Fiat aims for best of both worlds with 500X compact crossover

 

The Fiat 500X at the Paris Motor Show (Photo: CC Weiss/Gizmag.com)

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Fiat has gone off-roading at the Paris Motor Show with the debut of its 500X compact crossover. To be available in two versions – one aimed city driving and the other for the outdoor leisure market – the new crossover comes in two-wheel and four-wheel drive configurations and features a wide choice of engines and gearboxes, including a nine-speed automatic.

Designed by the Centro Stile Fiat, the 500X echoes the classic 1957 Fiat 500 with its round headlamps and original logo. However, it’s a bit of a five-door brute when compared with the cheap, practical town car of the 1950s. Based on a Punto platform instead of the standard 500, the 500X shows how much the 500 has evolved over the past half century with its heavier lines, more aggressive stance, and more upmarket appeal.

The emphasis on choice for the Fiat 500X model is highlighted by the availability of 16-, 17-, or 18-in alloy wheels and 12 different liveries, in addition to a range of three drive trains that will eventually rise to eight.

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• the 140 hp 1.4 Turbo MultiAir II with front-wheel drive and a six-speed manual gearbox.
• the 120 hp 1.6 MultiJet II with front-wheel drive and a six-speed manual gearbox.
• the 140 hp 2.0 MultiJet II with a nine-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive.

These will later be joined by three more petrol engine configurations and two diesels.

• the 110 hp 1.6 "E-torQ" with a five-speed manual gearbox and front-wheel drive.
• the 170 hp 1.4 Turbo MultiAir II with a nine-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive.
• the 184 hp Tigershark 2.4 with a nine-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive.
• the 95 hp 1.3 MultiJet II diesel with a five-speed manual gearbox and front-wheel drive.
• the 140 hp 2.0 MultiJet II diesel with a six-speed manual and four-wheel drive.

The Fiat 500X’s new nine-speed automatic gearbox has electronic control, which offers "shift-on-the-fly" mapping as well as a manual-sequential mode. In addition, the four-wheel drive uses rear axle disconnection system that automatically shifts between two- and four-wheel drive as needed without the driver’s input, while reducing the fuel-consuming drag of always-on four wheel drives.

There’s also a Drive Mood Selector that configures the engine, brakes, steering, and gearbox for three driving modes – Auto, Sport, and All Weather. In the more leisure oriented versions of the 500X with four-wheel drive, the All Weather mode is replaced by Traction or Traction Plus for dedicated and light off-roading and respectively.

Inside, the 500X has an understated layout with circular headrests and a choice of trims. Dominating the dashboard it the 5-in or 6.5-in touchscreens for the Uconnect infotainment system. The 5-in version comes with TomTom 2.5D navigation and the 6.5-in version has satellite navigation with 3D maps, progressive route guidance and "One Shot Voice Destination Entry." Both have Bluetooth connectivity, USB port, SD port, voice command, and integrate with smartphones to allow control of apps from the touchscreen. Media playback from synced devices can also be managed directly using the steering wheel controls.

Pricing for the Fiat 500X is yet to be announced.

Source: Fiat

 

Nismo gives Pulsar hatch a makeover for the Paris Motor Show

 

Nissan has given the Pulsar Nismo a more aggressive stance (Photo: C.C. Weiss/Gizmag)

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Nissan's Nismo department has been busy lately. After giving the legendary GT-R the Nismo treatment, Nissan's motorsport and performance division has taken to the Pulsar hatch. The result is the Nissan Pulsar Nismo Concept, which is on display at the 2014 Paris Motor Show.

The Japanese manufacturer has given its hatchback a larger, more "dramatic" front bumper, which features larger air intakes and brake cooling ducts to fit the car's race-focused persona. The changes aren't limited to the front end, with the Pulsar's standard rear bumper replaced by a far more aggressive diffuser-style unit and a central, twin exhaust. A carbon fiber rear spoiler tops the whole aero package off.

The show car's tougher stance is backed up by a set of 19-inch, 10-spoke wheels wrapped in sticky 235/35 tires, while the bodykit is topped off by a set of side skirts. On top of the pumped-up exterior, the Nismo is hiding an interior fitted with sculpted sports seats and a three spoke steering wheel.

