Tag Archives | Mortality

‘Old’ News: Regeneration May Bring Youth to Elderly

By on January 17, 2013 in News 3

“SMI²LE: Space Migration Intelligence² Life Extension”
- Dr Timothy Leary

From the sounds of things a Wolverine style regeneration trick might be round the corner for humanity, or at least those of us who can afford it. It’s in its early stages but tired and feeble laboratory mice have already had their elderly bodies regenerated according to The Guardian:

The surprise recovery of the animals has raised hopes among scientists that it may be possible to achieve a similar feat in humans – or at least to slow down the ageing process.

An anti-ageing therapy could have a dramatic impact on public health by reducing the burden of age-related health problems, such as dementia, stroke and heart disease, and prolonging the quality of life for an increasingly aged population.

“What we saw in these animals was not a slowing down or stabilisation of the ageing process. We saw a dramatic reversal – and that was unexpected,” said Ronald DePinho, who led the study, which was published in the journal Nature.

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How Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Patients Face Death

By on May 25, 2012 in News 14

5131290095_eff7aa0895How use of psychedelic drugs can ease the difficulty of facing the most harrowing stage of life. The New York Times points towards a more enlightened future:

The power of psychedelics to mitigate mortality’s sting is not just the obsession of one lone researcher. Dr. John Halpern, head of the Laboratory for Integrative Psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont Mass., a psychiatric training hospital for Harvard Medical School, used MDMA — also known as ecstasy — in an effort to ease end-of-life anxieties in two patients with Stage 4 cancer.

Grob’s setup — the eyeshades, the objects, the mystical music, the floral aromas and flowing fabrics — was drawn from the work of Stanislav Grof, a psychiatrist born in Prague and a father of the study of psychedelic medicine for the dying. In the mid-’60s — before words like “acid” and “bong” and “Deadhead” transformed the American landscape, at a time when psychedelics were not illegal because most people didn’t know what they were and thus had no urge to ingest them — Grof began giving the drug to cancer patients at the Spring Grove State Hospital near Baltimore and documenting their effects.

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