CRACKING THE SECRET BEHIND VAMPIRES’ PERENNIAL YOUTH & EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITIES OF AGE REVERSAL.

Why vampires never go old?

Scientists closer than ever to finding out the elixir of life!

If you have ever read any “vampire” literature, you would know one thing for sure, that vampires live forever healthily without aging. It’s almost like their body clock is frozen eternally in the prime of their lives. That is because they survive by feeding on the most essential thing needed for our life- ‘blood’. It seems the vampires have a taste for ‘young blood’. I guess that’s what gives them that perennial youth. It’s almost like they’re consuming the youthfulness of their victims, not just their blood alone.

Perhaps we would brush all this away saying it’s just some fable or myth. But latest research proves it otherwise. No, I’m not saying there's scientific evidence now to prove the existence of vampires, but there's proof to the fact that young blood after all has anti- aging properties or what I’d like to call ‘youthful factors’.

Scientists are closer than you think in discovering the forever elusive elixir or fountain of youth. That elixir is not in some fictional place like Shangri la or someplace like that. The factor that can gift us youth even in our old age is present in the blood of youngsters! So I guess we can safely assume that our hunt for elixir stops here.  When young members of our own kind have the youthful factor in abundance why look elsewhere to re-gain our youth?

I proudly present to you folks the thing in the blood responsible for youthfulness; it’s called “Growth Differentiation Factor- 11 (GDF-11)”, a protein found abundantly in the blood of youngsters. As we age the levels of this protein begin to decline steadily, thereby causing the body to slowly start exhibiting the signs of aging.

The signs of aging seen externally, like developing wrinkles on skin, hair fall, graying of hair etc., are all outer physical manifestations of the complex internal aging processes. The most common yet grave problems faced by people in their old age are- heart problems, a sharp decline in memory and other vital brain functions including sense of smell, weakening of muscles, bones and tissues, blood supply to various parts of the body and so on. This experiment that I’m about to tell you has actually reversed all these signs of aging.

THE EXPERIMENT:

(Image source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NxCFdR7cL._SX300_.jpg)

One fine morning a genius of a scientist woke up with a brilliant idea of reversing the age of an old mouse and how did he plan to achieve that? Simple, he injected the old mouse with the blood of a young mouse, which has the GDF-11 protein in abundance. The mouse was injected with young blood for four weeks at the end of which the result was nothing short of a miracle. The old mouse exhibited all the signs of a young mouse! 

The old mouse showed the following typical “old age” problems:

1. Cardiac hypertrophy: Simply put, the condition of an enlarged heart is known as cardiac hypertrophy. In this state, the heart muscles which make up the walls of the lower chambers of the heart (our heart is made up of 4 chambers, 2 upper and 2 lower) are thickened, which causes the space inside the chambers to decrease. This causes the heart to become larger in size and it has been noticed in certain cases that the heart in such a condition can increase mass by up to 150%. The most common cause for enlargement of heart is high blood pressure. Since these chambers are responsible for pumping blood to lungs and other organs of the body, a decrease in the space inside these chambers will adversely affect the pumping of blood. So, if a doctor ever tells you that you have a ‘big heart’, it’s certainly not a compliment!

The pictures below show the difference between a normal and a heart with hypertrophy.

(Image source: https://www.geneyouin.ca/hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy-causes-treatment/)

(Image source: http://scitechdaily.com/inhibition-of-micrornas-in-mice-can-attenuate-cardiovascular-stress/)

SIZE COMPARISON BETWEEN A NORMAL HEART & A HYPERTROPHIC HEART.

2.    Decline in memory & other vital brain functions: The memory of the mouse and its ability to smell prior to the experiment was deteriorating fast owing to its age and also possibly due to Alzheimer’s disease. In Alzheimer’s, the number of neurons and connections between the neurons are reduced greatly, thereby decreasing the functional ability of the brain.

Read on to find out what neurons and neural connections are, to understand the experiment and the results of the research better.

Q: What is a neuron?

A: A neuron is the main functional unit of the nervous system. The brain, spinal column and the nerves which make up the nervous system are in turn made up of neurons. A neuron plays the very important role of transmitting or passing on the nerve impulses or signals, as in one neuron receives the signal and conveys the signal to the next cell. Simply put, if these signals aren't passed then our body would come to a standstill. The image below shows how a typical neuron looks like.

(Image source: http://yourbrainonporn.com/endogenous-opioid-induced-)

Q: What’s a neural connection?

