Home Science and Nature Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024

Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024

by News7

Brian Wang and Randy Kirk discussed the expected biggest science and technology stories of 2024.

The potentially biggest development in 2024 could be antiaging science reaching a milestone of doubling the remaining lifespan of a mouse. The Longevity Escape velocity program has take four promising anti-aging treatments and applied them in various combinations to a group of middle-aged (18-month-old) mice. These mice can typically expect to live to a mean of 30 months, so their remaining lifespan would be expected to be around 12 months. The LEV team hopes to increase both the mean and average lifespan of these mice by at least 12 months. The project has been going for about 9 months and the combination treatment only 12% of the male mice with all four treatments have died while 66% of the untreated mice have died.

In 12 months (end of 2024), the robust mouse longevity experiment could see a record increase in antiaging intervention and could possibly have doubled the remaining lifespan of the mice. There are 180+ Aging reversal and antiaging companies funded with about $13 billion.

Doubling the remaining lifespan of mice could be ChatGPT moment for antiaging.

Calorie restriction, a proven intervention to slow aging in animals, showed evidence of slowing the pace of biological aging in a human randomized trial. In a first of its kind randomized controlled trial an international team of researchers led by the Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health shows that caloric restriction can slow the pace of aging in healthy adults. The CALERIE™ intervention slowed pace of aging measured from participants’ blood DNA methylation using the algorithm DunedinPACE (Pace of Aging, Computed from the Epigenome). The intervention effect on DunedinPACE represented a 2-3 percent slowing in the pace of aging, which in other studies translates to a 10-15 percent reduction in mortality risk, an effect similar to a smoking cessation intervention.

Dietary restriction and rapamycin may have similar effects on some pathways and processes; overall, they affect many pathways/processes quite differently. Therefore, rapamycin is likely not a true dietary restriction mimetic. The combination antiaging therapy could double the effect of rapamycin alone. If the antiaging interventions scaled in humans then this could be a 3-5 percent slowing in aging and a 15-25% reduction in mortality risk.

This scientific, investor and public perception shift could drive aging reversal and antiaging companies funding could surge to over $100 billion or even $1 trillion.

In Biotech, there are several cancer vaccines that are in phase 2 and phase 3 trials. Breakthroughs with the approval of cancer vaccines could be another near term development.

In 2023, researchers found 22 connections between viral infections and neurodegenerative conditions in the study of around 450,000 people. People treated for a type of inflammation of the brain called viral encephalitis were 31 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. (For every 406 viral encephalitis cases, 24 went on to develop Alzheimer’s disease – around 6 percent.) Those who were hospitalized with pneumonia after catching the flu seemed to be more susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In 2022, a study of more than 10 million people linked the Epstein-Barr virus with a 32-fold increased risk of multiple sclerosis. Some of these virus exposures were associated with an increased risk of neurodegeneration up to 15 years after infection. As vaccines are currently available for some of the associated viruses, vaccination may be a way to reduce some risk of neurodegenerative disease.

There will also be continuing rapid progress with Large Language models and humanoid robotics. 100 Exaflop and even zettaflop AI compute clusters will be made to speed develop of AI.

There will be continued progress with DNA and molecular nanotechnology.

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.

Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.

A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts.  He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.

Source : Next Big Future

You may also like

Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 - Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 * Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 | Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 | Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 | Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 | | Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 | | Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024 | Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024

news7.asia Biggest Science and Technology Stories of 2024