Sonia Arrison » General

MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan on 100 Plus and Longevity

sonia — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:06:51 +0000

Here is a recent discussion I had with Dylan Ratigan about living 100 Plus:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Longevity Discussion at the Economist’s Human Potential Conference

sonia — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:16:15 +0000

Here is a discussion about 100 Plus with the Economist’s Management Editor and Schumpeter Columnist, Adrian Wooldridge, at the Human Potential summit in New York City.

Living to 100 and Beyond

sonia — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 22:52:26 +0000

The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt of 100 Plus today, accompanied by a video (embedded below). Reading it is a good way to discover if you’ll like the entire book.

Is Silicon Valley Losing Its Edge?

sonia — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:47:41 +0000

Here’s my review of Sarah Lacy’s new book, Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky. She’s a great writer and, along with her world travels meeting tech entrepreneurs, she mixes in some interesting history.

In US, Hispanics outlive whites, blacks by years

sonia — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:22:20 +0000

Here’s the Washington Post story.

Singularity University gets a President

sonia — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:20:59 +0000

Here’s the press release.

Singularity University expands into Brazil

sonia — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:08:17 +0000

The SU Blog says: “From its founding, a goal of Singularity University has been to spread its wealth of information beyond the gates of its headquarters at NASA Ames Research Park. Now, just over a year since kicking off its first program with GSP-09, SU is launching its first international program – in Brazil!”

I’m proud to be on the board of Trustees. Here’s Chairman Peter Diamandis discussing the move in English with Portuguese subtitles:

How to Solve the Net Neutrality Issue

sonia — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:49:31 +0000

I was stunned last week when I saw many prominent tech VCs and CEOs from Silicon Valley sign letters endorsing the FCC’s move towards Net Neutrality, since, if the rule making goes ahead, it will mean regulating the Internet. I happen to know a bunch of these folks, so I decided to call them to see if they really were endorsing regulations for the Net or if something else was going on. Something else was going on. Because the term “Net neutrality” is notoriously difficult to define, and is often put in terms of “free and open,” some people signed the letters without realizing it could lead to new regulations for the Information superhighway (these are busy people who spend more time running their companies than following the ins and outs of the FCC). That said, unsurprisingly, there was a lot of suspicion regarding the phone and cable companies. After many conversations, here is a potential solution that could put an end to Net neutrality games and ensure a bright future for the Net.

The upshot for those of you who don’t want to follow the link:

“If the tech industry and the major ISPs want to avoid government regulation and keep the Internet thriving, they need to come up with a way to solve the disclosure problem on their own in the marketplace.

Verizon has already started taking steps toward a more constructive stance by co-signing a letter with Google supporting an open Internet. Now it is time for all companies involved to take it to the next level. If that happens, U.S. innovators will be much safer from the claims of militant rent-seeking activists and regulators who want to get their hands on the Net.

The creation of TRUSTe helped the tech industry mobilize and avoid heavy-handed privacy regulations like those that befell Europe. Now it is time for ISPs to support an independent, private body to monitor neutrality issues. Such a move would deflate the pro-regulation lobby and allay the concerns of the industry that is driving U.S. growth.”

Facial bones grown from stem cells

sonia — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:27:40 +0000

This is a fabulous demonstration of how stem cells were used to grow cheek bones for a boy born without them due to a genetic condition.

As with many stem cell procedures, the stem cells were injected into a scaffold (in this case donated dead bone) and the cells brought the bone back to life. A detailed explanation of the process can be found at the Singularity Hub (one of my favorite sites).

Caloric restriction experiments in humans

sonia — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:49:06 +0000

This is an interesting piece in the NYT on caloric restriction research in humans. The researchers are studying biomarkers in humans who commit to caloric restriction for two years. It would take too long to do a longitudinal study on humans, so this is the next best thing. Surprisingly, the participants actually seem to be enjoying it. The Times quotes one of the subjects as saying this:

“I’ve never gotten so much pleasure in my life,” Beggs told the group, adding that it only confirmed his resolve. “I’m wearing a medium shirt now. I haven’t worn a medium since high school.”

If that’s how people feel when they practice CR properly, one can imagine that this may be an opportunity for an enterprising chef to come up with a “caloric restriction” food service…