|Sci|: Your Weapon in the Aging Rebellion |Fi|: A Singular Panda Ch. 5

Science IRL: Longevity Treatments & Genetic Arts-and-Crafts + Fic: Timely Advice from an Alien chatbot

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|Science IRL|: Your Weapons in the Aging Rebellion

“…we’ll focus on Cas9 because she is the main character behind how major genetic therapies and other medical interventions using CRISPR will work.” Graphic by Rachel + Canva

Hello, you age rebel, you. \m/ 

Last post, we talked about ways you can buff up your aging ‘shield’ with homemade remedies. So I’m sure you’ve been getting your sweat on, limiting your calories, sleeping well, and nursing your mental health like the major-league longevity warrior you are. Those habits were the fundamental ways you can extend your healthspan without therapies, treatments, or drugs. Now you’re ready to pick up a few ‘weapons’ and go on the offensive.

You met the revolutionaries designing anti-aging tools back in Chapter 2. They defined the anatomy of the dragon tyrant, identifying the 7 types of damage that aging causes to your cells. So let’s discuss medical interventions either available now or under development that can be used to attack those damage vectors.

In this post, we’ll discuss a few examples of medical longevity tools:

• 1 supplement: Lithium

• 1 drug: Rapamycin 

• 1 foundational genetic therapy tool: CRISPR

Supplement: Lithium

You’ve heard of it, I’m sure. For many, the word Lithium probably conjures up frightening mental images of how poorly patients used to be treated in 19th century ‘lunatic asylums’. If so, let me assure you, Lithium doesn’t deserve that association.

Lithium’s bona fides toward your longevity goals are strong. It has been safely and responsibly used to treat psychological disorders for decades, so there’s scads of good data about it. Turns out, Lithium has proven beneficial for cognitive health and longevity, even for patients without the disorders it’s typically used to treat.

The big difference is the treatment dosage: those looking for a longevity boost who don’t have psychological disorders receive a much smaller dose of Lithium—a micro dose, in fact. 

It has two effects:

1) It helps encourage your neuron’s trash cleanup crew to efficiently clear away proteins that accumulate in your brain as you age.

 2) It has been shown to increase the length of telomeres: strands of material at the end of your DNA chromosomes that get shorter every time your cell replicates. Once the telomeres are used up, the cell dies.

(Full disclosure: I have been taking a micro dose of Lithium daily for several months now—I am, however, not being compensated by the provider for advertising this fact.)

Drug: Rapamycin 

  Rapamycin has been prescribed for people undergoing cancer treatment or an organ transplant for many years because in high doses, it acts as an immunosuppressant. A recent study showed that the use of Rapamycin in healthy lab mice prolonged their life and health span by upwards of 60%.

The drug effectively appears to delay aging by promoting the health of your cell’s trash cleanup crew. When you eat, your body processes the calories—energy—and your cells go to work making new components. Like any production machine, parts wear out with prolonged use and need to be removed and replaced—a process called autophagy. Because human metabolism wasn’t built on a foundation of three square meals a day, the modern diet accelerates autophagy. When fasting, our cellular cleanup crew go to work. Now that the proverbial production line is rarely down for the average person, the cleanup crew gets less time on the floor doing what they do.

Rapamycin is like giving caffeine to the crew and scheduling a regular time for cleanup. Recall in Chapter 4, we discussed that one of the ways you can delay aging without medical intervention is to restrict your calories. Rapamycin is the medical intervention equivalent.

Gene Therapy Tool: the CRISPR scissors

You’ve probably heard of CRISPR and felt the hype and/or fear around this revolutionary gene-editing mechanism. The buzz is well deserved on both counts. CRISPR is likely to help us solve our toughest medical problems, including curing aging…or it could be the way we all die due to some misanthrope whipping up a doomsday designer virus in their basement.

The medical industry has been using viruses to deliver medical interventions to our cells for years, but CRISPR has a uniquely simple and acrobatic dexterity. If the way we’ve been doing things is analogous to a printing press’s efficiency for distributing information, CRISPR is the internet. CRISPR stands for: Clustered Regularly Interspersed Palindromic Repeats, and I promise you, at least the name will make some sense by the end of this post.

