Thread

Loss of cell identity drives human aging: Two new papers

369 points · 184 comments · bookofjoe

dyauspitr · 1790966547 · focus · HN ↗
So chronic stress is one of the main contributors to aging. I hope I make it to my 40s.
Do we currently have the ability to do targeted methylation or de methylation at sites in cells?
1. SlightlyLeftPad · 1790967259 · focus · HN ↗
  Good news! Research shows that hope reduces stress! [0]
  [0]: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2024/09/15/how-being-hopeful-reduces-stress/" rel="nofollow">https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2024/09/15/how-bein...
  1. amelius · 1790968161 · focus · HN ↗
    Sadly, AI just made many of us lose all hope.
    missedthecue · 1790983058 · focus · HN ↗
    AI is an amazing Rorschach test in this regard. In the way that two people will look at it -- not just AI in general but in a specific implementation of it (coding, vidgen, etc). And one will feel deep dread and knots in their stomach while the other is filled to the brim with hope and optimism.
    I think the former group almost certainly outweighs the latter group at least in the Western hemisphere, but I know the Western hemisphere has been steeped in a deep malaise of anti-optimism for several decades preceding AI to begin with. That it's almost a game to identify all the ways anything new might be bad, rather than celebrating the obvious ways they are good. And this penchant invariably biases their developing opinions of all new technology, be it AI or anything else.
    someonebaggy · 1791032268 · focus · HN ↗
    This is not without reason, since living standards have been steadily declining since 1971, and every new technology has been explored by the rich to ensure that living standards decline faster.
    ben_w · 1791034883 · focus · HN ↗
    > since living standards have been steadily declining since 1971
    There are living standards issues; one of the big ones is a map-is-not-the-territory problem: people treat "living standards" as if it's a single quantity.
    It's really a whole bunch of different things coming together, with different people caring more or less about different things: some of us tie the idea of "living standards" to overall GDP or income per capita; others to house prices, cost of medical care, can they afford to start a family, etc., none of these options are entirely right nor are any entirely wrong.
    For example:
    I'm now living in a house so well insulated that when we accidentally switched the heating off it took a week to notice even though it was snowing outside; the air is clean everywhere (except on new year's night when the fireworks are ridiculous); there are cures for an increasing number of previously untreatable diseases.
    When I was a kid, the wooden window frames would rot from the condensation in winter; the petrol contained lead, and indoor social areas permitted smoking; HIV was a death sentence.
    By many measures, my living standards are way up. And yet, no kids to share this all with.
    someonebaggy · 1791039085 · focus · HN ↗
    You can make rough comparisons though. I'm sure your house being 20 times more expensive more than makes up for it being well insulated.
    ben_w · 1791042349 · focus · HN ↗
    The ratio of wages to house prices did not change 20x, more like 1.6x. Though that will vary depending on where you live, of course, and also when your childhood was.
    And yes, I think that price gap can be justified entirely by the insulation, when I look at energy costs per square meter in old buildings, available to me thanks to European requirement for energy performance certification. And that's even before PV so cheap it pays for itself in a year, which I have on my driveway right now.
    The childhood home had single glazing, limited loft insulation, the cavity wall was just a cavity and had no insulation filling it, gas central heating. It was cold even with the heat on in winter.
    So, I effectively spent just as much overall as my parents did, wage adjusted, but I'm much warmer for it.
    Basically, I've gone from a childhood in a relatively big place that today would be considered "in need of modernisation" even at its best if it were listed for sale today, to a place which is about average size but of a quality far in excess of what anyone would have bothered to attempt for a normal family home when I was a kid, not even in a show home.
    (And this was the cheapest new build I could find).
    someonebaggy · 1791203434 · focus · HN ↗
    I saw 20x and even higher. Where did you get 1.6x?

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.