So what's hiding under the car's pumped up, aggressive bonnet? Good question, and one that Nissan is keeping quiet about. Beyond a revised suspension system, incorporating revised spring and damper settings that Nissan says provides drivers with "agile and sporty responses," we don't know anything about what sort of performance the Nismo's body is harboring.

For now, the Pulsar Nismo remains a concept, although Nissan says "further details will follow in due course."

Source: Nissan

 

Sikorsky reveals first S-97 Raider helicopter prototype

 

The Sikorsky S-97 Raider that is intended to replace the US Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter

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Sikorsky's record-breaking X2 Demonstrator helicopter may be a museum piece these days, but the technology that went into it is still alive and kicking as the United Technologies subsidiary takes the wraps off the first of its two S-97 Raider helicopter prototypes. According to Sikorsky, this event marks the beginning of the armed reconnaissance ‘copter’s flight tests aimed at providing the US Army with its next generation of combat rotorcraft.

Unlike many military aircraft programs, the S-97 Raider is wholly funded by private investment with Sikorsky funding 75 percent of the costs and 53 principal suppliers providing the rest. It’s based on Sikorsky’s X2 technology, which features a pair of fixed coaxial rotors made of rigid, counter-rotating blades along with a six-blade pusher propeller for propulsion.

According to Sikorsky, this arrangement, along with fly-by-wire flight controls and active vibration control, provides not only a reduction in hub drag, but also a low acoustic signature, high cruise speed and improved high/hot hover performance.

Sikorsky intends the S-97 Raider as a multi-mission craft that will act as a replacement for the US Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter or the Special Forces’ MH-6 Little Bird. Depending on how it’s equipped, it can be used for armed reconnaissance, light attack, light assault, search and rescue, or casualty evacuation.

To achieve this, the S-97 has a composite fuselage for a takeoff weight of 11,000 lb (4,990 kg) and is powered by a single General Electric YT706 engine putting out 2,600 bhp (1,900 kW). Its length of 35 ft (11 m) and rotor diameter of 34 ft (10 m) gives it a 15 percent smaller footprint than conventional helicopters, though it can still carry a crew of two seated side by side, along with six troops or extra fuel and munitions. The production version may also be capable of autonomous flight

Sikorsky says that the S-97 Raider has a cruising speed of 253 mph (407 km/h, 220 kn), which is more than double the speed of conventional helicopters, and pulls three G’s in the turns for greater agility. It has a range of 308 nmi (354 mi, 570 km), flight endurance of 2hr 40min, and a service ceiling of 10,000 ft (3,048 m).

The S-97 Raider can carry a selection of armaments, including a 50 caliber or 7.62 mm machine gun with 500 rounds, a 7-shot rocket pod with 2.75 in rockets, or Hellfire missiles.

"Today, Sikorsky unveiled the next generation of military rotorcraft, with capabilities and performance never seen before in our industry,” says Sikorsky President Mick Maurer. “Just four years ago, we announced plans to build the S-97 Raider and teamed with some of the best companies in the industry, understanding the need to ensure aircraft development would not falter as government defense budgets shrank in response to economic pressures. Sikorsky is proud of its leadership in this area, and of the leadership the S-97 Raider represents among the world’s military rotorcraft."

The aircraft will undergo initial flight tests in the coming months.

 

Source: Sikorsky

 

Moto G (2014) review: The best deal for the most people

 

The new Moto G is more of a handful (Photo credit: Eric Mack / Gizmag)

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The Moto G is the phone taking over the world that many folks have never heard of. Now the 2nd generation of the device is in the wild and Gizmag was among the first to get our hands on one. Let's see if it will continue its global conquest.

Before getting on with our full review of the 2014 Moto G, let me share a moment with you that sums up this phone the best from my perspective. It was perhaps the most awkward silence during my hours-long tour of the Motorola complex in Chicago earlier this month. During the portion of the afternoon when I and a handful of other reporters spoke with members of the team behind the latest iteration of the mid-range, inexpensive Moto G, someone asked why there was no 4G LTE radio included.

"We aren't making an announcement about that at this time," one of the leads for marketing the Moto G responded.