Palindromes are those words that read the same backwards and forwards, like wow, tacocat, or murdrum—we’ll come back to that last one in a second.

Palindromic Repeats in this context refers to the gene sequences that make up DNA— the fundamental building blocks of life. Recall from high school biology that DNA is the molecule that carries genetic information and it comes in that double helix shape that looks like a ladder that a giant picked up and twisted. The rungs on the ladder are base pairs of Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G) and Thymine (T), which spells out those palindromic sequences we’ll be talking about.

Back in 1987, scientists in Japan discovered repeating palindromic code in the DNA of the bacteria e-coli. This repeating code bookended another string of characters that turned out to be the virus’s ID. This bad guy bookend code was called the PAM (Protospacer Adjacent Motif). This discovery set off a wave of discoveries over the following decades in Spain, France, and the US. These teams identified that the PAM and adjacent code weren’t native to bacteria, but were actually information printed into bacteria's DNA by viruses.

At the time, it was believed that bacteria didn’t have an immune system, but these research teams would soon discover otherwise. When bacteria is attacked by a virus, the viral DNA is transferred by the virus, injecting its own information via RNA (single strand of DNA)  into the bacteria cell’s ribosome—a cell’s protein printer. When enough of the viral RNA is printed, the cell bursts and releases the replicated viral RNA into the bloodstream, which creates a cycle of invading other cells.

All this research led to the conclusion that bacteria did in fact have an immune system. Scientists discovered bacterial cells had a detective-like defense mechanism that wielded a metaphorical magnifying glass, as well as a scissor-like mechanism designed to do arts-and-crafts with genetic information. These “detectives” are called Cas (CRISPR Associated Sequences). There are many Cas proteins in the biological precinct, but we’ll focus on Cas9 because she is the main character behind how major genetic therapies and other medical interventions using CRISPR will work. (Fun fact: Cas9 is also that heroic gumshoe in your Covid-19 PCR kits).

Cas9 is our tiny detective hero who rides over DNA while scanning base pairs, looking for clues of viral code. Instead of our base pairs being labeled ACGT,  imagine for a moment the letters are MURD. In our metaphor, the bad guy code bookend we talked about, the PAM, would be a palindrome that read MURDRUM. When our detective Cas9 sees MURDRUM under her magnifying glass, she senses the game is afoot. Like a good detective, she goes back over the code between the two MURDRUM bookends and records the base pair sequence carefully. Because she’s an accomplished virologist (and maybe a boxer in her spare time, like Sherlock himself) she has a whole library of viral ID codes to compare this suspicious sequence to. If she finds a match, she can wield the metaphorical ‘long arm of the law’ and cut the ID code. Now, there’s an interruption in the palindromic pattern of the virus’s genetic information. This effectively neuters the viral information because the cell’s printers—ribosomes—can’t read and reprint the information. If the viral information can’t be read and printed, the cycle and viral proliferation stops. Voilà! Cells saved, justice served.

So how does Cas9, this plucky bacterial defense mechanism, become one of the most promising keys to future longevity treatments?

Let’s go back to your DNA—your genetic code, which is much more complicated than a bacteria’s. Humans have approximately 3.2 million base pairs. It would be wild to say we fully understand all of them, but we have identified some noncoding locations in our genome—meaning the information there doesn’t reprint in our ribosomes. Some of these noncoding locations don’t seem to give rise to physical attributes nor biological processes. These are the locations in our DNA chapters that seem best to insert new genetic sentences that could improve someone’s health and wellbeing—or longevity.

For example: What if you possess the APOE e4 gene which is linked to Alzheimer's? Your gene treatment team would code a template RNA with the location of the APOE e4 gene and a replacement gene code to overwrite the APOE e4. The template RNA would then be given to our hero Cas9. Recall Cas9 rides around DNA looking for a code with her magnifying glass. Now instead of the palindrome MURDRUM, Cas9 has been tasked to look for APOE e4 via the new template RNA. Once Cas9 locates the APOE e4, she snips the old information at the reference location and prints the new code into the gene. You no longer possess a potentially lethal Alzheimer's gene.

