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The US Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday it's blocking Facebook parent company Meta's acquisition of Within Unlimited, a company that makes virtual reality fitness app, citing Meta's "virtual reality empire.""The agency alleges that Meta and [Meta CEO Mark] Zuckerberg are planning to expand Meta's virtual reality empire with this attempt to illegally acquire a dedicated fitness app that proves the value of virtual reality to users," the FTC said in a release.John Newman, FTC Bureau of Competition deputy director, alleged that Meta "had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within's popular Supernatural app ... [but] chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits."Meta earlier this week announced it was upping the price of its VR headset by $100 as part of a move to "continue investing in moving the VR industry forward for the long term." From Aug. 1, the 128GB version of the Quest 2 VR headset will increase from $300 to $400, while pricing of the 256GB model will increase from $400 to $500.Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Gaming & VR
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Mark Zuckerberg sat across from me, controlling objects on a screen with small motions of his fingers. Taps, glides, pinches. On his wrist was a chunky band that looked like an experimental smartwatch: It's Meta's vision of our future interactions with AR, VR, computers and just about everything else."It'll work well for glasses…I think it'll actually work for everything. I think in the future, people will use this to control their phones and computers, and other stuff…you'll just have a little band around your wrist," Zuckerberg said, right before he demoed the neural wristband. His hand and finger movements seemed subtle, almost fidgety. Sometimes nearly invisible. Neural input devices are just one part of Meta's strategy beyond VR, and these wristbands were among the tech I got to see and try during a first-ever visit to Meta's Reality Labs headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The trip was the first time Meta's invited journalists to visit its future tech research facility, located in a handful of nondescript office buildings far north of Facebook's Silicon Valley headquarters. Entering Meta Reality Labs in Redmond, Washington. Scott Stein/CNET The last time I visited Redmond, I was trying Microsoft's HoloLens 2. My trip to Meta was a similar experience. This time, I was demoing the Meta Quest Pro, a headset that blends VR and AR together into one device and aims to kick off Zuckerberg's ambitions to a more work-focused metaverse strategy. Meta's newest Connect conference news is focused on the Quest Pro, and also on new work partnerships with companies like Microsoft, Zoom, Autodesk and Accenture, targeting ways for Meta to maybe dovetail with Microsoft's mixed reality ambitions. I also got to look at a handful of experimental research projects that aren't anywhere near ready for everyday use but show glimpses of exactly what Meta's shooting for next. These far-off projects, and a more-expensive Quest Pro headset, come at a strange time for Meta, a company that's already spent billions investing in the future of the metaverse, and whose most popular VR headset, the Quest 2, still has less than 20 million devices sold. It feels like the future isn't fully here yet, but companies like Meta are ready for it to be.I experienced a number of mind-bending demos with a handful of other invited journalists. It felt like I was exploring Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. But I also came away with the message that, while the Quest Pro looks like the beginning of a new direction for Meta's hardware, it's nowhere close to the end goal.A demo of EMG wristbands measuring motor neurons, at Meta Reality Labs Research Meta Neural inputs: Wristbands that adapt to you"Co-adaptive learning," Michael Abrash, Meta's Reality Labs' chief scientist, told me over and over again. He was describing the wristbands that Meta has discussed multiple times since acquiring CTRL-Labs in 2019. It's a hard concept to fully absorb, but Meta's demo, shown by a couple of trained researchers, gave me some idea of it. Wearing the bulky wristbands wired to computers, the wearers moved their fingers to make a cartoon character swipe back and forth in an endless-running game. Then, their movements seemed to stop. They became so subtle that their hands barely twitched, and still they played the game. The wristbands use EMG, or electromyography (the electrical measurement of muscles) to measure tiny muscle impulses.A feedback-based training process gradually allowed the wearers to start shrinking down their actions, eventually using only a single motor neuron, according to Thomas Reardon, Reality Labs' Director of Neuromotor Interfaces and former CEO of CTRL-Labs, who talked