CAN WE CURE AGING?

CAN WE CURE AGING?

Lifespan Extension

If we look at aging as a genetic disease - by curing it we may be able to prevent most of the non-infectious diseases including cancer, cardiovascular and diabetes. However exciting may be this prospect for all our intelligence we have made very little progress in finding a cure. Shall we in the future be able to find the cure? - absolutely yes. Pioneering scientists have been able to identify 2-3 pieces of this jigsaw puzzle in recent times. We don't know that is 3 out of 30 total pieces or 3 out of 100 or 3 out 1,000. We may stumble upon the cure in 2 years or we may take 200 years we can't say. 

With the incredible gift of intelligence it is a shame that after gathering knowledge it all rots into dust. An intelligent species deserves to also be gifted with extended life spans to make best use of that knowledge and continue to evolve it rather than in jerks and bounds - constantly interrupted by deaths of brilliant minds just revving up. In our Universe everything that we have observed so far tells us that death is certain for all celestial objects - Mayflies with only 24 hours to a Sun which is 9.5 billion years. If something else in this Universe can have a longer lifespan than so can we.

Aging could be coded in our DNA 

Precision Nutrition has a very good write up about how we die:
Fascinating fact: The molecular clock in our germline cells — those from which our offspring are made when egg and sperm combine — is kept at zero. If it weren’t, babies would actually be born at Mom or Dad’s age!
If ageless cells already exist, this means we could be immortal one day. It’s possible at least in theory.
Why, then, do we age?
We don’t completely know for sure.
What we do know is that it takes a lot of energy to maintain cells and repair the damage that occurs throughout a lifetime. Wear and tear takes a toll. Cells break down, much like cars.
DNA damage in our cells’ nuclei and mitochondria start to accumulate. Meanwhile, the older we get, the harder it is to repair things. At a certain point, the damage is bad enough, and widespread enough, that our cells can’t fix it.
This means our cells (and our tissues) oxidize, become inflamed, and/or fill up with waste. Which leads to chronic diseases like cancer, metabolic disruptions, and/or neurodegenerative disease.
And — in case you haven’t noticed — this functional decline ends in death. This is one of the most popular theories about cause of aging and death.

Please find below information on some of the light that has been shone on the dark mystery of aging:

Of all the various approaches there are only two so far which seem to show significant potential in reversing and repairing the damage of aging. That does not mean we have proof that they will extend our life span as that would take very long to be found out but repairing some of the major damages of aging may provide a life without non-infectious diseases and youthful vigor which in itself is a major breakthrough. These two incredible findings are described below along with another major discovery from a Harvard Medical School Lab and some very early stage but promising research in telomeres and cell senescence:

1. PARABIOSIS/HPE:
Parabiosis is surgically joining the blood circulation of two living organisms. Bert was awarded the Experimental Physiology Prize by the French Academy of Science in 1866 for his pioneering experiments in parabiosis. In the experiments blood from a young mouse is circulated in an old mouse. The young blood transforms many of the key organs and systems of the old mouse back to its younger state. In recent experiments scientists like Wyss-Coray of Stanford, Amy Wagers of Harvard, Villeda of UCSF have discovered miraculous rejuvenation of brain, heart, liver and skeletal muscle - reversing brain and heart disease and making them function like a young mouse. It developed new blood vessels in the brain of old mice, induced muscle healing, stimulated regeneration of heart and liver reversing the damage caused by aging!
Dr. Harold Katcher does not subscribe to the popular wear and tear theory of aging. He believes aging and death is programmed in us by Nature. That is why attempts to cure symptoms of aging has not led to any major breakthrough so far. He believes that when young blood plasma circulates in older bodies it will uncode programming that will take back the body to its younger state. As long as this is done regularly the older human can revert back to their youthful state and remain there. Dr. Harold Katcher believes that Heterochronic Plasma Exchange extracted from a young human and injected into an old human should reverse many age factors. Apparently this is safely administered from many years for some diseases (not young for old). So safety is not a concern. There is equipment to do plasmaspheresis. A young donor can provide plasma twice a week. This is not an idea that may become a cure in the future but something that can be administered safely today by any physician. It should lead to old humans getting new hair, younger skin, improved memory, youthfully robust heart, muscles and liver, etc. Will this actually prolong life indefinitely or only improve old age we will find out as human experiments and trials are adminsitered by the pioneers.