In our story, our heroine’s company has essentially deputized the Cas9 detective and made a whole library of template RNAs, teaching Cas9 to seek many aspects of the human genome that could use a bit of sprucing up for the sake of longevity. Fun IRL fact: just a few weeks ago, a gene therapy treatment using CRISPR called Casgevy received FDA approval to treat sickle cell disease!

The future is now.

Stay tuned…next time we’ll talk about how longevity revolutions will affect you in 10, 50, and 250 years, and what negative side effects we may experience as a society where aging has been cured.

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|Science Fiction|: A Singular Panda Ch. 5

Previously…our celebrity Anti-Aging CEO Bridgette Strand has been on the cusp of a catharsis—waking up from her own aging trance. Last chapter, Bridgette toppled off the emotional cliff into a nervous breakdown. Coincidentally, her wife Tarra discovered that Bridgette has been lying and not taking her gene therapy prep medication. After their fight, Tarra left Bridgette alone in their apartment and didn’t return.

“Is human consciousness like water--it takes the shape of whatever host it’s in?” Art by Ann Drew

I dream I am flying through star-studded space, my hair long and billowing around me as it had in my younger days. When I brush tears from my cheeks, I cut myself on Edward Scissorhands claws, jerking violently awake.

Automatically I reach out for Tarra on the other side of the bed. Nothing. Tara and I haven’t fought in years, and this one is all on me.

I grab the tablet and burrow beneath the heavy comforter. I need advice at 3 a.m. and I have an AI chatbot trained on my mentor's journals. When I cue it up, I have no idea how to ask for help. The cursor blinks on the last bit about Hyp being a clone and how Original could download the clone's experiences.

In multiple bodies, did Original feel like a cohesive whole?

What if humans--consciousness--simply aren't as fragile as I fear?

It's well known that the human brain is a flexible, incredibly-efficient neuroplastic computer. I worry we could disrupt that exquisitely evolved processor by switching out its host from organic meat bags to inorganic cyborgs, then straight into computers. I worry even though I know that the human brain regularly changes its structures in response to changes in habit, like sitting for meditation for a few minutes consistently.

Can I trust that the brain is tantamount to human consciousness and that when someone adds a sensor--like a blind patient receiving an ocular augmentation--the brain builds the hardware and software necessary to process the new information streaming in?

Is human consciousness like water--it takes the shape of whatever host it’s in?

I type in ">>body" to HypBot.

Hundreds of hits about physics, astrological or otherwise.

I edit my input to ">>this clone’s body>>Original body"

There is only one new hit.

<<<This clone's body is nearing its death on this alien planet, and is growing sentimental for things it never directly experienced. This clone recalls the smell of Original's children, how he felt watching them learn to communicate. This body never met them. This body feels love anyway. Painful to recall now, but probably innate to miss progeny upon dying, isn't it? This clone never met and will never meet them, and yet it misses them as it feels death creeping in.

That's one positive data point for my theory that consciousness isn't fragile--Hyp the clone felt a connection and had memories of kids he never met. I didn't know Hyp had a family.

I type ">>>Tarra Swiftly"

<<<This clone has been entrusted to yet another human whose mind is cloudy and incapable of accepting it. The human is called Tarra Swiftly and will connect this clone to all of Earth's leaders. This clone fears for this clone, alone on this planet with the ship sailing away. This clone has not met a sentient capable of understanding the changes that must be made.

<<<The sentient Tarra Swiftly has surprised this clone, connecting this clone to the first Earth sentient that has the capacity to help. She is called Bridgette Strand and she has just today proven my efforts here will not be in vain. In a matter of hours, she has aided this clone in changing local energy protocols. This clone is aware this perhaps was not in accordance with Leader approvals and resolves to show them results and beg pardon after the fact.

 I feel a wide grin pinch my cheeks, remembering my less than legal choice that day.