us through the demos in Redmond. The end result looks a little like mind reading, but it's done by subtly measuring electrical impulses showing an intent to move. Mark Zuckerberg using the EMG wristband in a demo in front of a handful of journalists during my visit. Meta When Zuckerberg demonstrated the wristband, he used a similar set of subtle motions, though they were more visible. The wristband's controls feel similar to a touch-based trackpad or air mouse, able to identify pressure-based pinches, swipes and gestures."In the long run, we're going to want to have an interface that is as natural and intuitive as dealing with the physical world," Abrash said, describing where EMG and neural input tech is aiming. Typing isn't on the table yet. According to Zuckerberg, it would require more bandwidth to get to that speed and fidelity: "Right now the bit rate is below what you would get for typing quickly, but the first thing is just getting it to work right." The goal, at some point, is to make the controls do more. Meta sees this tech as truly arriving in maybe five to six years, which feels like an eternity. But it will likely line up, should that timeframe hold, with where Meta sees its finalized AR glasses becoming available.The EMG wristband looks like a large prototype smartwatch, with sensors in the segmented strap. Scott Stein/CNET Zuckerberg says the wristbands are key for glasses, since we won't want to carry controllers around, and voice and hand tracking aren't good enough. But eventually he plans to make these types of controls work for any device at all, VR or otherwise. The controls look like they'll involve an entirely different type of input language, one that might have similarities to existing controls on phones or VR controllers, but which will adapt over time to a person's behavior. It seems like it would take a while to learn to use. "Most people are going to know a whole lot about how to interact in the world, how to move their bodies," Reardon said to me. "They're going to understand simple systems like letters. So let's meet them there, and then do this thing, this pretty deep idea called co-adaptation, in which a person and a machine are learning together down this path towards what we would call a pure neural interface versus a neural motor interface, which blends neural decoding with motor decoding. Rather than saying there's a new language, I'd say the language evolves between machine and person, but it starts with what people do today."A demonstration showing how feedback can lead to the wristband sensing smaller and smaller motions. Meta "The co-adaptation thing is a really profound point," Zuckerberg added. "You don't co-adapt with your physical keyboard. There's a little bit of that in mobile keyboards, where you can misspell stuff and it predicts [your word], but this is a lot more."I didn't get to wear or try the neural input wristband myself, but I got to watch others using them. Years ago at CES, I did get to briefly try a different type of wrist-worn neural input device for myself, and I got a sense of how technologies like this actually work. It's different from the head-worn device by Nextmind (since acquired by Snap) I tried a year ago, which measured eye movement using brain signals. The people using the Meta wristbands seemed to make their movements easily, but these were basic swiping game controls. How would it work for more mission-critical everyday use in everyday AR glasses? Meta's not there yet: According to Zuckerberg, the goal for now is to just get the tech to work, and show how adaptive learning could eventually shrink down response movements. It may be a while before we see this tech in action on any everyday device, but I wonder how Meta could apply the principles to machine learning-assisted types of controls that aren't neural input-based. Could we see refined controllers or hand tracking combinations arrive before this? Hard to tell. But these bands are a far-off bet at the moment, not an around-the-corner possibility.I wear a spatially-trackable headset which creates audio effects I can't distinguish from the speakers in the room. Meta Super-real 3D audio A second set of demos I tried, demonstrating next-generation spatial audio, replicated research Meta talked about back in 2020 -- and which it originally planned on showing off in-person before COVID-19 hit. Spatial audio is already widely used in VR headsets, game consoles and PCs, and on a variety of everyday earbuds such as AirPods. What Meta's trying to do is not just have audio that seems like it's coming from various directions, but to project that audio to make it seem like it's literally coming from your physical room space.A visit to the labs' soundproof anechoic chamber -- a suspended room with foam walls that block reflections of sound waves -- showed us an array of speakers designed to help study how sounds travel to individual ears, and to explore