Anti-Aging Brain Health

2. CALORIE RESTRICTION/PROLONGED FASTING:
It has been proven in multiple experiments that by consuming 30-40% less calories CR has prolonged life in dogs, rodents, worms, flies, yeast, different kinds of bugs, and (arguably) non-human primates by 30 to 50 percent. That would translate to living till 120-150 years in humans. But CR is difficult to follow for life time and can cause some undesirable side effects related to deficiencies.
Nature has inserted in many species a silent, hidden, secret weapon that stays dormant all your life and is activated only under certain level of biological stress like a famine, or prolonged fast or severe calorie restriction in us and like boiling or cooking in plants. When a certain threshold is crossed of the biological stress, in prolonged fasting it means atleast 7 days, the body flips a regenerative switch to help us survive the stressful event. In this regenerative mode old dying or damaged cells due to wear and tear which stop dividing and clog up tissues and organs are cleared out and new pluripotent stem cells circulate through out the body repairing and rejuvenating us. This has been proven to enhance immune system and would also prevent age related diseases. It reduces an enzyme called PKA which has been reported to result in extended lifespan in organisms. Many of these exciting results have been obtained by Valter Longo, Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute. Longo has a joint appointment at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He said, "We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system." He observed that, "PKA is the key gene that needs to shut down in order for these stem cells to switch into regenerative mode. It gives the OK for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system. And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting."

TotalHealth

3. STARTLING REVELATION - NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS:
For the first time in recorded human history in an experiment on mice two year old was reversed to that of a 6 month old mice - in human equivalent a 60 year old reversing to a 20 year old! This landmark experiment was conducted in the labs of David Sinclair an expert in genetics at Harvard Medical School and reported in December 2013. Fortunately this has come from highly qualified researchers of an institution of the highest reputation but unfortunately David Sinclair has also caused a major fiasco before with no less than Glaxo writing off US$ 720 million that it invested to buy Sinclair's start up Sirtris Pharma which offered promising results in lab animals of their resveratrol Sirtuin1 activators which promised to have anti-aging properties. Not all experiments that succeed in lab animals translate into similar success in humans. This was a very expensinve lesson learnt by GSK which shuttered Sirtris after not finding any significant results in clinical trials on humans.
Despite this baggage the logic behind the new research finding of David Sinclair Lab does make one hope that this time the results do translate to humans as well.
His lab's researchers discovered that the nuclear DNA — found in the nucleus of a cell — and the Mitochondrial DNA — found in other parts of the cell — stop communicating as we age. Over time this loss of communication reduces the cell's ability to make energy, and signs of aging and disease become apparent. His team found the communication problems were down to a depletion in a protein called NAD+. When they upped the levels of NAD+ - Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide - in the cells of mice, the ageing process reversed. The compound nicotinamide mononucleotide NMN used by Sinclair's lab to up the levels of NAD+ is naturally occurring in us and therefore safe so why isn't everyone taking it to reverse their aging to youth? Apparently it is extremely expensive - injections that would need to be taken daily may cost up to US$ 50,000 a day. Instead companies have discovered other precursors of NAD+ which are not so difficult to manufacture as daily pills. The issue is there are no clinical trials to prove that they work in humans and also what would be the dose at which they work. In the absence of this sceptics of David Sinclair claim this is one more of his utopian research with no practical use in humans. The two companies that are manufacturing the precursors one of which is co-founded by Sinclair may conduct reliable human clinical trials and our planets aging population has to await those results with bated breath.

Rejuvenating Mitochondria

Lifextension Inc.

nr

4. TELOMERES and TELOMERASE:

Teleomeres are like time keepers and come with finite length like shoe lace caps at the end of cells. They continue to shorten as the cell divides. Once they run out, the cell would stop dividing and die causing aging related problems eventually leading to death. Many successful experiments in lab animals has shown increase in lifespan ranging from 13% to 40% by various approaches including:

a) Stanford scientists have found a way to lengthen the telomeres by a 1,000 nucleotides against typical 8,000 to 10,000 nucleotides. Thereby increasing cell life marginally. 

b) Salk Institute scientists have discovered that keeping DNA more stably packed in our cells it may be possible to slow or reverse aging,

c) Another group of Salk Institute scientists discovered that there is a cellular toggle switch which turns telomerase on and off. Telomerase enzyme can replenish shortened telomeres to allow cells to continue dividing and not dying. 

d) In a very interesting and novel approach Spanish National Cancer Research Centre scientists have used gene therapy for successfully lengthening lifespan in mamals safely with only a one time therapy! They have used a modified virus to deliver telomerase into cells thereby replenishing telomeres. They lengthened the lives of rats by 24% (one year old) and 13% (two year old). Their treatment did not cause cancers.

