The State of the Art in Misrepresenting Longevity Science
When you read about a topic you know a great deal of in the mainstream media, you'll likely notice many errors and misrepresentations. You won't see that in topics you know less of, but those errors and misrepresentations are still there. A decent writer can make anything sound plausible and look good to someone only casually familiar with a field, even while he is omitting vital information or propagating outright falsehoods - either due to insufficient research or underlying agendas. Accuracy in media is fairly low in the list of priorities as a general rule.
Here is a good long-form example of the state of the art in m...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 19, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind
Recycling Blog Photos--Good for the Earth,
and Cheaper than Getting Sued for Copyright Infringement!
There is a lot of advice out there about how to lose weight, some of which is helpful and some of which is just plain creepy. Anyone else catch that recent tip about infesting yourself with roundworms?
So this isn't a post about how to lose weight. Instead, this is just a few of the 9,700 thoughts I have about the psychological aspects of weight loss. It's my impression that a determined, focused, lifelong quest to shed excess pounds and keep them off can make most normal people at least slightly bonker...
Source: Cranky Fitness - April 29, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Crabby McSlacker Source Type: blogs
Ascaris Lumbricoides
The answer to yesterday's Image Challenge was #1 - Ascariasis
Ascaris lumbricoides worms were causing intestinal obstruction in this child from Kenya. After the intestine blockage was removed, the child recovered.
Ascariasis is a disease caused by roundworms. The parasite, Ascaris lumbricoides is one of the most common infections in the world and it affects up to one fourth of the worlds (Source: EverythingHealth)
Source: EverythingHealth - March 2, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Toni Brayer, MD Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, February 18th 2013
Discussion
- Latest Headlines from Fight Aging!
- Nitric Oxide and Longevity in Nematodes
- On Greater Longevity in Colder Environments
- Searching for Commonalities in Cancer
- Dietary Fatty Acids and Autophagy
- Comments on Teaching an Ethical View of Life Extension
- Arguing DNA Damage as a Cause of Aging
- Relative Risk For Causes of Cognitive Decline
- An Upcoming Oxford Debate With Aubrey de Grey and Richard Faragher
&nbs...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 17, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
On Greater Longevity in Colder Environments
Why do cold-blooded species live longer in colder environments? Researchers have a prospective mechanism that is shared by mammals:
Scientists have known for nearly a century that cold-blooded animals, such as worms, flies and fish all live longer in cold environments, but have not known exactly why. Researchers [have] identified a genetic program that promotes longevity of roundworms in cold environments - and this genetic program also exists in warm-blooded animals, including humans. "This raises the intriguing possibility that exposure to cold air - or pharmacological stimulation of the cold-sensitive genetic program -...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 15, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Dietary Fatty Acids and Autophagy
The cellular housekeeping processes of autophagy show up everywhere in considerations of metabolism and aging: better repair of cellular damage and removal of unwanted metabolic byproducts has a noticeable beneficial effect on the longevity of an organism. Many of the genetic manipulations that extend life in laboratory species have been shown to enhance autophagy, just as does the practice of calorie restriction.
Here researchers find that the marginal benefits resulting from the inclusion of omega fatty acids in the diet may also result from increased autophagy:
Researchers have discovered that simple mutations in gen...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Sebastian Seung Explores the Brain's Wiring (BSP 85)
Dr. Sebastian SeungDr. Sebastian Seung (MIT) is an ambitious young scientist; his goal is to unravel the entire wiring diagram of the human brain. Considering that it took over a decade to determine the wiring diagram for the roundworm C elegans, which has a mere 302 neurons, it is clear that scientists can't leap directly to the 80 billion neuron human brain. Even so, in his new book Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are, Seung makes a very good argument for the value of this long-term project. In Episode 85 of the Brain Science Podcast I talked with Dr. Seung both about the challen...
Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell - May 25, 2012 Category: Neurologists Authors: Ginger Campbell, MD Tags: Brain Anatomy Brain Research Interviews Neuroscience Podcast Show Notes Synapses Source Type: blogs
Sebastian Seung explores Brain's Wiring (BSP 85)
Dr. Sebastian SeungDr. Sebastian Seung (MIT) is an ambitious young scientist; his goal is to unravel the entire wiring diagram of the human brain. Considering that it took over a decade to determine the wiring diagram for the roundworm C elegans, which has a mere 302 neurons, it is clear that scientists can't leap directly to the 80 billion neuron human brain. Even so, in his new book Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are, Seung makes a very good argument for the value of this long term project. In Episode 85 of the Brain Science Podcast I talked with Dr. Seung both about the challenges and potential ...
Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell - May 25, 2012 Category: Neurologists Authors: Virginia Campbell Tags: Brain Anatomy Brain Research Interviews Neuroscience Podcast Show Notes Synapses Source Type: blogs
