two longer (a few years, in human terms), even though theyd started the treatment very late in life.

Removing senescent cells also improves heart function, slows the onset of disease and dementia, helps old mice run further and faster, and even gives them better fur something wed all like as we get older!

Senescent cells are one of the hallmarks of ageing, and the fact that medicines targeting them affect multiple age-related problems doesnt come as a surprise to scientists.

The idea is, if we could come up with treatments for all of the hallmarks, we could slow or reverse many aspects of ageing, all at once, and with them, many or even most of the diseases and other problems that come with old age.

This could lead to the biggest revolution in medicine since the discovery of antibiotics. Just like an antibiotic can treat multiple bacterial infections, an anti-ageing drug could treat multiple age-related diseases.

Our current model of medicine means that if you get cancer, you see an oncologist, or if you have heart problems, a cardiologist, and so on.

Real anti-ageing treatments would mean that we could attack these problems at their root by hitting the biological processes that make us more likely to get cancer or heart disease in the first place.

And, because the same processes are behind wrinkles and grey hair as are behind increasing risk of disease, these drugs could make us look younger too, as a fortunate side-effect.

May cause mild fever, nausea and reduce skin wrinkles is something many of us would be happy to see on the side of a pot of pills especially if those pills also beat back the single largest cause of human death and suffering.

My new book, Ageless: The New Science Of Getting Older Without Getting Old, takes you through the biomedical breakthroughs that could allow us to slow or reverse all of the hallmarks of ageing.

I think we should be aiming for tortoise-like negligible senescence for humans too a risk of death, disease, frailty, dementia and so on that doesnt depend on how long ago you were born. After centuries of quacks pushing elixirs and decades of dodgy claims on pricey skin creams, we may finally be on the cusp of real anti-ageing medicines.

Its an exciting time to be alive and we may all be alive a little longer to enjoy the excitement.

Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old by Andrew Steele (Bloomsbury, 20) is out now. For free UK delivery, call Express Bookshop on 01872 562310 or order via expressbookshop.co.uk

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How to live longer: Health expert reveals how science can stop and even REVERSE ageing - Express

Korean dramas are better known as K-dramas worldwide. K-dramas have become a worldwide phenomenon because of the cultural impact and pop culture of entertainment. K-drama stories are realistic as well as fantasy-based. They are addictive as well as amazing. They are also known for their interesting storylines and intense and the twist in their plot. They are not only romantic but also based on action or thriller. Korean dramas can be incredibly heartbreaking and can hold the heartbeat of the audience. Especially K-drama is famous among females all over the world.

Here, a list of the best K-dramas to watch.

Cast: Park Hae Joon and Han So Hee

It is a South Korean series that is based on Doctor Foster that was written by Mike Bartlett. The show tells the story of a married couple who betrayed each other and then leads to revenge, forgiveness, and healing. The series is the highest-rated among all the series in Korean cable television history. The final episode reached a nationwide rating of 28.371%. The show is recorded as the highest average rating by cable television.

Ji Sun-woo is a family medicine doctor at Family Love Hospital. She is married to Lee Tae-oh. She has a son named Lee Joon-young. She has a successful career and also a happy family. Despite all this, she is betrayed by her husband.

Cast: Kim Soo-Hyun and Seo Yea-Ji

The series shows Moon Gang-tae, who lives with his older brother. They move from town to town since Sang-tae knows the truth behind their mothers murder. Gang-Tae takes the job as a caretaker in a psychiatric ward at every place they go. While working there, he meets a famous book writer Ko Moon-young who is rumored to have a personality disorder. Ko Moon-young starts to have a romantic obsession with Moon Gang-tae. She follows him, where the trio slowly heals each others wounds.

Cast: Hyun Bin, Seo Ji Hye, and Kim Jung Hyun

Crash Landing on You is a South Korean series directed by Lee Jeong-Hyo. It is about Yoon Se-ri is a successful entrepreneur and also an heiress. While skydiving in Seoul, a tornado blows her off. She lands into the North Korean portion. Ri Jeong-hyeok is a captain in the Korean Peoples Army. He meets Se-ri lying on the seas side and saves her. He hides her from other North Koreans in order to send her back to the South safely. As they spend time together in order to hide their identity, they started to fall in love with each other.