That was over two weeks ago, and there's still no word on a second generation Moto G with LTE, which is a shame because it's the one flaw that's tough to forgive in a phone that delivers lots of value for just $180 (or £150 and AU$269 in Australia). A GSM LTE version of the first-generation Moto G was released in June for $219, and even with the improvements in the new Moto G, it's hard not to recommend grabbing the available LTE version or waiting for the 2nd generation to get 4G.

I've always felt that once you go 4G, going back down to 3G is almost too painful to bear, but there are certainly plenty of potential Moto G customers out there who don't prioritize fast data speeds nearly as much, or may not even have access to a 4G signal. Indeed, the Moto G is Motorola's best-selling smartphone ever, thanks to adoption in huge emerging countries like India and Brazil. Still, 4G coverage is beginning to come online in places like Sao Paulo and Kolkata, both among the world's twenty largest cities, so the appeal of an HSPA+ 3G-only smartphone will inevitably decline, perhaps sooner than later. Now that we have my chief complaint out of the way, let's continue on and look at what else the new Moto G has to offer.

 

MVP: Most Valuable Phone

As I've already pointed out, the Moto G is Motorola's biggest seller ever and it's easy to say why. It brings with it almost the same experience you get in Motorola's flagship Moto X, but for a low price tag that provides unmatched value as far as I've seen. Sure, the specs are a step down from the Moto X, but it's available for 60 percent of the cost of an unlocked Moto X (2014) and the specs are definitely not a 60 percent step down from the Moto X.

The 2nd generation Moto G and Moto X (right) (Photo credit: Eric Mack / Gizmag)

The 2nd generation Moto G actually maintains most of the original guts from its first generation, including 1GB RAM, a Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU and Adreno 305 GPU. Clearly, Motorola decided not to fix something that wasn't broken. However, some of the latest, more resource-demanding apps and games may tax the Moto G, creating more lag and hang time than you could have expected to experience with the same specs in 2013. That's just the way the technology game is played.

It's not all the same this time around, though. Like most other 2014 phones, the Moto G is larger than its predecessor, growing from a 4.5-inch 720p display to a 5-inch 720p screen. This IPS display performs surprising well, delivering quite vivid color, but photos and videos lack a bit of the contrast of higher pixel-density displays and there is a tendency for warm hues to wash out. That said, most users will probably find little to complain about.

That extra real estate helped allow Motorola to do away with the single rear speaker on the original Moto G and replace it with two nice, front-facing stereo speakers like those seen on the budget Moto E. While this is a nice change that provides a decent level of volume, the sound quality can only be described as average. Turn it up all the way and expect to swim (or at least wade) in some sonic distortion.

A big addition in the second generation is an SD card slot that can support up to 32 GB of added storage. The slot can be found under the removable plastic back that can be replaced with an array of different colored backs and even a flip cover to provide that extra bit of Moto customization.

The camera has been upgraded from 5 megapixels to 8, and the front-facer has also received a bump from 1.3 to 2 megapixels. Also new is the ability to activate the camera shutter with the physical volume buttons.

Here's an example of the Moto G's rear shooter in action (note that our images get downscaled for the web):

All this hardware makes for a phone that's thicker and heavier than the original Moto G as well as both generations of the Moto X, but it's a small sacrifice to make. The above specs rival other mid-range versions of big name phones like the HTC One Remix or the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, but again, the huge difference with the Moto G is that it costs about 60 percent less.

I've generally found the battery life on the Moto G to be a little better than both the original Moto X and the 2014 Moto X. It easily makes it through the day with moderate to heavy usage, and when used a little more sparingly, you can get pretty far into a second day of use without recharging. I've got to assume that the lack of the Moto X's extra sensors, always listening touchless control (now called Moto Voice) and active display that constantly pulses on and off make the Moto G less resource hungry and give the battery more longevity, despite being relatively small at just 2070 mAh.

An FM Radio and optional dual sim and DTV (only in Brazil) models also make the Moto G hardware a little more appealing in markets where such things are a nice bonus.