how sounds move in physical spaces. The two demos we tried after that showed how ghostly-real the sounds can feel.Inside Meta's anechoic chamber, where a massive speaker array is used to help create spatial audio profiles. Scott Stein/CNET One, where I sat down in a crowded room, involved me wearing microphones in my ears while the project leads moved around me, playing instruments and making noises at different distances. After 40 seconds of recording, the project leads played back the audio to me with over-ear headphones… and parts of it sounded exactly like someone was moving around the room near me. What made it convincing, I think, were the audio echoes: The sense that the movement was reverberating in the room space. A second demo had me wearing a 3D spatial-trackable pair of headphones in a room with four speakers. I was asked to identify whether music I heard was coming from the speakers, or my ears. I failed. The music playback flawlessly seemed to project out, and I had to take off the headphones to confirm which was which as I walked around.According to Michael Abrash's comments back in 2020, this tech isn't far away from becoming a reality as neural wristbands. Meta's plans are to have phone cameras eventually be able to help tune personal 3D audio, much like Apple just added to its newest AirPods, but with the added benefit of realistic room-mapping. Meta's goal is to have AR projections eventually sound convincingly present in any space: It's a goal that makes sense. A world of holographic objects will need to feel anchored in reality. Although, if future virtual objects sound as convincingly real as my demos were, it might become hard to distinguish real sounds from virtual, which brings up a whole bunch of other existential concerns.My conversation with an avatar so realistic it felt like I was in the same room with them. Meta Talking to photo-real avatarsI'm in a dark space, standing across from a seemingly candle-lit and very real face of someone who was in Meta's Pittsburgh Reality Labs Research offices, wearing a specially built face-tracking VR headset. I'm experiencing Codec Avatars 2.0, a vision of how realistic avatars in metaverses could get.How real? Quite real. It was uncanny: I stood close and looked at the lip movement, his eyes, his smiles and frowns. It felt almost like talking with a super-real PlayStation 5 game character, then realizing over and over again this is a real-time conversation with a real person, in avatar form. I wondered how good or limited face tracking could be: After all, my early Quest Pro demos using face tracking showed limits. I asked Jason, the person whose avatar I was next to, to make various expressions, which he did. He said I was a bit of a close-talker, which made me laugh. The intimate setting felt like I had to get close and talk, like we were in a cave or a dimly lit bar. I guess it's that real. Eventually, the realism started to feel good enough that I started assuming I was having a real conversation, albeit one with a bit of uncanny valley around the edges. It felt like I was in my own living video game cutscene.Meta doesn't see this coming into play for everyday headsets any time soon. First of all, standalone VR headsets are limited in their processing power, and the more avatars you have in a room, the more graphics get taxed. Also, the tracking tech isn't available for everyone yet. Trying out a chat with an Instant Codec Avatar, created with a phone-made head scan. Meta A more dialed-down version was in my second demo, which showed an avatar that had been created by a face scan using a phone camera using a new technology called Instant Codec Avatars. The face looked better than most scans I'd ever made myself. But I felt like I was talking with a frozen and only slightly moving head. The end result was less fluid than the cartoony Pixar-like avatars Meta uses right now.An actor who was 3D scanned ahead of time using an array of cameras. I saw his rendered avatar layered with digital clothing. Scott Stein/CNET One final demo showed a full-body avatar (legs, too!) that wasn't live or interactive. It was a premade 3D scan of an actor using a special room with an array of cameras. The demo focused on digital clothes that could realistically be draped over the avatar. The result looked good up close, but similar to a realistic video game. It seems like a test drive for how digital possessions could someday be sold in the metaverse, but this isn't something that would work on any headset currently available. My sneaker gets 3D scanned using Meta's new phone-based capture tech. Scott Stein/CNET 3D scanning my shoes (plus, super-real cacti and teddy bears)Like a volunteer in a magic show, I was asked to remove one of my shoes for a 3D scanning experiment. My shoe ended up on a table, where it was scanned with a phone camera -- no lidar needed. About half an hour later, I got to look at my own shoe in