Cast: Kim So-Hyun and Song Kang

Love Alarm is a South Korean romantic drama with a love triangle. The series is available on Netflix. The story of Love Alarm revolves around the technology that enables users to discover love in Korea through a downloaded application. It notifies the user, whether someone within the range of a 10-meter radius has any romantic feelings for them. It starts ringing the alarm when it discovers someone.

Cast: Song Joong Ki and Kim Ji Won

It is a 2019 South Korean series that is written by Kim Young-Hyun and Park Sang-Yeon. It is the first ancient fantasy drama in the Korean drama world. The story takes place during the Bronze Age and is mainly based on the story of Dangun. The show starts in a mythical land called Arth. A land where the inhabitants of the city face struggles, while others encounter their love in their way.

Cast: Woo Do-hwan, Park Soo-young, and Moon Ga-young

The story starts with a romantic melodrama. It depicts the lives of a man and woman who begin to discover their feelings. The show is based on the classic French novel. In order to take revenge, wealthy young heir Kwon Shi-Hyun makes a bet with his close friends to seduce Eun Tae-hee, who is a hardworking student who doesnt believe in love because of her parents marriage. After Eun Tae-hee meets Kwon Shi-Hyun, Her views start to change, and she gets attracted to him. As time passes by, Shi-Hyun started to have real feelings for Tae-hee. Later she learns his truth behind approaching her and moves to a different city with her father.

Cast: Park Bo Gum, Song Hye Kyo, and Jang Seung Jo

The story revolves around a woman who has everything and a young man who has not yet decided to give up an ordinary life to be together. They both are brought together by their fate. Cha Soo-Hyun is the daughter of a politician and lives a pathetic life. She was married to a rich family. She gave divorce to her husband because of his external affairs.

She met Kim Jin-hyuk when she was on a business trip in Cuba; he is a free-spirited guy. They spent time together and were attracted to each other. After they were back to South Korea, they met each other again but as an employee in the Hotel. They are in love with each other, but it only depends on their fate whether they can live together.

Cast: Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook

The story shows Kim Shin as a decorated military general from the Goryeo Dynasty. He is framed as a traitor and was killed by the young king. He was cursed by the Almighty to stay immortal forever many years after her death. Because of the curse, he became an immortal goblin, who used to help people with his powers and was being a kind man in spite of his past. Goblins bride is the only way to put an end to his immortality.

On the other hand, Ji Eun-Tak is a bubbly high school student. She is cheerful and hopeful despite her struggling life. She meets the Goblin by chance, and their fates begin to entangle.

Cast: Song Joong-ki, Song Hye Kyo, and Kim Ji-won

It is a 2016 South Korean television series. Yoo Si-jin is the captain of a Special Forces unit. He, along with Master Sergeant Seo Dae-young, were off-duty when they show a young man stealing a motorcycle. He was injured and was taken to the hospital, where Si-jin met Dr. Kang Mo-yeon for the first time and was instantly attracted to her. Si-jin and Mo-Yeon began dating, but due to Si-jin being in Special forces, they broke up later. Si-jin was deployed on a peacekeeping mission in Uruk.

Mo-Yeon is assigned to lead a team of medical volunteers to Uruk. Si-jin and Mo-Yeon reunite again after eight months. While in Uruk, Mo-Yeon confesses her feelings after rejecting him three times, and the two officially started dating. Si-jin and Mo-Yeon were in a relationship after returning to Korea until Si-jin and Dae-young were sent to an operation in which they disappeared and were assumed to be dead.

Mo-Yeon mourns over Si-Jins death and decides to commemorate his death anniversary by volunteering with a medical team while Myung-Ju was sent on a medical mission in Urk. This is where she finds Si-jin on the day of their one-year death anniversary while Myung Joo finds Dae-young in Urk. After reporting to the Military Headquarters, Myung Ju and Dae young started dating. Si-jin and Mo-Yeon, along with Myung-Ju and Dae-young, have happily reunited again with each other.

Cast: Song Joong-ki and Moon Chae-won

The story is about a medical student named Kang Ma-ru. He is in love with his neighbor Han Jae-hee who is a television reporter. She meets a man who is a rich CEO when her situation turned worse. He introduces her to a new comfortable life. Her betrayal leaves Ma-ru not just fractured but completely changes him.

