We discuss interventions to increase the life span on the blog quite a bit – which makes you ponder what would you do if something actually worked in humans and you were given an extra 5 years of healthy life? I found this blog piece over at PickTheBrain which covers this question from the reverse…
lifespan, longevity
60 minutes TV coverage of longevity
by Ward • • 3 Comments
Last night the 60 minutes TV show had a segment on the latest longevity research. One leading scientist in the field Richard Weindruch reported on the latest results from the National Institute of Health on primate research examining dietary restriction and said that 50% of the normally fed animals are now dead, and only around…
brain health, lifespan, longevity
Does increased social interactions improve health?
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Yesterday, I mentioned how a paper reported that 3 weeks of dietary restriction increases social activity in rats. And we know, from many papers over the last 90 years, that dietary restriction increases the life span of organisms. Could there be a link between the two? In this weeks Science magazine there…
brain hack
Do longevity treatments make you more social?
by Ward • • 6 Comments
Image by = xAv = via Flickr Would you be interested in a brain hack that makes you more social? We all want to live a long and healthy life, and there is ongoing research trying to find treatments to extend your healthy life span. If you were going to live longer would that give…
Uncategorized
Hourglass VII: biology of aging blog carnival
by Ward • • 1 Comment
I am fortunate to be hosting the first Hourglass carnival of 2009, on this historical day of Obama’s inauguration. There is a sense of great hope for both America in general, but also more specifically for improvements in health care under his administration. We will have to wait and see if his health policies include…
brain hack
What is the story, what is your story?
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Asking your self these two related questions (what is the story, or what is your story) can be useful at many levels. You can think of it as a brain hack if you are trying to figure out your life. Or you can think of it as a simple self check if you are building…
Uncategorized
Work on something that matters
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Image byTim O’Reilly / Flickr via CrunchBase Tim O’Reilly, over at O’Reilly Radar has an very nice post on the value of deciding to work on something that matters (rather than focusing purely on money – though he is not arguing that what you decide to work on has to be non-profit). This leads to…
productivity, Uncategorized
Another productivity tip – leaving enough in the tank for the next day
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Yesterday, I gave you the author Cory Doctorow’s tip about finding 20 uninterrupted minutes each and every day, which is enough for him to write a novel (typically 100,000 words) a year. I asked you what do you think you could accomplish if you dedicated 20 minutes each day to a goal or dream. Now…
brain hack, productivity
Simple time hack
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Most of us live pretty busy lives and it is hard to find time for various tasks and jobs that you need to get done. Our modern world is full of distraction; emails, rss feeds, skype, ichat, etc. Some of the best brain hacks are the ones that make us more productive…
Uncategorized
Low cost microscopes added to cell phones – another 2008 health breakthrough
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Previously, I have written about a few of the 2008 science breakthroughs (here and here). The ability to build cheap microscopes and adapting them into cell phones may lead to many lives saved in the future. Granot et. al., 2008 (freely available) point out the need for cell phone based medical imaging, as 3/4 of…