All the above telomere and telomerase research is at a very early stage and far from human clinical trials.

CANCER CURE IMMUNOTHERAPY - GOODBYE CHEMOTHERAPY

GOODBYE CHEMOTHERAPY

The race to cure cancer using our own immune system

Chemotherapy is a barbaric therapy - its like killing a wasp biting a human with a machine gun. To kill the 3% of rogue cells kill everything in sight. The biggest irony: the very immune system that provides some chance of survival is destroyed by the poisonous 'therapy'. Using the brilliant engineering of an existing immune system to identify and kill cancer cells heralds the dawn of a new age in cancer therapeutics and will finally bury the horrific body poisonings. These therapies come under the umbrella of Adoptive T Cell Therapy and are called Chimeric Antigen Receptor CAR T cell, T Cell Receptor TCR and Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte TIL therapies.

From the website of Adaptimmune - the strategy of CAR and TCR to target cancer cells using engineered T-cells

One of the most successful in these new therapies is CAR T cells therapy which stands for chimeric antigen receptors. There is a race to launch cures for multiple types of blood cancer using this therapy. It has not yet shown similar responses in solid cancers and does trigger a cytokine storm (a side effect) that can be fatal if not managed adequately. All the trials where this therapy has been used have been nothing short of miraculous with some success rates achieving remission in 90% of the cases. A brief description of CAR Ts therapy as provided in an article in The Scientist: The premise is simple: extract a patient’s T cells (our immune system's killer cells) from blood and train them to recognize and kill cancer by modifying them with a viral vector to express an artificial, or chimeric, receptor specific for a particular cancer-associated antigen—for example CD19, an antigen expressed in B-cell–related blood cancers—then reinfuse the cells back into the patient. The virus DNA is modified to remove any functions that harm us. A virus naturally fuses with a T-Cell injecting certain gene code into the T cells which then express on its surface receptors which have specific affinity towards surface proteins expressed on a particular cancer cell. The engineered cells recognize, bind and kill cancerous cells, while reactivating other immune players that have been dampened by cancer’s inhibitory signals. “CAR therapy is at the same time cell therapy, gene therapy, and immunotherapy,” says Michel Sadelain, a founding director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Cell Engineering and a cofounder of Juno. “It represents a radical departure from all forms of medicine in existence until now.”

A case study of Emily Whitehead as reported by Michael Herper in Forbes brings the potential of this therapy to the fore:

Emily Whitehead was diagnosed at 5 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She suffered an infection from her first round of chemotherapy and nearly lost her legs. Then the cancer came back; she was put into remission once more and scheduled for a bone marrow transplant. As she waited, the cancer returned yet again. There was nothing else to try.

Nothing except a crazy experimental treatment never before given to a child: Blood was taken out of 6-year-old Emily’s body, passed through a machine to remove her white cells and put back in. Then scientists at the University of Pennsylvania used a modified HIV virus to genetically reprogram those white cells so that they would attack her cancer, and reinjected them. Emily suffered from the side effect a immune response storm which made her severely feverish and on the verge of death but a rheumatoid arthritis drug stopped the side effect without protecting the cancer. The therapy performed a miracle - on her 7th birthday Emily was pronounced cancer free! She still is, two years later–taking piano lessons, wrestling with her dog and loving school, which she couldn’t attend while sick. “I’ve been an oncologist for 20 years,” says Stephan Grupp her doctor, “and I have never, ever seen anything like this.”

Some of the key Players in Adoptive Cell Therapy in no particular order:
Juno
Kite Pharma
Bellicum
Cellectis
Celgene
Lion Biotech
SQZ Biotech
NovImmune
immatics Biotech
Adaptimmune
Immunocore
Go Therapeutics
Peregrine Pharma
Tilt Biotherapeutics
ZioPharm
BioNTech - Cell & Gene Therapies (subsidiary)
Eureka Therapeutics
Unum Therapeutics
MirImmune
Stage Cell Therapeutics (acquired by Juno)
FF CanVac
Cell Medica
Sangamo Biosciences
Medigene

Most of them are spin outs from Universities and have a deal with major Pharma companies which are also mentioned below.

