UBC Conference (Geroscience)

Last week I attended, and presented at, the Canadian Translational Geroscience Network.  

It had been many years (10+) since I was last in Vancouver, I forgot how beautiful that part of Canada is.  But as soon as I was off the airplane and in an uber along the coastline to UBC I was quickly reminded of why I have such a favourable view of that city. 

This was the third time I attended the CTGN meeting, it is always a fascinating event and I learned a great deal.  There were sessions on aging clocks, clinical trials for metformin, the impact of heat events on aging, sex differences in response to drug interventions and an interactive session on how to design a geroscience clinical trial.  

My keynote talk focused on the geroscience perspective on One Health.  Lots of great questions.  A really educative and fun event.  Next year Queen's University will be hosting the event, which I look forward to.

Cheers, 

Colin

The Deep Well of Ideas

Food for thought on why it is not a good idea to have all new jobs in ethics and political philosophy be AI-focused.

Cheers,

Colin

Next Major Project (Play)

After 12+ years of keeping this on the backburner while I prioritized other research, it is a real pleasure to now be making serious headway on the research for a new book on play and a realistic utopia.  

The spirit of my concerns are captured by the image above.

Cheers, 

Colin

Science Article on Regulating Longevity Products

In the latest issue of Science, the abstract: 

The field popularly referred to as “human longevity” is booming, incorporating a variety of approaches aimed at optimizing human health by reversing cellular aging, prolonging life, and extending “healthspan” (the duration of life spent in good health). With longevity companies rapidly proliferating globally, and, in the United States, drawing billions of dollars in investments and interest from government officials (1), some commentators have raised concern that longevity interventions fall in a gray area for regulators. Using the US as an example, we dispel that notion and discuss how longevity products generally fall squarely inside the existing regulatory regime. To the extent that there are challenges to bringing longevity products legally to market, they are largely scientific rather than regulatory. The most important priorities to support safe and effective interventions, promote innovation, and avoid grift are to develop and validate endpoints capable of predicting longevity benefit and to enforce appropriate legal requirements.

Cheers, 

Colin

Dewey on Play and Seriousness

 

The 21st century could use more thinkers like John Dewey.  This passage above, from his 1910 book How We Think, inspires my current research project. 

Cheers 

Colin

Lecture video series for my new book

 

This morning I released the last in the series of video lectures for my new book Aging and the Ethics of Longevity Science.  That book is also now officially published, so I hope the videos are a helpful aid to those inclined to read about the public health challenges of healthy longevity.  I am taking a break from the videos to focus on some new research projects.  I will continue to post occasional videos in the future, just not at the pace I have this past summer (i.e. 40 over 4 months) which was very taxing.

Cheers, 

Colin 

GBD 2023 (2026)

Medical science's aspiration to merely "save lives" versus also "improve the quality of life" has expanded the morbidity gap (which is about 10 years) in nearly all regions of the globe.  From the latest Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 in Lancet Public Health: 

The expansion of the morbidity gap across nearly all locations indicates that improvements in survival have consistently outpaced reductions in non-fatal health loss across geographies, SDI levels, and sexes, with most populations now spending a decade or more of life in poor health across the lifespan. Progress towards healthy ageing should therefore be assessed not only by reduced mortality, but also by declines in years lived in poor health, with emphasis placed on extending healthspan.

Cheers, 

Colin