A: The connection between neurons, as seen in the picture below (connection is highlighted in red circles) is known as a neural connection or also known as a ‘synapse’. It is through these neural connections or synapses that the transfer of electro-chemical signals takes place between the neurons. If these connections decrease then the nerve signals can’t be transmitted effectively.

(Image source: http://biology-and-human-behavior.wikispaces.com/Key+Findings)

The more the number of synapses the better and more effective will be the transmission of information. Perhaps the following cartoon will help you understand and remember the concept of neural connection and communication between neurons better.

(Image source: http://nbmpub.com/blog/2013/08/07/bits-of-brain/)

So, if the above neuron had lesser synapses or as in this case, hands, what would happen? It wouldn’t be able to take up so many communications at once and pass them all at once to the next neuron. The whole process would be slowed down, throwing the entire nervous system into jeopardy.

3. Decreased endurance and muscle strength: It was observed that the old mouse had decreased ability to bear pain or stress. Its stamina had reduced sharply and couldn’t recover quickly from fatigue. Also, the muscle strength had reduced greatly, resulting in lesser movement of the mouse and thus ultimately leading to lowered endurance.

RESULTS

ü  After 4 weeks (around 8 injections) of injecting the old mouse with young blood, cardiac hypertrophy was reversed. The larger heart in the old mouse had become smaller.

ü  The young blood seemed to have improved blood circulation in the brain, which resulted in the stimulation of new neurons development. Also, the neurons developed fresh synaptic connections, especially in the ‘hippocampus’ region of the brain, which is important for memory. One more important thing noticed here was, that ‘neuroplasticity’ of the old mouse’s brain had improved. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to keep rearranging itself based on one’s experiences. Thanks to the improved functioning of the brain, the mouse could now smell better. This improved ability to smell was tested by hiding cheese in a maze and the old mouse could find the cheese with not much difficulty, it just sniffed its way to the cheese (which the old mouse couldn’t do so earlier). Also, some corners of its cage had mild electric shocks which the old mouse could remember exactly and avoided them actively, suggesting the rejuvenation of memory.

ü  Post treatment the mouse could run longer on treadmills. In fact the effect of this treatment was so deep that the DNA in the stem cells of muscles seemed repaired. The muscle fiber that makes up the muscle seemed youthful. This explains their improved endurance.

And then finally, the scientists had found in front of themselves a completely renovated mouse after the treatment, giving the old mouse a fresh lease of life.

There's a possibility that this protein GDF-11, could’ve an overall influence on the entire body as well and could also hold the key to treat conditions like Alzheimer’s in humans as well.

2.4: MASS VAMPIRISM & BLOOD FARMS- THE FUTURE OF MANKIND?

I know what’s been running in your head all along while reading this topic….. What will be the outcome and the consequences of this ground breaking research? Will people turn into vampires en masse and start sucking the blood of their young ones to remain young forever? Or will companies try to cash in on this research by harvesting the blood of the young and the healthy secretly in some ‘blood farms’ in an underdeveloped, third world nation and supply it to those who can afford it in the name of ‘elixir’?

Thankfully the reality in the future might be very different from this, for the scientists are working on developing drugs which could mimic the age reversal action of this protein. They're even working on isolating the individual factors which could address all age related dysfunctions in one go and try and administer them directly to patients. Our fears might be unfounded after all.

We are now just beginning to understand the process of aging better and a lot of research into this protein and its workings is underway, which just goes on to prove that age reversal isn't science fiction and if anything is possible.

References:

1)    The Telegraph. 2013. Ageing reversed as scientists discover how to turn clock back in mammals. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10529146/Ageing-reversed-as-scientists-discover-how-to-turn-clock-back-in-mammals.html. [Accessed 06 August 14].

2)    Wall Street Daily. 2013. Scientists Reverse the Signs of Aging in Four Weeks. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2013/06/04/video-gdf-11-heart-disease/. [Accessed 05 August 14].

3)    National Geographic. 2014. Swapping Young Blood for Old Reverses Aging. [ONLINE] Available at:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140504-swapping-young-blood-for-old-reverses-aging/. [Accessed 07 August 14].

4)    The Independent. 2014. Vampire therapy: young blood may reverse ageing. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vampire-therapy-young-blood-may-reverse-ageing-9323042.html. [Accessed 07 August 14].

5)    Breitbart. 2014. 'VAMPIRE THERAPY' COULD REVERSE AGEING. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/05/05/Vampire-Therapy-Could-Reverse-Ageing. [Accessed 07 August 14].