Some of the clinical trial successes that spurred the frenzy of research and deals with big Pharma in this field:

2011: In 2011, the Penn group described the results of an early trial of its CTL019 CAR T-cell treatment in three advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients (Sci Transl Med, 3:95ra73, 2011). The findings—including two patients who have now remained in remission 4.5 years after their treatment—served as an early demonstration that CAR T cells can successfully treat patients with late-stage disease. The team has now tested CAR T-cell therapies in about 125 people, with six different trials underway for pediatric and adult ALL, CLL, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Other CAR T-cell therapies are in trials for solid tumors, including ovarian, breast, and pancreatic cancers, and mesothelioma and glioblastoma.

2014: In a recent Penn study of 30 children and adults with relapsed or refractory ALL who received CTL019, 90 percent achieved total remission, and 78 percent were still living at the end of the study two years later (NEJM, 371:1507-17, 2014)

2014: At ASH (American Society of Haemotology), Dr. Grupp discussed a follow-up study, including 39 pediatric patients, which showed a 92 percent complete remission rate following CTL019 treatment. Of those, 76 percent remain in complete remission after six months (ASH 2014, Abstract 380, 2014)

2014: A team at the National Cancer Institute, including Dr. Rosenberg, has also reported successes with CAR T cell therapy, focusing on patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, an aggressive disease for which survival without treatment is measured in months. Following treatment with CD19-targeting T cells, 22 of 27 patients had either complete or partial remissions; 10 have remained cancer free for up to 37 months (ASH 2014, Abstract 550, 2014)

2014: in preliminary results from a 10-patient study on synovial sarcoma, Adaptimmune's treatment among the 5 patients who have reached the 60-day assessment period, 80% charted a response to the treatment, with one patient's cancer completely gone at 9 months. All of the infusions have been well-tolerated.

December 2014: in an ongoing Phase 1 trial, its chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, JCAR015, put 24 of 27 adults with refractive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) into remission, with six patients remaining disease free for more than a year - done by Juno

Now let us look at some of these brilliant warriors battling against the dreaded disease:

1. UPENN: Foremost name that should be mentioned is Dr. Carl June rated as one of the most influential people in biopharma today and is the Director of translational research, University of Pennsylvania. He first introduced to the world results of 3 patients treated with CAR T cell therapy in 2011. Since then he and his team have conducted successful trials of different types of blood cancers.
NOVARTIS paid US$ 20 million as part of its much larger licensing and research deal with University of Pennsylvania with regards to CAR T cell therapy and then bought Dendrion's closed facility to manufacture the therapy. They are jointly building a 30,000 sq ft Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies focused on research in developing CAR T cell therapies and going after more diseases. What is exciting for Novartis is that UPenn team used the same technology against HIV virus and Phase I trial proved that the therapy is safe and does resist HIV virus proliferation without needing ADT. To augment the development of lentiviral vectors for the CART 19 therapy Novartis also signed a US$ 350 million deal with Oxford Biomedica.
Penn and Novartis were facing lawsuits filed by St. Judes Childrens Hospital and Juno on its intellectual property rights. This was settled out of court this April 2015 whereby Novartis agreed to pay upfront US$ 12.5 mil plus royalties on global sales of these products.

2. JUNO THERAPEUTICS: From June to Juno. Six founding scientists each having brilliant track record leading to expertise in CAR T cell therapies and TCR therapies joined hands to form Juno. They are in the process of developing second generation CAR T cell therapy called Armored CARTs. These would help dynamically control the side effects of the therapy and also be useful in the environment of solid tumors. They are in Phase I/II of many CD19 and WT-1 targets. It is in preclinical for various other targets. Juno's fund raising trajectory has also been as exciting as its therapeutics one: launched with US$ 120 million led by Arch Venture Partners followed by another round of US$ 145 including Venrock and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) in Jan 2014 which later expanded to US$ 176 million as Series A in April 2014. Within 4 months it raised another US$ 134 million round B from a clutch of institutional investors. By December 2014 it had completed an IPO to raise US$ 305 million. At recent price its market capitalization doubled to US$ 4.7 billion - all in a year!