 

A soft touch to software

There's not a whole lot to say about the software experience on the Moto G, because it is basically stock Android 4.4.4 with just a few Motorola additions like Assist, Alert and Migrate. The new G also gets Motorola's "Trusted Devices" feature that allows the lock screen to be bypassed when connected to known Bluetooth accessories.

Add that to Google's voice search and the text-to-voice feature included in Moto Assist, and the Moto G still packs some of the best software goodies that helped make the Moto X a critical favorite.

Gizmag's review unit is only 8 GB, and nearly half of that was full before downloading a single app, so the addition of the SD card slot is a big deal here.

 

Bottom line

Need a smartphone without a contract and want to spend less than $200 on it? Buy this Moto G if LTE is not on your radar. If you're looking for that extra data speed boost, get the first generation Moto G LTE model. It's just that simple.

Motorola is a hugely underrated device maker in a world where Apple and Samsung grab the lion's share of attention. But that could soon change with the company's sale to China's Lenovo and its building momentum towards becoming a major player worldwide.

Product page: Motorola.

 

Tips and Tricks every iOS 8 user should know

 

Here's a look at some tips and tricks every iOS 8 user should know

Apple released the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 8 last month. While most of the changes are subtle, there are some interesting hidden features that can come in handy. Here's a look at some tips, tricks, and features that will help you out.

Hide photos in the Recently Deleted folder

If you have taken some private or embarrassing photos and hand your phone to someone, you might not want those images to be viewed. In the Photos app, tap and hold the picture you want hidden and then select Hide. Photos placed in that folder will be kept for 30 days, and after that they're automatically deleted.

Just remember that the photo is only moved from your album to the Hidden folder and, if you're using a cloud based backup service, it doesn't prevent the service from picking those private photos up.

Make sure photos are really deleted

As shown above, the new Recently Deleted folder only hides your photos. Think of it like the recycle bin on your desktop. While you no longer see the file, it can still be recovered and it can also be picked up by your auto-upload cloud service. Now, if you really want a photo or video gone, go to the Recently Deleted folder, select the video or photo(s) you want gone and tap Delete. After that you'll want to check your cloud service (i.e, OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, etc.) and delete it from there as well.

Set the Selfie Timer

The Camera app in iOS 8 finally has a timer (a basic feature it should have had years ago). You can set it to three or 10 seconds to make sure you have enough time to get in the right position before taking a shot. Launch the Camera app and tap the timer and set it to the time interval you want. You can also use the timer with Burst Mode, which snaps 10 shots in quick succession so you can pick the best one.

Turn off Predictive text

Predictive text is something that Android and Windows Phone users have had for years, but it's new to iOS 8. According to Apple, the QuickType feature is supposed to get better over time, and predict what you're going to type next based on your writing style. But some people might be annoyed with it, and prefer extra screen real estate when typing in iMessage, Word, Pages, or other apps.

Turning it off is easy. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard and flip the Predictive switch to Off. After that you won't see the word selection at the top of the keyboard.

Using notification widgets

Apple has loosened its tight grip on its closed mobile OS and is allowing select apps to support widgets in Notifications. This makes it easier to get quick access to app data like your recent uploads in Dropbox, task management apps like Clear, your Kindle reading list, and plenty more.

To enable them, swipe down to get Notifications, tap Today at the top, scroll down, and tap Edit. There you can add or remove any app that has widget support. Though not all third-party apps are compatible with Notification widgets, you probably have apps that support the feature already. Just pull down your Notification screen and see what's already there.

Use your phone as a Medical ID

The new Health app in iOS 8 includes a feature called Medical ID that lets you fill in pertinent information about your health. The feature only comes on the iPhone, and not the iPad – presumably you're more likely to have your phone with you rather than the tablet. You can fill in important data that EMS workers would need to know if you were involved in an accident, such as allergies, blood type, medical conditions and emergency contacts. What makes this especially valuable is anyone can get at it even if your phone is locked. They can make the emergency call as well as get your important health information.

Find battery-hogging apps

Wondering why you need to recharge your iPhone so often? It might have to do with a battery hogging app so iOS 8 will help you track down the culprit by showing which apps are using the most battery juice. To find them, go to Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage and you'll see a list of the apps that have been using the most battery power over the past 24 hours or seven days.