6)    Loffredo, S, 2013. Growth Differentiation Factor 11 Is a Circulating Factor that Reverses Age-Related Cardiac Hypertrophy. Cell, 153, 828-839.

7)    Brack, S, 2013. Ageing of the heart reversed by youthful systemic factors!. EMBO, 162, 1-2.

8)    USC Cardiothoracic Surgery. 2013. Cardiac Hypertrophy. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.cts.usc.edu/zglossary-cardiachypertrophy.html. [Accessed 08 August 14].

9)    Andersen, E, 2014. An ingredient for the elixir of youth. Cell Research, 10, 107.

BRIDGING THE GAP WITH 4C's

The great divide between science & communication needs to bridged effectively & quickly. The reason why bridging the gap is of utmost importance is because science & technology touch our lives in a million ways everyday and billions of people are blissfully unaware of how science & technology are redefining & reshaping not just our lives but also our choices & decisions. The choices & decisions we make leave an impact on us, our near & dear ones & also on our society.

The need of the hour for our planet isn't just literates but people who are knowledgeable about the consequences of their actions. I say, keeping ourselves informed is our responsibility. It is therefore imperative to make wise decisions and we can make wise and sound decisions only if we are educated and equipped with knowledge & knowledge comes from knowing about science & technology and people can know about science & technology only if it is readable & makes sense to them. It's a vicious circle!

How the gap can be bridged?

For the starters, every person should engage in decoding the knowledge he or she has accumulated in the due course of their lives and present it to people in a simple manner. One could decode medical technology, health science, bio & nano technologies, information & computer technologies, mathematics, economics, finance, business strategies, politics, religion, philosophy, mythology and so on. Universities and their departments engaging in research should actively communicate their research, government departments should engage in communicating their policies/ research effectively to the common public and so should every public owned research company and more importantly, the print and television media should play a pro-active role in bringing science closer to the masses.

The 4C's of science communication: After having read some really complicated science based articles, mostly for the language in which they were written, I kept dwelling on how to improvise them and rewrite them for whom it was originally intended. 

After pondering enough, I had come up with a concept I'd like to call 'The 4C's of Science Communication'. 

I feel every science article, in order to be communicated effectively to the masses should be built on the foundation of the 4C's. This rule makes communicating science easy not just for the writers but also for the readers.

The 4C's are- Convey, Complete, Clear & Conclusive.

Convey- The article should convey the message or the main point. The article is pointless if it fails to project the key or salient features of the topic. The premise should be clearly reflected in the article.

Complete- The article should be complete, without leaving any loopholes or gaps in the article. Every aspect/ idea  introduced in the topic should be explained in detail. Literarily speaking, the reader shouldn't have a nagging sense of incompleteness after finishing the article, because some topics, techniques or words which were introduced in the article weren't explained.

Clear- The language used while writing should be simple. Even a complex technique should be communicated in an uncomplicated manner. There should be no ambiguity whatsoever in the language used.

Conclusive- Ever read a story/ novel or watched a movie with no proper ending? It was really frustrating right? That's exactly the feeling the readers would get if the article has no proper conclusion. Giving the article a befitting conclusion gives it an impression of being a wholesome article. 

Fig: The 4C's of Science Communication.

Having known about the blog & what science communication is all about (including the issues plaguing it and the possible ways to overcome them), I'd like to introduce you all to the science based articles I've written. Happy reading!

SCIENCE..............COMMUNICATION GAP

When I started writing science articles for people around me, little did I know that I was in fact communicating science to them. So I thought I'd create a blog and upload those articles for everyone else to read. Only after I had started writing these articles did I realize that communicating science to the ordinary folk is a very important task. Every year scores of scientists churn out heaps of research material that directly or indirectly touches/ influences our lives and it is just anybody's guess as to how much of the research gets communicated to the people in the right style and content.

Though things are slowly beginning to look up & the landscape of science communication is changing, a lot is left to be desired. Let me tell you, that newspapers & magazines have begun to dedicate a column or two to discuss breakthroughs in science & technology. Internet has become an indispensable platform for releasing latest science news, forming discussion forums online & to brainstorm and deliberate on various scientific issues & questions at hand. News & knowledge based channels are dedicating their precious time to air programs of scientific importance. These channels are in fact going all out to attract audience by redesigning the content & the presentation style of their programs to make them 'edutainment programs'.

Science- Lost in Transmission:

The reason why I said that a lot is left to be desired is because the penetration level of these science communication articles or TV programs is still fairly low and it hasn't reached the masses yet. Masses don't find scientific programs alluring and they certainly don't find Neil deGrasse Tyson and his likes endearing either (heck, they won't even know who he is), probably all they want to see is their favorite movie stars jiggle & gyrate on their TV screens.