A few years later, Ma-ru works as a bartender, and he then meets Seo Eun-gi, who is a young heiress. She is being groomed to take over her fathers position in the company. Eun-gi is cold as she is raised by her father, who told her never to show emotions to anyone. Ma-ru decides to take revenge against Jae-hee and also to bring her down from her position. Ma-ru initially had no plans, but he uses Eun-gi to take revenge on Jae-hee. Ma-ru started to love and care for Eun-gi when she finds out the real reason why he approached her.

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Top 10 Best K-Dramas of All Time to Watch - Recommendation List - Public

When the biologist Andrew Steele tells people his thoughts on ageing that we might one day cure it as if it were any other disease they are often incredulous and sometimes hostile. Once, at a friends wedding, he left a group of guests mildly incensed for suggesting that near-future humans might live well into their 100s. A similar thing happens at dinner parties, where the responses are more polite but no less sceptical. He understands the reaction. We think of ageing as an inescapable fact of life were born, we grow old, so it goes. Thats been the narrative for thousands of years, he says, on a video call. But what if it didnt have to be?

Steele began professional life as a physicist. As a child, he was fascinated by space, the way many scientists are. But he has spent the past three years researching a book about biogerontology, the scientific study of ageing, in which he argues the case for a future in which our lives go on and on. Steele considers ageing the greatest humanitarian issue of our time. When he describes growing old as the biggest cause of suffering in the world, he is being earnest. Ageing is this inevitable, creeping thing that happens, he says. He is wearing a button-down shirt and, at 35, a look of still-youthful optimism. Were all quite blind to its magnitude. But what do people die of? Cancer. Heart disease. Stroke. These things all occur in old people, and they primarily occur because of the ageing process.

Steele defines ageing as the exponential increase in death and suffering with time, and he thinks it would be helpful to finally grapple with this raw quantity of suffering. The human risk of death doubles every seven or eight years. We tend to breeze through the first five or six decades of life relatively unscathed, health-wise. Maybe we wake up at 50 with an ache, or slightly sagging skin, but still we are generally considered unlucky if we discover a tumour or develop arthritis or suffer heart problems. The death of a 50-year-old from disease is a premature death.

But at some point in our 60s a kind of cliff edge appears, and often we have no choice but to stumble over it. Easy movements become hard. We begin to lose our hearing and our sight. Frustrating and embarrassing things start to happen. Why cant I feel the tips of my toes? What on earth has happened to my hip? The body has worked tirelessly for years, and the cumulative internal effects of that action the problematic buildup of aged, senescent cells; the dangerous mutations of other cells; the steady decline of the immune system; the general wearing-down of the bodys structures suddenly predispose us to a variety of age-related diseases: cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, dementia. A 10-year-olds risk of death is 0.00875%. At 65, the risk has risen to 1%. By the time we turn 92 we have a one in five chance of dying that year. For decades we are mostly fine, Steele says, and then, all of a sudden, were not.

The dream of anti-ageing medicine, Steele writes in his book, Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old, is treatments that would identify the root causes of dysfunction as we get older, then slow their progression or reverse them entirely. These root causes are what biogerontologists call hallmarks. Cancer isnt a hallmark of ageing, Steele says now. But its caused by several of the hallmarks of ageing. If scientists can address those hallmarks, we can come up with treatments that slow down the whole ageing process, deferring diseases into the future.

The hope isnt that we get to live longer for the sake of it, it is that we live longer in good health. Some people call this longevity; Steele refers to increasing a persons healthspan. Theres this misconception when you talk to people about treating ageing, he says. They imagine theyre going to live longer but in a state of terrible decrepitude, that youre going to extend their 80s and 90s so theyre sat in a care home for 50 years. That doesnt make sense from a logical perspective or a practical one.

I say, What would be the point?

Exactly!

Its just more pain

Nobody would want it, he says. Then he raises an eyebrow. Its surprising that people would actually think scientists would want that.

Humans have been searching for a cure for ageing for thousands of years. Herodotus wrote of the Fountain of Youth in the 5th century BC; countless people have made lengthy, futile quests for life-extending elixirs. Until recently, very little was known about why we age and how. For a long time, scientists looked at it and thought, Oh God, this is going to be some immeasurably complex process that we cant possibly hope to study in a lab, Steele says, which dissuaded research. Until the 1960s, it was generally accepted that our role on this Earth was to produce children, and that once wed succeeded in that undertaking, our bodies, fulfilled of function, would be left to slowly fade.

