02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Hawking Considers Computer Viruses Life
A living being like you or me usually has two elements: a set of instructions that tell the system how to keep going and how to reproduce itself, and a mechanism to carry out the instructions. In biology, these two parts are called genes and metabolism. But it is worth emphasising that there need be nothing biological about them. For example, a computer virus is a program that will make copies of itself in the memory of a computer, and will transfer itself to other computers. Thus it fits the...Folksonomies: life
Folksonomies: life
27 JUL 2018 by ideonexus
Heritable IQ is Boosted by Environment, Just Like Height
hough it’s not easy to pinpoint the causes of the rise in IQ scores, it’s no paradox that a heritable trait can be boosted by changes in the environment. That’s what happened with height, a trait that also is highly heritable and has increased over the decades, and for some of the same reasons: better nutrition and less disease. Brains are greedy organs, consuming about a fifth of the body’s energy, and they are made of fats and proteins that are demanding for the body to produce. Fighting of...12 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
Neurons Use Viruses to Share Information and Learn
When genes are activated, the instructions encoded within their DNA are first transcribed into a related molecule called RNA. Shepherd’s colleague Elissa Pastuzyn showed that the Arc shells can enclose RNA and move it from one neuron to another. And that’s basically what retroviruses do—they use protein shells to protect their own RNA as it moves between cells in a host.
So our neurons use a repurposed viral gene to transmit genetic information between each other in an oddly virus-like way t...25 MAY 2017 by ideonexus
Nicotinamide riboside (NR) Increases NADP
In the first controlled clinical trial of nicotinamide riboside (NR), a newly discovered form of Vitamin B3, researchers have shown that the compound is safe for humans and increases levels of a cell metabolite that is critical for cellular energy production and protection against stress and DNA damage.
Studies in mice have shown that boosting the levels of this cell metabolite—known as NAD —can produce multiple health benefits, including resistance to weight gain, improved control of blood ...Folksonomies: longevity supplements
Folksonomies: longevity supplements
18 JAN 2017 by ideonexus
Using Feedback to Control Weight
Recent research has shown that exhaust from lungs (part of excretion) is a major factor in weight loss. Burning 10 kg human fat requires inhalation of 29 kg oxygen. This produces 28 kg carbon dioxide and 11 kg water. As food and drinks are temporarily stored in the human stomach and bowels, the body weight is instantaneously increased with the weight of any food or drink consumed. Metabolism is usually divided into catabolism and anabolism, where catabolism is the process of breaking down org...06 MAR 2016 by ideonexus
Iron and Fever
Warm-blooded animals have an elaborate physiological control
system to maintain a constant body temperature. In man, this temperature
is about 37°C. Any significant deviation from this temperature puts
stress on the body and makes it difficult to maintain metabolic processes
at their normal rates. Why then, during sickness, should the temperature
rise? It would seem that development of fever would cause things to go
from bad to worse, and make it more difficult for the body to recuperate.
Fev...Fever prevents bacteria from obtaining iron in the from the blood stream,