">>>Bridgette"

<<<The sentient Bridgette Strand built the language needed to open the West to travel without dependence on power or fuel...

<<<The sentient Bridgette Strand wrote her "software" which commands the influx and appropriation of carbon-based fuels...

<<<The sentient Bridgette Strand today wrote the story which will surely convince the Eastern sentients to cease pillaging the sea on their honor...

<<<This clone will see Bridgette Strand today writing...

<<<Bridgette Strand was there when this clone helped...

That buoyancy I felt in my dream rushes back to me so suddenly it takes my breath away. I wipe my eyes and scan to the end.

<<<This clone was pleased to see Bridgette today. This clone was always pleased to see Bridgette. And though it is not rational to say today was any more important than any other time, because this clone is dying, this clone was grateful beyond sensibility.

“And though it is not rational to say today was any more important than any other time, because this clone is dying, this clone was grateful beyond sensibility” Art by Ann Drew

<<<This clone has infinite hopes for the Earth sentient Bridgette Strand, and should Original be in receipt of this, it is this clone's desire that he should give her every assistance of which he is capable.

 I stare at the blinking cursor at the end of the query responses, feeling both more hope and more loss at the same time. My mentor, my partner, my friend left a journal for me to find. Maybe Original is still alive out there. That part Hyp wrote about Original downloading his memories--does Original know me? Did he tell his family about me?

To be concluded next episode…

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Author’s Note—Meet My Partners!

To ring in the new year, I’m very excited to introduce two people who will be improving Science Fiction IRL for you!

A word on the art: I’m thrilled to have found a fabulously talented artist in Ann Drew who will be bringing my fiction to life for you! To say this is a dream come true is a serious understatement that honestly makes me feel a tad shy. Having a talented partner helping you readers see characters in a way I never could is an awe-inspiring experience that I hope I never get used to. This chapter premiered the first of her work hereabouts, and I feel incredibly lucky to have found the level of talent and passion for sci-fi in Ann. I’m beyond excited to see what she comes up with for the next installment of Science Fiction IRL beginning in February: The Cain Era. (As an aside, you’ll continue to see some Canva silliness by yours truly, but only for the science articles. You won’t likely need to be told which is real art and which is mine, but in the interest of full disclosure, I’ll continue to attribute each image.)

A word on truth and clarity: I’m committed to bringing you fascinating, real life science articles that amplify the fiction and get you as excited for the future of scientific discovery as I am. There is an art to doing this—merging the truth, the fiction, yet maintaining clarity. There’s a veracity line around a good extended metaphor that helps you as a reader relate to possibly unfamiliar information which can sometimes blur into creative license. I’m committed to making true, relatable representations of current scientific facts, and making rational extrapolations to what’s possible in the future. To help keep me honest in this endeavor, I need an objective fact-checker who has one foot in journalistic integrity and the other in fiction. I’m lucky to have found that combination of skills in Shawn French who has been helping me throughout this Anti-Aging Installment.

Without further ado, please meet Ann and Shawn!

Art By Ann Drew:

Ann Drew is an Illustrator, Graphic Designer, and Author whose work is centered around Science Fiction, LGBTQ+ themes, and Pulp Erotica. She is available for additional projects and can be found here on Upwork!

Proofreading and Fact-Checking by Shawn French:

Shawn French is a writer and editor of video games, comics, film, and audio fiction. You can follow his misadventures at www.ShawnFrench.com

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Table of Contents for A Singular Panda + Anti-Aging Science Articles

1. A Singular Panda Chapter 1 + Science IRL: You’re Invited To Join the Aging Rebellion

2. A Singular Panda Chapter 2 + Science IRL: Defining Aging—Who’s Holding the Pen?

3. A Singular Panda Chapter 3 + Science IRL: Meet the Revolutionaries Fighting Aging

4. A Singular Panda Chapter 4 + Science IRL: Your Shield in the Aging Rebellion

5. A Singular Panda Chapter 5 + Science IRL: Your Sword in the Aging Rebellion

6. A Singular Panda Chapter 6 + Science IRL: Your Future in Agelessness

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