3. KITE PHARMA: The first CAR T cell therapy was developed in Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel in 1980s by Zelig Eshhar. He later joined hands in this research with Steven Rosenberg. Both these are now playing advisory roles to Kite Pharma. Kite has CAR, TCR and therapeutic vaccine therapies. It has reached Phase II trials for CAR CD19 and NY-ESO-i TCR and in Phase I and preclinical for 3 CAR and 5 TCR targets. Along with Amgen it is increasing its targets to multiple other cancers including solid tumors. Kite started with US$ 15 million from investors like David Bonderman (TPG) and Michael Milken. It did  series A in May 2013 for a total of US$ 35 million (fresh as well as converted capital). In April 2014 it raised US$ 50 million as pre-IPO mezz finance and in mid 2014 it raised US$ 146 million from listing on NASDAQ. It did a follow on offering at $54 per share (much above IPO price of $17/share) to raise additional US$ 216 million. Its current market capitalization is US$ 2.37 billion
AMGEN: in Jan 2015 Kite and Amgen signed a collaboration agreement which paid Kite upfront US$ 60 million plus royalty and milestone payments of US$ 525 million accruing to both.

4. CELECTIS: The brain behind Celectis is a pioneer in the analysis and use of meganucleases to edit genes. This is a key enabling technology for adoptive cell therapy. It has one product in clinical trial and three in preclinicals. It raised 20.5 million Euros in early 2014 from a few funds and investors. In November it raised another 13 million Euros. Celectis licensed Ohio State University's CS1 related CAR technology in Jan 2015. The company listed its shares as ADS on NASDAQ  and raised US$ 228 million in March 2015. Its market capitalization is US$ 1.4 billion.
PFIZER: In June 2014 Celectis entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Pfizer wherein it received an upfront payment of US$ 80 million plus research costs for 12 targets selected by Pfizer plus US$ 185 million milestone based payments per product commercialized by Pfizer along with royalties from its sales. Pfizer also bought a 10% stake in Celectis.

5. BELLICUM: Was founded by Dr. Kevin Slavin and Dr. David Spencer. Bellicum uses its proprietary CID technology which allows it to modulate the activation or deactivation of CAR, TCR and Dendritic therapies. This becomes 2nd Gen as it allows these therapies to be administered in a controlled manner. It has two candidates in Phase II and III and three in preclinical stages. Its funding journey began with a grant in 2011 of US$ 6.1 million followed by series B of US$ 20 million in 2 phases in 2012. It raised an additional US$ 14.7 million in Jan 2014. In August 2014 it raised US$ 55 million series C round. In a December 2014 IPO it raised US$ 160 million. Its current market cap is US$ 650 million.

6. IMMUNOCORE: Oxford University scientist Dr. Bent Jacobsen can also be counted as one of the pioneers of today's hottest cancer therapies - he has been researching immune receptors since 1993. His research and technology enhancing the affinity of CAR and TCR therapies has led to the formation of 2 highly successful biotechnology companies Adaptimmune and Immunocore. Immunocore has the exclusive rights to apply this technology for TCR therapies. According to them CAR targets (surface proteins) comprise of only 10% of cancer cells whereas Immunocore's TCR targets (HLA Peptide Complex) comprise of 90% of cancer cell's expressed targets and can also be intracellular. So their therapy called ImmTACs is claimed to have 9 times more chances of binding T cells to cancer cells and destroying them. They also multiply the affinity manifold towards targets to further improve the efficacy. It has one target in Phase II and one target in Phase I clinical trials.
GENETECH + ROCHE: Immunocore signed a licensing and drug development deal in mid 2013 wherein it will receive upfront payments of US$ 10 -20 million per target therapy plus milestone related payments amounting to US$ 300 million plus multi-tiered royalties on sales.
GSK: After one month of the Genetech agreement Immunocore signed a deal with GSK for multiple novel targets not addressable using antibody based therapies. It will receive 142 million GBP as preclinical payments and 200 million GBP in milestone related payments plus double digit royalties on sales. Within 4 months of signing Immunocore reached its first milestone.
ELI LILLY: in mid 2014 Immunocore signed a co-discovery and co-development deal with Eli Lilly whereby it will receive upfront payments of US$ 15 million per program for the discovery and  If Lilly accepts a preclinical candidate package to develop and potentially commercialize, Immunocore will receive an opt-in fee of $10 million and will have an option to continue co-development with Lilly on a cost-sharing and profitsharing basis. If Immunocore does not exercise its option, it will be entitled to potential future significant milestone and royalty payments.
MEDIMMUNE + ASTRAZENECA: Deal involves upfront payment to Immunocore of US$ 20 million per programme plus milestone related payments of US$ 300 million plus significant royalties on sales.