AR and VR. 3D scanning, like spatial audio, is already widespread, with lots of companies focused on importing 3D assets into VR and AR. Meta's research is aiming for better results on a variety of phone cameras, using a technology called neural radiance fields. Another demo showed a whole extra level of fidelity.My shoe, after being scanned, in AR. Scott Stein/CNET A couple of prescanned objects, which apparently took hours to prepare, captured the light patterns of complex 3D objects. The results -- which showed furry, spiky, fine-detailed objects including a teddy bear and a couple of cacti -- looked seriously impressive on a VR headset. The curly fur didn't seem to melt or matte together like most 3D scans; instead it was fluffy, seemingly without angles. The cactus spines spread out in fine spiky threads.Of all the demos I tried at the Reality Labs, this was maybe the least wowing. But that's only because there are already, through various processes, lots of impressive 3D-scanned and rendered experiences in AR and VR. It's not clear how instant or easy it could be to achieve Meta's research examples in everyday use, making it hard to judge how effective the function is. For sure, if scanning objects into virtual, file-compatible versions of themselves gets easier, it'll be key for any company's metaverse ambitions. Tons of businesses are already aiming to sell virtual goods online, and the next step is letting anyone easily do it for their own stuff. Again, this is already possible on phones, but it doesn't look as good…yet.Chief Scientist Michael Abrash talks to us in front of a wall of prototype VR and AR headsets. Meta What does it all mean?The bigger question on my mind, as my day ended at Meta's facilities and I called a Lyft from the parking lot, was what it all added up to. Meta has a brand-new Quest Pro headset, which is the bleeding-edge device for mixing AR and VR together, and which offers new possibilities for avatar control with face tracking.The rest of the future remains a series of question marks. Where Meta wants to spread out its metaverse ambitions is a series of roads that are still unpaved. Neural inputs, AR glasses, blends of virtual and real sounds, objects and experiences? These could still be years away. In a year where Meta has seen its revenue drop while making sizable bets on the metaverse, despite inflation and an economic downturn, are these projects all going to be fulfilled? How long can Meta's long-game metaverse visions be sustained?Meta's prototype VR sunglasses, the "North Star" for what the tech aims to become. Scott Stein/CNET Abrash talks to us once more as we gather for a moment before the day's end, bringing back a connecting theme, that immersive computing will be a true revolution, eventually. Earlier on, we had stopped at a wall full of VR and AR headsets, a trophy case of all the experimental prototypes Meta has worked on. We saw mixed reality ones, ones with displays designed to show eyes on the outside, and ones so small they're meant to be the dream VR equivalent of sunglasses. It made me think of the long road of phone design experimentation before smartphones became mainstream. Clearly, the metaverse future is still a work in progress. While big things may be happening now, the true "smartphones" of the AR and VR future might not be around for a long while to come."The thing I'm very sure of is, if we go out 20 years, this will be how we're interacting," Abrash said in front of the headset wall. "It's going to be something that does things in ways we could never do before. The real problem with it is, it's very, very hard to do this."
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Gaming & VR
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Sony’s new VR headset is set for release in February and will set you back around $550.Image: Sony Interactive EntertainmentAfter months of waiting, we finally have an idea how big your wallet will need to be for you to strap Sony’s new PlayStation VR2 headset around your noggin. Essentially, it’s going to cost you more than the price of a full PS5 for just the base setup.OffEnglishThe company wrote early Wednesday that the VR2 headset will cost $549.99. This includes the headset itself and controllers. Of course, you’ll need a PlayStation 5 console to run the damn thing. While preorders for the headset, controller charging station, and initial slate of games should be available on Nov. 15, the official release date is set for Feb. 22, 2023. Direct orders from PlayStation will ship out on launch week.Sony also revealed its Playstation VR2 Sense controller charging station that’s going out the gate at $49.99. Thankfully, it does not seem to be a necessary addition, as you can still charge the controllers using the PS5’s USB ports.PlayStation also revealed the initial slate of 11 PS VR2 titles that are also launching next February. It includes games we’ve already seen, such