But in the past three decades biogerontological research has accelerated, and recent successes have sparked excitement. A 2015 study, published by the Mayo Clinic, in the US, found that using a combination of existing drugs dasatinib, a cancer medicine, and quercetin, which is sometimes used as a dietary suppressant to remove senescent cells in mice reversed a number of signs of ageing, including improving heart function. A 2018 study that used the same drugs found that the combination slowed or partially reversed the ageing process in older mice. In another study, the drug spermidine extended the lifespans of mice by 10%, and studies using the drug rapamycin have extended the healthspans of mice, worms and flies, though it comes with problematic side-effects, including the suppression of the immune system and the loss of hair. Last year, scientists in Texas transplanted stem cells from young mice into elderly ones, adding three months to their average lifespans, which in equivalent human terms could be worth more than a decade.

To Steele this is all thrilling. The pace of change has been dizzying, he says of recent developments. Though it is the fact that human trials have begun that excites him most. After the success in mice, the first trial aimed at removing senescent cells in humans began in 2018, and others are ongoing. A more recent study found that a combination of hormones and drugs appears to help rejuvenate the thymus, which contributes to the immune system but degenerates rapidly with age. Next year, a landmark trial will begin to investigate whether metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes, might in fact delay the development or progression of age-related chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and dementia.

In Ageless, Steele writes, This collection of evidence is tantalising, and foreshadows a future where ageing will be treated. He also writes: This future may not be far away. When I ask him what he means by not far away, exactly, he smiles. Scientists are rightly sceptical, he says, but its important to say that a lot of significant breakthroughs could happen in the lifespan of people alive today.

I ask, Can you be more specific?

Eventually, he says, I think we are very likely to have a drug that treats ageing in the next 10 years.

Steele believes we will be hopelessly unlucky if scientists dont make a breakthrough within that time, given how many human trials are in progress or upcoming. And although these breakthroughs wont result in treatments that extend our lives by 100 years, they will give us enough extra time to ensure were alive for subsequent breakthroughs, subsequent treatments, subsequent additions in lifespan and so on. Our lives will be extended not all in one go but incrementally one year, another year, suddenly were 150. In Ageless, Steele talks of a generation of people that grows up expecting to die but, thanks to an accumulation of new treatments, each more effective than the last, just doesnt. One after another, he writes, lifesaving medical breakthroughs will push their funerals further and further into the future.

What Steele is talking about isnt immortality; people will continue to die. Science wont help if, looking down at your phone, you walk out into the road and get hit by a car. Or if you fall off a ladder and break your neck. Or if you are unlucky enough to be hit by a missile in a war zone. Or if you contract a virulent infectious disease that has no vaccine. But it will result in lifespans that are significantly longer than what we currently consider normal.

I ask if Steele expects there to someday be lots of 150-year-olds wandering around, as healthy as 20-year-olds.

Yes, he says, if it all works.

I say, 200-year-olds playing football in the park?

Why not? he says. The trouble is, saying were going to have 150-year-olds walking around looking like 20-year-olds, its weird. It sounds sci-fi. It sounds a bit creepy. Ultimately, I dont want this because I want to have a load of 150-year-olds looking like 20-year-olds, I want it because those 150-year-olds wont have cancer, they wont have heart disease, they wont be struggling with arthritis. Theyll still be playing with their grandkids, their great-grandkids even. Its about the health and lifestyle benefits.

When Steele brings up his work with people, the question he gets asked most often is: What about overpopulation? He has a go-to answer he thinks highlights the ridiculousness of the question. Imagine were staring down the barrel of 15bn people on Earth, he says. There are lots of ways to try and tackle that problem. Would one of them be: invent ageing?

That he is asked this question so frequently frustrates him. More so, he is bothered by the implication that what he is suggesting is somehow weird or inhuman or unholy, rather than ultimately helpful for society. If Id just written a book about how were going to cure childhood leukaemia using some amazing new medicine, he says, literally nobody would be like, But isnt that going to increase the global population?

He shakes his head.