Make your display grayscale

One of the features Apple likes to tout about iOS is its bright and vibrant colors, but maybe you don't want to waste battery and screen life with millions of colors. To make everything black and white on your device go to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on Grayscale under the Vision section. While everything from the home screen to apps will be black and white on your screen, when you take photos, videos, or screenshots, they will be in color.

Make Siri easier to talk to

To launch Siri you need to push and hold the Home button, which can be inconvenient in certain situations. If you want to talk to Siri hands free, go to Settings > General > Siri and turn on Allow "Hey Siri." The microphone will now listen for you to say "hey Siri" and bring her to life to assist with your audio query. One major caveat, though – you do need to have your phone or tablet plugged into a power source for the voice activation to work.

Use apps with Touch ID integration

The Touch ID security feature on an iPhone 5s or newer isn't just for unlocking your device in iOS 8. Apps like Evernote, iPassword, Amazon and others have been updated to take advantage of Touch ID integration, replacing passwords and PIN codes. To set it up you need to go into the respective app's settings to enable it.

But wait. There's more!

The tips and tricks listed above are just a few of the new things you can do in iOS 8. Here are some other hidden tricks you might not be aware of:

If you're shopping and using Safari on your iPhone or iPad and get to the point when you type in your credit card number, you'll see an option above the keyboard titled "Scan Credit Card". Tap that and take a picture of your card using the camera and the card number will automatically be added.

In Safari if you want to request the desktop site versus the mobile one, tap the URL and slide it down slightly. From there tap Request Desktop Site.

Send self-destructing audio and video messages by going to Settings > Messages then tap Audio or Video Messages and select the amount of time you want until the message expires and it's gone for good. By default your messages will expire after two minutes, but you can also set them to never expire.

When you're in the Messages app and want to send multiple photos, tap the Photo Library and select the images and video you want to attach and send them all at once.

It's also worth noting that the iOS 8.1 update will include the Apple Pay feature, which will allow you to pay for things with your phone and eliminate the need for a credit card. Plus we can expect even more improvements and features to be uncovered at that time. The 8.1 release is rumored to be coming around October 20th.

Do you have a tip, trick, or favorite feature in iOS 8? Let us know what it is by leaving a comment below.

Everyday drugs could give extra years of life

 

Evidence is emerging that some widely used drugs can prolong lifespan for well people – and insiders have started taking them off-label

MILLIONS of people are taking anti-ageing drugs every day – they just don't know it. Drugs to slow ageing sound futuristic but they already exist in the form of relatively cheap medicines that have been used for other purposes for decades.

Now that their promise is emerging, some scientists have started using them off-label in the hope of extending lifespan – and healthspan. "We are already treating ageing," said gerontologist Brian Kennedy at the International Symposium on Geroprotectors in Basel, Switzerland, last week, where the latest results were presented. "We have been doing ageing research all along but we didn't know it."

Last year Google took its first steps into longevity research with the launch of Calico, an R&D firm that aims to use technology to understand lifespan. Geneticist Craig Venter announced he is pursuing a similar goal via genome sequencing. Now pharmaceutical companies look set to join in. At the conference, the head of Swiss drug firm Novartis said research into "geroprotectors" or longevity drugs was a priority.

Google and Venter's plans may have injected an over-hyped field with a measure of credibility but they are unlikely to bear fruit for some time. Yet evidence is emerging that some existing drugs have modest effects on lifespan, giving an extra 10 years or so of life. "We can develop effective combinations for life extension right now using available drugs," says Mikhail Blagosklonny of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York.

One of the most promising groups of drugs is based on a compound called rapamycin. It was first used to suppress the immune system in organ transplant recipients, then later found to extend lifespan in yeast and worms. In 2009, mice were added to the list when the drug was found to lengthen the animals' lives by up to 14 per cent, even though they were started on the drug at 600 days old, the human equivalent of being about 60.

This led to an explosion of research into whether other structurally similar compounds – called rapalogs – might be more potent. Now the first evidence has emerged of one such drug having an apparent anti-ageing effect in humans. A drug called everolimus, used to treat certain cancers, partially reversed the immune deterioration that normally occurs with age in a pilot trial in people over 65 years old.