7. ADAPTIMMUNE: Sister company to Immunocore with James Noble choosing to head this solely rather than have an oversight on both. Adaptimmune's TCR technology can target both intracellular and extracellular target cancer proteins which according to them increases the number of targets multi-fold vis-a-vis to CAR therapy. TCR engineering is the core strength of the company. Their lead TCR candidate NY-ESO-1 is in Phase I and II trials for 5 cancer targets including solid tumors.Besides these 5 it has 2 more in preclinical stage. In their recent clinical trial results declared on NY-ESO-1 with regards to multiple myeloma and synovial sarcoma they have observed 60% response amongst patients in the trial. From only  1 million GBP in June 2014 it raised US$ 104 million Series A led by New Enterprise Associates and including many other investors including existing investor University of Oxford. In May 2015 it raised US$ 220 million with an IPO. Its current market cap is US$ 1 billion.
GSK: In a deal closed in June 2014 GSK agreed to pay Adaptimmune US$ 350 million in 7 years based on reaching development milestones along with additional payments in subsequent years plus royalties in single and double digit on tiered basis.

WHY THIS UNIVERSE

WHY THIS UNIVERSE 

If not this then what?

Imagine our planet is an ant in a forest. Each leaf is a solar system. The ant will look around and think my goodness there seems to be trillions of clusters of leaves - trees being galaxies. But the forest is a tiny speck on Earth. There are so many other worlds which are filled with water/liquids filled with lava, mountain ranges major continents beyond the forest. 

There are some potent questions for which we have no solid answers sitting in our tiny perch. I want you to read this group of questions and contemplate them in your mind: Why this massive universe with gases and solids and burning stars and spinning clusters? Why only these materials? If not this then what else could have been in this space? How did this particular set of materials that populate this vast universe come into existence.... and why? What if in some other universe there are other set of materials which come together to form different looking things? Why do they exist for millions of years? Who planted all these materials that form into stars and planets and galaxies in this plane? What is this void of space in which these clusters forming our universe came into existence? When all the gases burning in all the stars get extinguished why will the universe go back to or turn into dark and cold? The complex life forms in our planet and the subatomic world give evidence of incredible, jaw dropping engineering - therefore this pattern would be continuing with the design and function of the universe. We dismiss all the specii's intelligently complex engineering to be the result of evolutionary processes all centered around survival but how do we explain the complex engineering of the atomic and subatominc world? It is difficult to study the universe so deeply from our tiny perch and at the current development of our intelligence but we have been able to study the subatomic construction which is the building blocks of all matter and forces in this universe. There has to be a reason why and how these subatomic building blocks came into existence in this particular design and with these particular properties. Can you imagine the universe without just one of its forces: gravity?- it is like someone has used a glue to keep all their decorations in place. If the subatomic engineering is evidence than it is unlikely that the universe can just be this one plane on which this set of matter and forces exist. There would be trillions of other planes with universes made of different things. And if all this unending vastness is called existence then the question is why this existence? What if all the matter in space did not exist - going further what if space did not exist - what would be there?

Image Source Wikipedia

ANCIENT WISDOM

REMARKABLE ANCIENT WISDOM

Ancient wisdom from India seems to be under rated despite health science like Yoga gaining world wide popularity - probably the most successful rebirth of an ancient science in modern times. When studied carefully and analyzed one is surprised if not shocked to realize how advanced was the intelligence and how deep was the knowledge. Due to various geopolitical factors the inheritors lose the science behind the genesis of the knowledge and are only able to pass on the fruits. 

Let us examine Yoga. Haven't all of us noticed regular Yoga practitioners looking younger for their age with their skin having a shine? Any good Yoga instructor will spend as much time in teaching breathing as in asans. I observed that Yoga is nothing but the equivalent of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. It compresses and stretches each important organ and tissue, makes us breathe deeply and then releases the compression or stretch so that oxygen rich blood rushes in. Just hold forearm tightly for a few minutes and then release - one will feel a rush of blood entering the compressed area. If done correctly the oxygen rich blood rejuvenates the organ/tissue. Although it may not have the same intensity of rejuvenation that one can achieve with high pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy its the regular practice over a life time that tones up our internal self. It just goes to show that there was already an understanding of the role of oxygen and circulation that was achieved thousands of years ago. As one ages our ability to saturate our blood with oxygen and circulate it thoroughly into every tissue and organ diminishes. Regular practice of Yoga alleviates this age related impairment to some extent. Of course there would be many other actions it may be effecting that may be as much if not more beneficial then the one I observed and one can write a scientific treatise on it but for this blog I leave you with just this remarkable observation. 