I've personally seen & known lots & lots of people who immediately skip the section of the newspaper which discusses science based articles (sadly a lot of people read newspapers for Page 3 parties, fashion, gossips, movies, and their daily horoscopes!). Why? Because they feel science is not for them or that those articles are solely based for people with science background or they don't understand the scientific jargon involved in those articles or they feel that reading them isn't of any importance to them at that moment and that they would get to them when the need arises. Like I've stated earlier, the readers/ common people aren't to be blamed entirely for their apathy towards science and its articles. 

My experience with a science article: 

I had once read an article in a newspaper about what could possibly be leading to the failure of pancreas to secrete insulin. For the starters, the article was very coarse in its approach towards explaining the concept. None of the scientific hard words were explained. The description of the pathway leading to the failure of pancreas seemed overly complicated. Being a post graduate in biotechnology & proteomics I found myself struggling with the article. Not only did I not understand it in one go, but I had also lost interest in finishing the article. So you can imagine what a non- science person would go through reading it. Oh wait! I don't think he/she would even bother reading it beyond the first couple of lines, they would yawn instantly and move onto something more juicy and interesting. But owing to my interest towards science in general, I didn't give up on the article, read it twice slowly, did more background research on that topic and formed an idea/ image in my head as to how pancreas must be failing to secrete insulin.

The Myth buster gets busted!:

But this is a laborious process to read & understand science isn't it? Why would ordinary folks with no science background bother to put in that kind of effort? And this certainly isn't a stray incident of bad science communication. Whatever little science is communicated, majority of it ends up the complicated way. I sometimes feel newspapers & magazines report science news as mere formality. This disinterest and apathy gets carried forward to their readers as well. Science the 'myth buster' is plagued with so many misconceptions unfortunately that students neither want to pursue the subject in their higher studies nor want to pursue a career in the field.

Communicating science- a bungled job right from the elementary school level:

I strongly feel people's fear of science also stems from their experience with science textbooks and teachers in school (like my fear & apathy towards maths and maths teachers and maths textbooks). Most teachers don't put in the effort to make science interesting or fun. The textbooks are worse...the illustrations are drabby, boring and stifle any imagination or interest the kid might have towards science. So, effectively science communication is failing right from the school level. If we want a future devoid of any scientists, then this is the perfect, failure proof recipe to adopt.

SCIENCE DECODED- WHEN GOOD THINGS COME TOGETHER

Science Decoded is all about communicating science in the simplest manner to people who aren't from the field of science. It all started when a couple of my friends, relatives & neighbors started asking me to clear their doubts regarding some science topics, especially the ones pertaining to health. So, I started writing articles for them in a language that would be easy for them to understand. I knew that the articles had to be written/ communicated to them in a very different manner, the typical 'science assignment' approach to writing these articles wouldn't work (frankly speaking, writing in the science assignment style comes natural to me and its way easier than writing science for the lay man). 

Would simple language & decoding every scientific word suffice while communicating science to the lay man? I'd say it would only partially. So what about the rest? The rest of the job depends on how well I am able to capture their interest from the beginning to the end, how the narration and illustration enables them in imagining the scientific concept & how the topic is related to something that is regular or mundane in nature (want to know more about science writing? wondering what the nitty-gritties are? read the articles and decode them yourself...a small assignment for you guys!!!)

Unfortunately for a lot of people science is boring, complicated with a lot of words best described as 'mumbo-jumbo' & more importantly a lot of those people feel 'science isn't for me' or 'science just flies over my head' or 'will use my brain to understand the scientific topic only when the need arises...otherwise why torture the poor brain?' Well, I don't blame them entirely for perceiving science like that, sadly science has been communicated in an overly tricky and tortuous manner. 

As it is, very few people bother to read about science when they are confronted with a problem (most of them don't bother to read or equip themselves with knowledge even after being faced with the problem) and when a few of them approached me to explain a topic in science, I thought this was the right opportunity for me to not only communicate science in the right and lucid manner but also to expose them to the world of science and the wonders it hides beneath its surface. 

'Science Decoded' is just a small and a humble effort to overcome these problems plaguing science communication. Its an attempt to make reading science fun and not boring and to bring forth the fact that science is for everyone and not just for the ones who have studied science. 

This Blog brings together two of my most favorite things- science & communication. While science has been my passion, communication is my forte. So, I hope you guys enjoy reading my articles as much as I've enjoyed writing them.