Immune system ageing is a major cause of disease and death. It is why older people are more susceptible to infections, and why they normally have a weaker response to vaccines.

That weak response, however, has proved useful for studying ageing, as it provides an easy read-out of immune system health. "In humans you can't do decades-long clinical trials," says Novartis researcher Joan Mannick. Instead, the company looked at a proxy that would quickly show results.

They gave 218 people a six-week course of everolimus, followed by a regular flu vaccine after a two-week gap. Compared with those given a placebo, everolimus improved participants' immune response – as measured by the levels of antibodies in their blood – by more than 20 per cent, to two out of the three vaccine strains tested.

Of the three everolimus doses tested, the highest caused fatigue and mouth ulcers, while two lower doses had no apparent ill effects. Previous experiments in mice with rapamycin suggest this class of drug acts by inhibiting a protein called mTOR. mTOR also seems to be affected by calorie restriction – the strategy of trying to live longer by eating less.

mTOR is involved in sensing the level of nutrients available within cells, so one idea is that when times are scarce, cells shift into energy-conserving mode, which has knock-on anti-ageing effects, including on the immune system.

Mannick stresses that the study needs repeating, and the big question, of whether the drug keeps the participants healthier, can only be settled by long-term follow-up. There's also the issue of side effects beyond those seen in the trial. High doses of rapamycin used in organ transplants seem to nudge the recipient's metabolism into a prediabetic state – a harm that might outweigh its anti-ageing effect.

For now, it is an encouraging sign that rapalogs have similar effects in people as in mice, at least on the immune system, says Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO of biotech firm InSilico Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

Everyday remedies

And rapalogs are not the only game in town. The most commonly used medicine for type 2 diabetes, metformin, also seems to extend the lifespan of many small animals, including mice, by around 5 per cent.

There have been no trials of metformin as a longevity drug in people, but a recent study hinted that it might have a similar effect. The study was designed to compare metformin with another diabetes medicine, using records of 180,000 UK patients. To tease out the differences between the drugs, people who started taking them were compared with people without diabetes who had been closely matched for age and other health factors, and tracked over five years.

Embryonic stem cells to tackle major killer diseases

 

Stem cells are getting serious. Two decades after they were discovered, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are being tested as a treatment for two major diseases: heart failure and type 1 diabetes.

Treatments based on hESCs have been slow coming because of controversy over their source and fears that they could turn into tumours once implanted. They have enormous potential because hESCs can be grown into any of the body's 200 tissue types, unlike the stems cells isolated from adult tissues that have mostly been used in treatments until now.

In the most rigorous test of embryonic stems cells' potential yet, six people with heart failure will be treated in France with a patch of immature heart cells made from hESCs, and 40 people with diabetes in the US will receive pouches containing immature pancreatic cells made from hESCs.

The hope is that the heart patch will help to regenerate heart muscle destroyed by heart attacks. Trials in monkeys showed that the patch could regenerate up to 20 per cent of the lost muscle within two months.

The pancreatic cells are supposed to mature into beta cells, which produce the hormone insulin. These would act as a substitute for the cells that are destroyed by the immune systems of people with type 1 diabetes.

Although treatments based on hESCs have already been given to people with a type of age-related blindness and with spinal paralysis, the latest trials are the therapy's first foray into major fatal diseases. Heart disease is the biggest killer in the world, and cases of type 1 diabetes are growing.

Into the mainstream

"Both are landmark studies, and are different from what we've had up to now," says Chris Mason, head of regenerative medicine at University College London. "The blindness already being treated is serious, but diabetes and heart failure are killers, and things we don't have solutions for, so this brings hESCs into the mainstream."

Some people with heart disease and diabetes have received experimental treatments based on stem cells isolated from adult tissue, often from bone marrow, with varying degrees of success. These mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, can mature into several tissues including muscle, bone, cartilage and fat but there is no guarantee that they will grow into cardiac muscle.

A recent review of 23 trials involving 1255 people with heart disease found that there is some evidence that recipients of stem cell therapy are less likely to die or be readmitted to hospital a year or more after treatment than people who received standard treatment.

