Valter Longo, associate professor of gerontology and biology at USC Davis is trying to develop drugs that mimic the same mutations that protect Laron dwarfs from cancer.
Longo is also the same researcher that is investigating whether starvation makes chemotherapy work better. See more on his work here.

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From the Guardian:
A British woman has become the first in the world to conceive using a new IVF technique that could more than double the success rate of pregnancies.
The 41-year-old woman was treated after suffering two miscarriages and having 13 courses of IVF, none of which led to a baby.
[...]
The process uses a laser to [...]

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According to a new study, a virus called AD-36 may give you cold like symptoms, but also make your fat cells multiply.
From the Daily Express:
“Professor Nikhil Dhurandhar, of Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana, US, who led the research, said AD-36 continued to add weight gain long after those infected had seemingly recovered.”

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When Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States last week, he promised that his administration would “restore science to its rightful place.” Whether reality will fit the rhetoric remains to be seen, and there are reasons to be both optimistic and a little wary.
In his inaugural speech, the president [...]

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This is really big news. California-based Geron Corp has received a green light from the FDA to study stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injuries in up to 10 patients.
From the WSJ:
“This is the dawn of a new era in medical therapeutics,” said Thomas B. Okarma, Geron’s president and chief executive officer. The hope that [...]

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From breitbart.com:
“Japanese on Thursday unveiled a security robot that can be operated remotely by cellphone and launch a net to capture an intruder.
The prototype T-34, jointly developed by robot developer tmsuk Co. Ltd. and security company Alacom Co. Ltd., looks like a small wheeled vehicle and is loaded with sensors that detect anything untoward in [...]

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Thanks to everyone who voted for me! I’m looking forward to working with the entire H+ team to help take the organization to the next level in order to better accomplish the mission of promoting understanding, interest and participation in fields of emerging innovation that can radically benefit the human condition.
Here’s a listing of [...]

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From Fox News:
“Here’s another sign of the tough economic times: Some clinics are reporting a surge in the number of women applying to donate eggs or serve as surrogate mothers for infertile couples.”

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If you are a member of the WTA (paid member), you can vote in the upcoming H+ elections. The people I *personally* know who are running (and I would suggest voting for) include:
Me
Ben Goertzel
Todd Huffman
Many of the others are qualified as well, but I don’t know them as well. These are the other [...]

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Here’s an excerpt from my column at TNW today:
Currently, 60 percent of Facebook’s teen users have implemented privacy controls, compared with only 25 percent to 30 percent of adult users. This is an interesting statistic, given the common assumption that members of the younger generation don’t care who sees their data. It is probably also [...]

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Dr. Leonid A. Gavrilov, a Research Associate at the Center on Aging, NORC and the University of Chicago was just awarded a 5-year research grant from the NIH to study the mechanisms of human longevity. It is nice to see the NIH taking more of an interest in this important area.

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A doctor in NY wants the kidney he donated to his wife back (or the financial equivalent) as part of the divorce settlement. He says a kidney is worth 1.5 million, so that’s what he’s looking to get. Pretty interesting. Hat tip to PJ Manney for flagging this news.

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