What Im saying is, Here is an idea that could cure cancer, heart disease, stroke Curing any one of those things would get you plaudits. But as soon as you suggest a potentially effective way of dealing with them altogether, suddenly youre some mad scientist who wants to overpopulate us into some terrible environmental apocalypse?

Steele considers this a major hurdle in biogerontologys potential success our incredible bias toward the status quo of ageing as an inevitable process, and our inability to accept it as preventable. If we lived in a society where there was no ageing, and suddenly two-thirds of people started degenerating over decades, started losing their strength, started losing their mental faculties, and then succumbing to these awful diseases, it would be unthinkable. And of course, wed set to work trying to cure it.

He makes reference to the pandemic. The coronavirus exemplifies the problem we have in terms of funding science, in trying to confront these kinds of challenges. Because its so acute, because it all of a sudden appeared on the scene and the entire global economy was dragged to a halt, we see this very clear, current, present need to do something about it. And yet if you look at ageing, or even climate change, these are slow-moving disasters, and so theyre easy to miss. It is not lost on him that ageing-related drugs might have reduced the impact of the coronavirus, given it is a disease that is particularly life-threatening among older populations. To this end, he thinks biogerontology will eventually dramatically change the role of medicine, from being primarily reactive to primarily preventive. Weve somehow unintentionally drifted into this state in society where we end up treating endpoints, almost in a state of panic, at the last minute, he says, rather than preventing them beforehand.

Steele considers Ageless a call to arms, and is hopeful it presents enough evidence to finally convince the public as well as regulators, who currently dont define ageing as a disease, which makes it difficult to receive support for trials that ageing is a problem to be fixed. There is a kneejerk reaction to biogerontology, just because it sounds strange, he says. We place ageing research in this separate category socially, morally, ethically, even scientifically. When, actually, its just an extension of the normal goals of modern medicine.

Writing a book on ageing, it turns out, is a good way to make you reappraise your own lifestyle. These days, Steele is running more than he used to, and he has begun to watch what and how much he eats. Its not like I was ever a massive couch potato, he says. But, equally, I have tried to optimise things. In the absence of anti-ageing drugs, he suggests we all do the same. It seems that a lot of the sort of basic health advice that everyone can recite do some exercise, dont be overweight, try to eat a broad range of foods, dont smoke all that stuff basically slows down the ageing process.

I tell him Ive spoken to people who are taking several unproven supplements a day, hoping to eke out a few more years, and of others who, ahead of the trial, are already taking the experimental drug metformin.

Given that Im in my 30s, he says, I think the case against metformin is stronger than the case for. The evidence is suggestive, but its not conclusive. And theres a spectrum. There are people who are experimenting with senolytics. There was the case of the biotech CEO who went to Colombia and had gene therapy. But the data in humans just isnt there. He adds: The same is true of so many of these supplements and health foods. If any of these things did have a substantial effect, wed know about it.

When I ask him what he thinks of the anti-ageing industry all of those creams and serums that promise rejuvenation, our modern-day elixirs he says, Id like to completely obviate it. If the breakthroughs do come, they are likely to significantly change the structure of our time on Earth. We are used to the three-act life: we are young and learn, we are middle-aged and work, we are old and retire. But what happens if we live another 100 years? Might we go back to school at 60, or switch careers at 105 or, at 40, decide to take some kind of 20-year soul-searching hiatus, knowing well have a century or more to do other things having returned from whatever wilderness we had run away to?

And what about death? At one point during our conversation, I ask Steele if he imagines a time when dying becomes a choice. He thinks the question is overblown. Because death is inevitable people have rationalised it as something that drives life, or gives life meaning, or adds some sort of poetry to the human condition, he says. But I think, broadly speaking, death is bad. If there was less death in the world, I think most people would agree that was a good thing. And though my passion for treating ageing isnt driven by reducing the amount of death, its driven by reducing ill health in later life, its driven by conquering disease, its driven by getting rid of suffering, if theres less death as a side-effect? I dont think thats a bad thing.

Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old by Andrew Steele is published by Bloomsbury at 20. Buy it from guardianbookshop.com for 17.40

The root causes of ageing are called hallmarks. Treat these and you slow ageing.

1. Genomic instability As we age, we accumulate genetic damage. Simply, over time, our DNA gets mangled. It is thought that if scientists can find a way to repair that damage, they will then be able impact the ageing process.