There are many such incredible proofs of the deep level of knowledge achieved in ancient India like selection of spices in daily diet- todays scientists and researches are going bonkers over spices like turmeric which seems to have very potent benefits for our body - it has been discovered that it is a anti-cancer agent, helps relieve arthritis, controls diabetes, reduces bad cholestrol levels, its an immunity booster, heals wounds if applied externally, helps in weight management, prevents Alzheimer's disease, improves digestion and prevents liver disease!  It has anti-inflammatory effect in our body and inflammation causes the most dreaded diseases in us. If one tastes it alone it is not a natural choice for its taste as a spice to be added in all meals but in India from thousands of years our curry and cooked vegetables are always yellow thanks to this ancient wisdom. 

Another amazing realization that I have made is about prolonged fasting - a custom prevalent in India from thousands of years. Ancient scientist not only discovered the life extending benefits of fasting but also were clever enough to realize that prolonged fasting would be difficult to follow and garbed it with religion to create the fervor to see it through. Hundreds of scientific studies done recently have shown that our biochemistry triggers certain actions that helps us survive a famine. “We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system,” said corresponding author Valter Longo, Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute. Prolonged fasting forces the body to use stores of glucose, fat and ketones, but it also breaks down a significant portion of white blood cells. Longo likens the effect to lightening a plane of excess cargo.

During each cycle of fasting depletion of white blood cells induces changes that trigger stem cell-based regeneration of new immune system cells. In particular, prolonged fasting reduced the enzyme PKA, an effect previously discovered by the Longo team to extend longevity in simple organisms and which has been linked in other research to the regulation of stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency — that is, the potential for one cell to develop into many different cell types. Prolonged fasting also lowered levels of IGF-1, a growth-factor hormone that Longo and others have linked to aging, tumor progression and cancer risk.

“PKA is the key gene that needs to shut down in order for these stem cells to switch into regenerative mode. It gives the OK for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system,” explained Longo, noting the potential of clinical applications that mimic the effects of prolonged fasting to rejuvenate the immune system. “And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting. Now, if you start with a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or aging, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new immune system.”

In lay man's terms prolonged fasting triggers the discarding of older, broken down cells that eventually lead to diseases/early death and replaces them with new cells that are regenerated - most beneficial of all would be pluripotent stem cells which would swim through the body repairing various damaged parts of our internal system - net effect: prevention of future disease and extension of life term. The above cited study only discovered regeneration of immune cells but the benefit would accrue to all cells. It is nature's secret survival weapon that stays in stealth mode:dormant and would only be triggered in famine like stress to ensure the survival of the species. This is true even in the case of say tomatoes and peanuts. Boiling them is a kind of stress and this triggers release of nutrients which make a boiled tomato and boiled peanut multiple times more nutritive then regular ones. 

Ancient scientists acquired this powerful knowledge and made a practical application to ensure longer, disease free life for humans. One only limits our information about ancient Indian knowledge to the very few books that have survived but one can see its evidence in hundreds of remarkable daily items which we may not have understood or appreciated for the wise and deep and thousands of years old science behind it. 