The hope is that using hESCs in place of MSCs will improve these outcomes further because they can be grown from scratch into cells exactly suited to their medical purpose. "We think our cells are more committed to the heart lineage," says Philippe Menasché, head of the French trial at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris.

The primary aim of both Menasché's trial and the pancreas trial – carried out by the San Diego based biotech firm Viacyte – is to check that the treatments are safe, although both teams will also be watching to see if the health of the trial participants improves.

Life-extending drugs take humanity into new territory

 

The reasons to be cautious about taking longevity drugs probably won’t hold us back. They will just be too tempting to turn down

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN once wrote that "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". That has not deterred a good many people – usually wealthy, ageing men – from trying to dodge one, or the other, or both.

Tax avoidance is one thing, but as yet nobody has achieved immortality, or even modest life extension beyond the apparent upper limit of about 120 years. The well of human optimism runs deep, though, and on a fairly regular basis somebody with deep pockets unveils ambitious plans to tackle or end ageing. The latest is Google, which a year ago announced plans to get into the longevity business with a biotech start-up called Calico.

It is easy to be cynical about such ventures. Around a decade ago there was a similar flurry of interest from Silicon Valley as the backers of the Ansari X Prize – fresh from awarding $10 million to aviation pioneer Burt Rutan for putting a private vehicle into space – announced plans for an institute to solve the "problem" of death. The science of ageing was sufficiently advanced, it claimed, for us to be able to intervene to slow or even stop it.

Like so many quests for immortality, this one proved quixotic. But one of its main goals – to extend human lifespan by reducing the rate of ageing – appears to have unexpectedly been achieved (see "Everyday drugs could give extra years of life"). A number of drugs that were developed for other purposes seem to have the happy side effect of increasing lifespan in animals. Some researchers who work on them are now so convinced of their potential to add about 10 years to a human life that they have started self-medicating.

The appropriate warnings need to be wheeled out: the history of life-extension research is virtually defined by cycles of hype and disappointment. The evidence is little more than suggestive and the side effects unknown. But if the drugs work as the researchers believe – by slowing the ageing process itself – humanity is about to enter new territory.

There will be many scientific and regulatory hoops to jump through – the inevitable rise of a black market notwithstanding. There are also important political and ethical issues to chew over.

A critical one concerns overpopulation: if everybody alive today added a decade to their life expectancy, the world's already bloated population would inevitably rise even further. Quality of life is another concern: life extension could lead to a nightmarish "nursing home world" full of decrepit people who need to be supported by an ever-dwindling supply of youngsters. Yet another is inequality: drugs cost money, so could exacerbate the divide between haves and have-nots.

These are important questions. But it is hard to see them standing in the way. The temptation of extending our lives is too great.

It need not lead to a dystopian future. There has long been a strand of thought within gerontology that rejects radical life extension or immortality in favour of more modest goals. If we could slow ageing by about seven years, the argument goes, people would live longer, healthier lives, and then decline and die quickly with minimal decrepitude. The effects on population would be negligible, and the drugs are as cheap as aspirin and statins.

Some bioethicists will retort, do we really want this? Should we not just accept the lifespans that nature (or god) gave us? To which most people will surely respond, yes, and no.

This article appeared in print under the headline "A life extended"

Mind expanding: 7 ways to fine-tune your brain

 

(Image: Nigel Sussman)
The human mind is the most complex information processing system we know. It has all sorts of useful design features but also many glitches and weaknesses. The problem is, it doesn't come with a user's manual. You just have to plug and play.
But if anyone knows how to get the best out of our brains, it's neuroscientists. So we asked some of the best to explain how the human brain performs many of its most useful functions and how to use them to the max.

1: ATTENTION

How to hack your attention span

Boost your ability to stay focused and you can improve at almost anything. Here are the latest tips for bringing your brain's two attention systems to heel
Read more

2: WORKING MEMORY

Get your memory working

Working memory is your brain's scratch pad and contributes to anything that needs effortful, focused thought. Here's how to keep your mental pencils sharp
Read more

3: LOGICAL AND RATIONAL THOUGHT

Become a logical and rational being

Logic doesn't come easily to humans, but it is possible to go beyond your gut reactions - if you practice
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Why Coconuts Could Be The Hydrogen Storage Material Of The Future

 

Coconut flesh contains secret ingredients that dramatically enhance its ability to store hydrogen, say material scientists.