2. Cellular senescence The longer we live, the more chance we have of experiencing a build-up of senescent (old) cells, which tend to hang around in the body and can contribute to the onset of age-related diseases.

3. Mitochondrial dysfunction Mitochondria are organelles that generate the energy our cells need to power necessary biochemical reactions. It has been found that mitochondrial dysfunction can accelerate ageing.

Originally posted here:
Do we have to age? - The Guardian

Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel a part of the digestive system that includes the colon and rectum. The effectiveness of treatment intentions depend on how far the cancer has progressed when it is picked up. This underscores the importance of responding to symptoms if and when they arise.

Unfortunately, the symptoms of bowel cancer can be subtle and do not necessarily make you feel ill so it can be hard to attach the dots.

Due to its location, many bowel cancer symptoms stem from a disruption to the digestive system.

According to Macmillan Cancer Support, one telltale sign is the feeling that you have not emptied your bowel properly after you poo.

Other warning signs include:

READ MORE:Bowel cancer warning: Check your toilet paper after wiping key symptom

When you first see a GP, theyll ask about your symptoms and whether you have a family history of bowel cancer, explains the health body.

As it explains, theyll usually carry out a simple examination of your bottom, known as a digital rectal examination (DRE), and examine your tummy (abdomen).

This is a useful way of checking whether there are any lumps in your tummy or bottom (rectum).

The exact cause of bowel cancer is unknown. However, research has shown several factors may make you more likely to develop it.

It is worth noting that having one or more risk factors doesnt mean that you will definitely get bowel cancer.

Your risk of developing bowel (colon and rectal) cancer depends on many things including age, genetics and lifestyle factors.

According to Cancer Research UK, many studies have shown that eating lots of red and processed meat increases the risk of bowel cancer.

It is estimated that around 13 out of 100 bowel cancer cases (around 13 percent) in the UK are linked to eating these meats, warns the charity.

Processed meat is any meat that has been treated to preserve it and/or add flavour for example, bacon, salami, sausages, canned meat, or chicken nuggets.

A linked lifestyle factor is obesity, which is tied to 11 out of 100 bowel cancers, current estimates suggest.

Obesity means being very overweight with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. And being overweight is a BMI of between 25 and 30.

Other risk factors include:

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Bowel cancer symptoms: Signs include feeling that you have not emptied your bowel properly - TechnoCodex

Hunt & Hussy Hicks = best Sunday eva!

Theres been hardly any gigs out there, 2020 was the year that killed fun. So when stuff happens you need to get out there and support it. Especially the arts. We in the arts have had one of the hardest years ever, and its not like being a creative is usually a walk in the park. Then Lisa Hunt pulled together Summerstage a fundraiser for Red Devils Park in Byron Bay and a chance for audiences and performers to be reunited. This Sunday sees the divine Lisa Hunt and her incredible band, Forever Soul, headline. Lisa began singing in the great African American tradition of gospel church where the foundations were laid for her soulful singing style. She went on to study voice at The City College of New York where she received a BFA in music. She has gone on to sell more than one million records around the world she really is incredible. Sundays show will be supported by the powerhouse that is Hussy Hicks Julz Parker and Leesa Gentz; the girls that Sarah Howells from Double J declared as artists [that] need to be seen to be believed. If you want three women to blow your mind this is the show!

For tickets go to summerstagebyronbay.com.au

Emily Wurramara and ine Tyrrell dont share the same blood but they call each other sister. Sisters by story. As much as DNA holds the keys to their identity, so does the story of where theyve each come from and the legends and mythologies from their lands that are so delicately woven into their ancestral memories. Emily Wurramara and ine Tyrrell both hold a deep spiritual and generational connection to their homes, and through song and story they hope to connect you all to your own too.

These incredibly talented vocalists are making a little stop off in Murwillumbah, on their way through to Woodford Folk Festival, to kick off 2021 in the glory of matriarchal music making. Featuring a two-hour show (one hour set each with a 30 minute intermission), this amazing duo will be bringing their songs, stories and sisterhood into the glorious setting of The Regent Theatre, in Murwillumbah, on Friday.

Show at 9pm. Tickets for this magical performance are $40 ($35 concession.)