WITNESSING A GENIUS MOMENT

       WITNESSING A GENIUS MOMENT

If you were fortunate to witness Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's Raag Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2014-all of 9.5 minutes then you will probably understand what this post is about. For those who have not yet seen this - you may want to do this on youtube. I have realized individuals are not geniuses but have genius moments. Einstein may have done a few giant breakthroughs but there were many that were not. The flourish of an artist in one artwork that beomes famous for hundreds of years punctuated by artworks that may not reach that zenith. There are very few genius moments and so to be able to witness one in our short lifespan may or may not occur. Imagine how wonderful it must be to witness Michaelangelo as he finished David. Many of us had an epiphany when Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan unleashed his short tour de force on us on the evening of the Nobel Peace awards. From the first aalaap to the thumping climax one was helplessly transfixed. When we hear a pleasing sound our brain releases feel good chemicals. Lets call it an auditory pleasure bomb. So a song may have a chorus which explodes that bomb and we want to hear it again and again till we reach satiation. His concert was a constant carpet bombing of auditory pleasure bombs. It started with powerful aalaap and then continued to pick up manic energy - fluctuating from soulful sufi wails to a pulsating rock concert. A master of his craft - he moulded raags and surs at breack neck speed without missing a note. Tumhe Dillagi was moving and an urgent plea to the lover to save himself or herself as the path of love is full of pitfalls. What command he had of his art as he launched into Sa Re Ga Ma midway. When he first uttered Ma it touched a peak of some kind difficult to describe in words. Tempo was his slave - moving up and down at his will within seconds. Mast Kalander made me want to do headbanging type of dancing. He had chosen his accompanying singers and instruments well creating a mesmerizing sound embellishing like jewels his golden voice. Any saxophone lover would have shouted with pleasure at the brief solo in Mast Kalander. At the end he switched tempo one more notch in an orgasmic climax. He left the stage within seconds of close of the last note not waiting to soak in the applause - like he already knew what was created that night - an emperor of this world for those few moments. It is an extraordinary opportunity and out of the world experience to witness genius in action. The frailties of human nature force us to wade through muck everyday regularly disappointed by betrayals, jealousies, selfishness and two facedness. Moments like these elevate us above this muck like a magic trick floating in bliss - hypnotized by the sheer brilliance - dancing in ecstasy. Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan deserved a Nobel for that performance.

INVINCIBLE SPECIES

               INVINCIBLE SPECIES

The Human species seems to be an incredible miracle in the known Universe. Its birth itself is filled with uncountable coincidences coming together - distance from the Sun-not too far not too near in miles-having an atmosphere-having ozone layer-water-oxygen-crust above water-manageable weather system-the list would go on and on. Human body is also an incredible miracle. The engineering is astounding. Amazing coding. millions of processes each with one or multiple purpose/s on autopilot. We will master it and better it in the future though increasing our lifespans by multiples. We do have so many species on our planet but none have shown the pace at which human intelligence has developed. Who knows we may be the most intelligent species in the universe - despite that being unlikely due to the sheer number of planets in the universe- but is a possibility.
Humans are at a very early development stage - still quite immature on the whole - running around with an inefficient economic system that generates millions who suffer and other millions who are comfortably numb to their suffering - selfishness-jealousies-wars over beliefs and artificial borders-disrupting the ecosystem for short term gains. We may outgrow most of these but overall maturity is still a long way away.
We are also incredibly vulnerable today. Earth itself is filled with hot lava whose explosion to the top beyond a certain quantum can cause extinction. Loss of magnetic field or ozone layer can also do the same. Whatever little that we have studied about the universe -it seems to be filled with violent events that are incomprehensible in size and intensity-any of these can destroy a small planet like ours in a flash. Having said that if we can survive from our own fallacies and all extinction causing events for a few thousand years then one staggering thing stands out: We have the potential to achieve an ability to become invincible. What is that thing?
Ans: Our ability to manipulate matter.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field image uncovers a multitude of galaxies in a tiny region of the sky.Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech)Add caption

Current stage although may still be mind boggling when we can flatten a city by manipulating uranium at an atomic level is at an equivalent of cavemen era. Look at the power in matter in the Universe. So tiny that we can't see with naked eye -yet harbors enough power to cause such a violent explosion that it can wipe out a city. This is yet a minor accomplishment on the road to mastering manipulation of matter. In the future we will reach a point (if we survive till then) where we will be able to build a Sun to replace ours-transform entire planets and make them habitable. Change the orbits of planets. increase or decrease the heat of the Sun like a light bulb. For example: building of another sister planet in our orbit. We will be able to build billions of bots that will on their own mine astral bodies and converge at designated spot in our orbit to construct a new planet. Intelligent bots that would talk to each other like ants building an ant hill with each having a scale architecture of the end design and playing their part in filling the puzzle. We will be able to change properties of all known materials and build new materials due to this ability. We could create a chain reaction that would change the atmosphere of a planet. Build force fields that would protect us from astral violence. The way we have adapted to our planet and are able to disrupt various natural elements-we would be able to do that in the Universe-although a tiny part of the Universe. All this would seem unfathomable at this stage in our evolution but we have this potential in us and may survive till we reach that stage of technology maturity. A tiny sized species on a tiny planet in a small solar system in a small galaxy has the potential to become invincible.