Hydrogen is a potential renewable fuel because it can easily be generated from water using electrolysis. It also burns cleanly to produce water vapour. The hope is that it could also be distributed using the same global network of liquid fuel transport that moves petrol around the planet.

But there numerous problems with this dream of a hydrogen-based economy. One of them is that hydrogen is difficult to store efficiently. Hydrogen gas has a poor energy density by volume compared to petrol. In fact, there is at least 60 percent more hydrogen in a litre of gasoline then there is in a litre of pure liquid hydrogen. In other words, hydrogen will always require bigger tanks.

So finding ways to store more of it is a huge challenge. One option is to store it as a liquid but hydrogen boils temperatures above -250 degrees centigrade and so requires bulky insulation to keep it in this state.

Another idea is to compress it. But this raises issues of safety should a hydrogen-fuelled car be involved in a collision.

That is why much of the material science research in this area has focused on chemical storage: finding materials that adsorb hydrogen efficiently and then release it again when it is required.

Now Viney Dixit and buddies at the Hydrogen Energy Center of Banaras Hindu University in India say they have discovered that carbonised coconut flesh is particularly good at this task. Today, they show that it outperforms a number of other hydrogen storage materials, particularly in its ability to work over many charging cycles.

To help evaluate hydrogen storage materials, the US Department of Energy has set a number of targets that these materials must meet to be considered viable technologies for future transport systems. For example, the current criteria is that a hydrogen storage system must store at least 5.5 per cent of hydrogen by mass (5.5 wt %).

This is the mass of the entire storage system and not just the mass of the storage material. So clearly the mass fraction of the storage material must be considerably higher.

Material scientists originally focused their efforts on metal hydrides, some of which can store hydrogen at higher fractions than the DoE criteria. However, these materials have a number of disadvantages. First, they need to be heated to release the hydrogen and this takes energy. Worse, the materials tend to physically break down as the number of charging cycles increase beyond 100 or so.

So in recent years, researchers have turned their attention to carbon. The bond between hydrogen and carbon is known to be quick and reversible. What’s more, it is relatively straightforward to create strong, porous carbon with a high surface area.

One way of doing this is to carbonise biological material, such as fruit or coconut shell. This means heating the material to few hundred degrees centigrade in a nitrogen atmosphere which ensures that the carbon retains its porous biological structure.

Instead of coconut shell, Dixit and co carbonised coconut flesh. They say this has the advantage of containing a wide variety of additional elements, such as potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium, which are evenly distributed throughout the carbon matrix. And they say this turns out to be significant in their experiments.

These guys have measured the amount of hydrogen that carbonised coconut flesh can hold and say it compares well with more conventional materials. “The synthesized material adsorbs 2.30 wt % at room temperature and 8.00 wt %  at liquid nitrogen temperature under 70 atm pressure,” say Dixit and co.

What’s more, the material releases hydrogen quickly and efficiently and does not appear to degrade over many charging cycles.

Whether that is good enough to meet the DoE’s 5.5 wt % criterion for an entire storage system has yet to be seen.

The team spent some time studying the microstructure of the carbonised coconut flesh to work out why it perform so well. And they have pinpointed two mechanisms.

The first is that the carbonised coconut flesh contains a significant amount of potassium chloride, which polarises the carbon matrix in which it is embedded.  “This will enhance the hydrogen adsorption capacity,” they say.

The second is that the carbon matrix also contains significant amounts of magnesium, which is known to enhance the dissociation of hydrogen molecules, making them easier to adsorb.

That is an interesting result that suggests some promising avenues for future research. The presence of molecules that catalyse the adsorption of hydrogen looks to be an important mechanism. It may even be possible to adjust these proportions by growing coconuts in different environments. Another possibility might be to artificially synthesise carbon that matches some of the characteristics of carbonised coconut flesh.

Either way, material scientists might profitably hang their hammocks between some coconut trees in future.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1409.7219  : Hydrogen Storage In Carbon Derived From Solid Endosperm Of Coconut