The Starlight Festival, created by Raym Richards in the Byron Surf club 25 years ago, is now run by his daughter, Rosie Richards. The festival has flourished into a healing festival that capitalises the true Essence of Byron Bay. This festival is a special and sacred event that brings many locals and visitors together. The Starlight Festival offers a place of conscious living, awakening and sharing of knowledge. Festival curator Rosie says, Starlight Festival offers you a chance to sample a wide range of transformative experiences in one place. Experiences, offered by devoted practitioners, that arent available in our daily lives. Its a chance for people to connect and treat themselves by participating and soaking up the knowledge that this incredible weekend has to offer.

Starlight Festival; a festival of conscious living, of awakening and connection; through interactive workshops, soundbaths, yoga, shamanic journeys and talks with local, national and international presenters. Bangalow A&I Hall: $30 admission (single day), four day pass $75, locals two-for-one days, ThursdaySunday.

Tickets online or at the door.www.starlightfestival.com.au

Every January Austen Tayshus, the legendary white pointer of Australian comedy makes his way to Byron Bay. Its his favourite show of the year. Its a smart crowd he says. And hes right. Not everyone is going to get a Tayshus show, but Byron, he reckons, does. And that he believes is the point. Austen likes to make people think. Push them to the brink of their comfort zones. And sometimes, way over the edge.

Its why hes such a fierce figure in the Aussie comedy scene, a scene where many comics and promoters are terrified of him. Austen, aka Sandy Gutman, doesnt play safe. He doesnt suck up to venue owners. And he certainly doesnt stroke the ego of other performers or promoters. In a landscape where comedy tends to lose its edge because of the corporate need to be mainstream and to be commercially successful, Austen Tayshus still doesnt give a rats. He is a lone wolf. Smarter, funnier, and more experienced than anyone else in Aussie comedy. But be warned; hes also a lot more dangerous. A Tayshus show is not for the faint hearted!

There are few comics with the tenacity and killer instinct of Austen Tayshus. The comedy superstar, who first came into being in 1981, has the ability to take a room hostage just with his tongue. Hes the closest thing the Australian comedy scene has to its very own Bill Hicks. Topical, dangerous, irreverent hes the high priest of satire; unflappable and relentless. Every Austen show is unique. He has the ability to weave current politics, whats happening in the room, philosophy, anthropology, religion, sport (of course), and the Pope, all into one gag.

Tayshus is a man of controversy. There is no subject he wont dissect. Uncomfortable, confronting, but always illuminating, an Austen Tayshus show is both comic and cleansing. He doesnt need you to like him. In fact hed probably prefer it if you didnt.

Get the full COVID download Saturday at the Mullumbimby Ex-Services at 8pm. Sunday at the Byron Services at 5pm and Monday back at the Byron club at 8pm. All tix are $40 on mandynolan.com.au

Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club presents Aria Hall of Fame inductee, #1 selling artist, King of Pop, and Australian Icon: Russell Morris! Shooting to fame in the mid 60s with Somebodys Image, Russell had a string of hits including Hush and the Bob Dylan classic Baby Blue. In 1969 he and producer Molly Meldrum released The Real Thing, Australias only true psychedelic #1 hit and a song that is played regularly on commercial radio to this day. Following that, Russell penned breakthrough hits such as: Sweet Sweet Love, Wings of an Eagle, Rachel, Part 3 into Paper Walls, The Girl That I Love and many, many more.

In 2012 Russell released the Sharkmouth Album; a collection of tunes written about Australian historical characters. Sharkmouth reached #1 position on the iTunes Blues Charts; and #1 on the Australian Blues Radio Charts with Russell going on to win the 2013 ARIA award for Best Blues n Roots album.

In 2019 Russell released a new album produced by Nick DiDia and Bernard Fanning. After five decades on the road, an album can almost write itself. It might arrive in the space of a few months, fully formed in vision and texture in the mind of the vigilant creator. But it takes a rare combination of talent and circumstances to realise that vision as vividly as Black and Blue Heart.

Constantly in demand, Russell stills tours nationally throughout the year, as well as making appearances internationally.

Hes at the club for a one-off limited ticket show on Sunday 17 January at 4pm. Tickets $35 online http://www.mullumexservices.com.au/what-s-on

Are you a documentary lover? Do you find is truth often more fascinating than fiction? In these days of information overload and divisiveness, where people routinely use media not so much to stay informed as to reinforce their own point of view, documentaries are often essential viewing. They allow us to become informed and engaged with the beautiful and tragic in todays world, frequently focusing our attention on issues faced by other human beings that, in light of our shared humanity, we would be heartless to ignore.

Here are a few of the documentaries screening at the upcoming Bangalow Film Festival:

Winner of the 2020 Documentary Australia Foundation for Best Australian Documentary, Descent is thrilling, punishing, and beyond treacherous. Freediving in freezing water is not for the timid, but for Kiki Bosch, it was a life saver. Kiki dives into the worlds coldest waters on one breath, without a wetsuit. Shes plunged into Finlands frozen lakes, and under Greenlands icebergs. Her initiation into this sport began as a search for healing, following the debilitating trauma of a sexual assault. After discovering the immense release from ice freediving, Kiki has travelled far and wide, not only to push her own physical and psychological limits, but also to inspire others to harness the power of the cold. This unique documentary features stunning underwater footage shot by Australian underwater cinematographers Stefan Andrews, Spencer Frost, Peter Lightowler, and debut director, Nays Baghai.

Called a maverick, a miracle-worker, and a quack, Dr. Marty Goldstein is a pioneer of integrative veterinary medicine. By holistically treating animals after other vets have given up, Goldstein provides a last hope for pet owners with nothing left to lose.

The Dog Doc offers a thought-provoking look at alternatives for the animal healthcare industrys approach to medicine.

The Atlantics first feature documentary is the definitive inside story of the movement that has come to be known as the alt-right. With unprecedented access, White Noise tracks the rise of far-right nationalism by focusing on the lives of three of its main proponents: Mike Cernovich, a conspiracy theorist and sex blogger turned media entrepreneur; Lauren Southern, an anti-feminist, anti-immigration YouTube star; and Richard Spencer, a white-power ideologue.

Presented in partnership with Barefoot Law.

Charming 83-year-old Sergio Chamy is recruited as a mole agent by private eye Rmulo Aitken to investigate suspected abuse and theft in a Chilean nursing home. Intrigued by this opportunity to distract himself after losing his wife, Sergio embarks on an unlikely adventure armed with camera-embedded spy gizmos and clumsy code words. In a beguiling twist, Sergio begins to forge deepening connections with the residents and finds himself crowned king of the nursing home. Hailed as one of 2020s best films, Maite Alberdis spy-thriller documentary is an exquisite tale of humanitys desire for companionship, care and empathy, and a poignant reminder of the inevitability of ageing.

The Truffle Hunters follows a handful of men, between seventy and eighty years young, in Piedmont, Italy, on their search for the elusive Alba truffle. Theyre guided by a secret culture passed down through generations, as well as by the noses of their cherished and expertly trained dogs.

The documentary subtly explores the devastating effects of climate change and deforestation on an age-old tradition through a visually stunning narrative that celebrates life and exalts the human spirit.

Writer, visual artist, and pioneer of the Queer movement in Latin America, Pedro Lemebel shook up conservative Chilean society during Pinochets dictatorship in the 1980s. Body, blood and fire were protagonists in his work that he attempted to perpetuate in the last eight years of his life in a film he did not live to see finished. In an intimate and political journey through his risky performances dealing with homosexuality and human rights, Lemebel portrays a culmination of yearning toward immortality.

History Meets Patisserie. Documenting the collaboration between world renowned chef Yotam Ottolenghi (Plenty, Jerusalem) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this feature film follows five visionary pastry makers as they endeavour to construct an extravagant food gala based on the art exhibit Visitors to Versailles. Exploring the relationship between modern-day social media and the open court of the French Monarchy, the film studies the alarmingly cyclical intersection between food, culture, and history.

Full program and ticket sales available now at: http://www.bangalowfilmfestival.com.au

Keeping the community together and the community voice loud and clear is what The Echo is about. More than ever we need your help to keep this voice alive and thriving in the community.

Like all businesses we are struggling to keep food on the table of all our local and hard working journalists, artists, sales, delivery and drudges who keep the news coming out to you both in the newspaper and online. If you can spare a few dollars a week or maybe more we would appreciate all the support you are able to give to keep the voice of independent, local journalism alive.

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Entertainment in the Byron Shire for the week beginning 6 January, 2021 - Echonetdaily