as the rail shooter The Dark Pictures: Switchback or the rhythm game Pistol Whip VR. This is in addition to already announced games like Horizon: Call of the Mountain and a VR version of Resident Evil: Village. It’s been six years since Sony’s last VR release, but this new edition will only work on PS5, compared to the previous device that was compatible with PS4 consoles as well. Of course, its running upgraded specs that put it above devices like the Meta Quest 2 in terms of both price and power.G/O Media may get a commissionUnfortunately, all those PS VR1 players won’t be able to take their games onto the PS VR2, which is a very strange decision considering how the PS5's limited game library is bolstered due to its wide backwards compatibility with PS4 games. PlayStation exec Hideaki Nishino said this was because “PS VR2 is designed to deliver a truly next generation VR experience,” especially with its haptic feedback controls and environmental scanning systems.Sony probably needs a win with its PS VR system, as its latest quarterly earnings from Tuesday show that the company has lost close to 2 million PlayStation Plus subscribers since it relaunched the service. The company has sold only 3.3 million PS5 units this past quarter, which is the same as last year and is far below what it’ll need to reach its target of 23 million consoles sold by March.
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Gaming & VR
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NEW YORK -- A New York City institution is bringing a groundbreaking entertainment festival to Midtown Manhattan this fall.Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday announced PaleyWKND at the Paley Center for Media, a first-of-its-kind in-person event that will be an immersive celebration of media, sports, gaming, and entertainment.It will include interactive exhibits with the Metaverse and professional sports, and for the first time ever, sports fans can check out championship trophies from the NFL, NHL, NBA, and Major League Baseball all in one place.The Paley Center for Media promises it'll be a once-in-a-lifetime, New York-sized event.It will be free and open to the public Friday, September 30, through Sunday, October 2.Paley members are invited to an Exclusive Red Carpet Preview Cocktail Reception, which kicks off the event on Friday, September 30.Guests can walk up to enter or reserve their tickets for timed entry at PaleyWKND.org.Here is more about PaleyWKND from the organization, released after Thursday's news conference.-*-PaleyWKND Initial Lineup October 1-2, 2022The Initial Lineup of Programs and Experiences Currently Includes:Professional Sports League Championship Trophies - The Crown Jewels of SportsFor the first time ever as part of a public exhibit, all four major professional sports league championship trophies will be on display inside the Museum for special photo opportunities:o National Hockey League: Stanley Cupo Major League Baseball: Commissioner's Trophyo National Basketball Association: Larry O'Brien Trophyo National Football League: Vince Lombardi TrophyNational Football League (NFL)Do you have what it takes to be a future NFL player? Find out at PaleyWKND as the NFL brings the NFL experience to 52nd Street! Join in skills and drills on a mini turfed field, take a photo of The Vince Lombardi Trophy and view the full collection of all 56 Super Bowl Rings up close!National Hockey League (NHL)The Stanley Cup to be Displayed at The Paley CenterThe National Hockey League will display the prestigious Stanley Cup at the Spielberg Gallery as part of a special one-of-a-kind exhibition. Get your photos taken with your favorite trophy.MetaPreview the metaverse and take a trip to where the physical and virtual worlds collide at PaleyWKND! Meta Immersive Learning (MIL) will take you on an immersive journey featuring mind-blowing AR (Augmented Reality) & VR (Virtual Reality) experiences which take you from the streets of New York to the vast expanse of the universe!NickelodeonNickelodeon brings its signature Slime and beloved shows to an interactive fan experience for kids and families! From photo ops that take fans into Nickelodeon's beloved preschool series, including Blue's Clues & You!, and Santiago of the Seas, to one-of-a-kind experiences that immerse fans in the worlds of hit shows such as That Girl Lay Lay, Tyler Perry's Young Dylan, and NFL Slimetime, to bestowing Nickelodeon's greatest honor of getting Slimed...kids will have the Slime of their life at this truly interactive exhibit.Fremantle - "The Price is Right"Come on down! as Fremantle brings "The Price Is Right" to PaleyWKND! Fremantle celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the iconic "THE PRICE IS RIGHT" by bringing a celebration of television's longest running game show to PaleyWKND. Fans can play the games, spin the Big Wheel and more on the Come On Down Tour bus.Major League Baseball (MLB)MLB Creates "Dream Playing Field" for Fans and Kids at PaleyWKNDPut your MLB baseball athleticism to the test! Show off your swing and fielding skills! Kids and fans will get to PLAY BALL in special MLB batting and fielding cages. Along with giveaways, MLB guests and talent will be on hand for surprise appearances and meet-and-greets.NINTENDOPlay it at PaleyWKND - fans get hands-on time with Nintendo Switch Sports and Splatoon 3! Nintendo will have a gaming tent where fans can enjoy some of its recent games and view game trailers.HasbroHasbro Brings Super-Sized Fun with Fan-Favorite Games & Nerf Blaster ZoneKids can play with Hasbro's most popular games and toys including oversized versions of Operation and Connect 4 games, and a giant Nerf blaster zone where people of all ages can get active and unleash the play with NERF blasters.National Basketball Association (NBA) The NBA and WNBA Bring Basketball to 52nd StreetGet your hoop on courtesy of the NBA and WNBA at PaleyWKND! Two basketball courts right on 52nd street will immerse kids and families in the fun of honing their dribbling, passing and shooting skills alongside members of the NBA family during Jr. NBA Basketball Clinics!Mattel & American GirlBe among the very first audiences to experience episodes from the second half of Season1 of Mattel's Barbie: It Takes Two, on the Big Screen at PaleyWKND! Join Malibu & Brooklyn on fun-filled adventures that take them from the beach to the big city! And while you're here, enter the world of American Girl! Bring your favorite American Girl doll to the party and enjoy exclusive, character-themed D.I.Y. crafting experiences, American Girl prize giveaways, and more!NASCAR/NBC SportsNASCAR and NBC SPORTS bring high-speed thrills to PaleyWKND! Get an up close and personal look at NASCAR's latest mind-boggling innovation, the Next Gen car. See the Bill France Cup, the legendary trophy awarded to each year's NASCAR Cup Series champion, and if you're feeling like a race car driver yourself, you can get behind the wheel and take to the track in one of NASCAR's virtual iRacing simulators!National Hockey League (NHL)NHL Stanley Cup to be Displayed at The Paley CenterThe National Hockey League will display the prestigious Stanley Cup at the Spielberg Gallery as part of a special one-of-a-kind exhibition. Get your photos taken with your favorite trophy.FOXThe worldwide TV phenomenon The Masked Singer comes to PaleyWKND in all its sequined, spangled, razzle-dazzle glory! Join favorite characters from FOX's #1 series including "The Sun" in exploring the show's most iconic looks with fun photo-ops and more!HearstHearst Media Production Group presents "Innovation Nation," with Mo Rocca and Young Inventors on the PaleyWKND Main Stage, showcasing change-makers creating solutions for real needs in our communities.Join Maile Carpenter, author of Food Network Magazine's bestselling "RECIPE-A-DAY" KIDS COOKBOOK, for demos, tastings and prizes. Learn easy techniques for young chefs creating fun food at home, including leaf cookies and a veggie plate that looks like a garden!EA SportsEA SPORTS brings Madden NFL 23 and other hot, new releases to The Paley Center.ESPNCelebrate the Power of Sports with ESPN! Fans can join in the fun with inclusive interactive sports activities and create fun social media images for immediate digital sharing with your friends.XBOX Xbox joins PaleyWKND for Saturday and Sunday with games and giveaways!TelevisaUnivisionCelebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with TelevisaUnivision and experience specially curated screenings and more.New York Red BullsMajor League Soccer's New York Red Bulls freestylers bring their soccer skills to PaleyWKND, demonstrating tips and tricks on the Main Stage. Fans can also test their aim with an interactive "One Touch" soccer accuracy challenge.Warner Bros. Discovery Home to many of the most iconic brands, franchises and characters in the history of entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery will be screening their latest and most anticipated titles at PaleyWKND.Bloomberg Watch Bloomberg TV & Radio in action at a custom pop-up news studio! Try your skills at anchoring your own newscast! Attendees can learn how to make a newscast and radio broadcast at Bloomberg's custom News & Radio desk.TelemundoFor Hispanic Heritage Month, watch one of the brilliant Super Series that Telemundo has brought to screens around the world. Get an intimate look at some glamorous fashion from behind the scenes and celebrate shows that have captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers.Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Level up with Take-Two Interactive's hottest titles! Join Take-Two Interactive at PaleyGX and experience cutting edge game play with NBA2K, WWE2K and more!World Surf LeagueSee how the World Surf League is progressing the sport of competitive surfing at PaleyWKND! Experience all the moments from the world's best surfers and the world's best waves as they blaze a new era of surfing.AMC/AMC+AMC/AMC+'s mold breaking, genre defying, and premier storytelling hits the big screen at PaleyWKND with preview screenings of some of their most popular series and anticipated shows!Altice/Optimum a brand of Altice USAAltice USA'S Optimum & Lightpath Powers Up 5G Fiber Internet at PaleyWKND!Experience ultra-fast 100% fiber internet connectivity thanks to Paley's partnership with Lightpath Fiber and Optimum Fiber.Events and participants subject to change.About The Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has proudly made its home in NYC for over 45 years and operates the iconic Paley Museum. Through its respected programming, The Paley Center leads the discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of media, drawing upon its curatorial expertise, an international collection, and close relationships with the media community. The general public can participate in Paley programs in both New York and Los Angeles that explore and celebrate the creativity, the innovations, the talent and the leaders who are shaping media. The public can also access the Paley Center's permanent media collection, The Paley Archive, often referred to as a national treasure, containing over 160,000 television and radio programs and advertisements. Through the global programs of its Media Council and International Council, the Paley Center also serves as a neutral setting where media professionals can engage in discussion and debate about the evolving media landscape. Previously known as The Museum of Television & Radio, The Paley Center was founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, a pioneering innovator in the industry.NEW YORK, August 11, 2022 - New York City Mayor Eric Adams and The Paley Center for Media President & CEO Maureen Reidy today announced the first-ever PaleyWKND, a live, immersive, once-in-a-lifetime, family-friendly, free and open to the public celebration in the heart of midtown Manhattan. The ultimate media, sports, gaming, and entertainment festival, PaleyWKND is expected to draw tens of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors to The Paley Museum from Saturday, October 1 through Sunday, October 2, 2022, kicking off with an opening night celebration on Friday, September 30.PaleyWKND will feature exciting, entertaining, and educational attractions and experiences both inside and outside The Paley Museum as Paley takes over 52nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues for the weekend. Chairman of The Paley Center for Media and Executive Vice Chairman and former CEO of Hearst Frank A. Bennack, Jr. chairs the powerhouse PaleyWKND host committee of the media industry's and New York's most prominent business leaders, with Mayor Adams serving as Honorary Chair."I'm excited to stand with The Paley Center and announce PaleyWKND this fall," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. "This will be an incredible event for all New Yorkers and visitors to enjoy, and only further solidifies New York as the greatest city in the world when it comes to culture and cultural opportunities. PaleyWKND will also help bolster our economic recovery after two years of a pandemic. New York City is back, and we can feel the energy!""We are thrilled to have Mayor Adams serve as the honorary chair for the PaleyWKND Host Committee, joining an amazing group of extraordinary leaders from New York and across the media industry," said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Chairman of The Paley Center for Media and Executive Vice Chairman and former CEO of Hearst. "The Paley Center leads the global discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of media and entertainment, and what members and fans will see and experience during PaleyWKND represents the marquee, quality content this renowned institution brings to the public every day within the walls of its distinguished museum.""PaleyWKND is the ultimate media, sports, gaming, and entertainment festival offering once-in-a-lifetime, memorable experiences for little kids, big kids and kids at heart," said Maureen Reidy, President & CEO of The Paley Center for Media. "A tribute to New York and the first-of-its-kind celebration of all things media and entertainment, PaleyWKND is sure to take its place as a can't-miss, must-attend event this fall."PaleyWKND is an exciting collaboration of The Paley Center, over two dozen world class companies and iconic media brands, and strongly supported by the City of New York. The event will bring an incredible array of interactive experiences and immersive attractions from the exciting worlds of media, sports, gaming, and entertainment, taking over The Paley Museum and its entire 52nd Street block between 5th and 6th Avenues from October 1-2. The festival is a tribute to New York City and celebrates the return to in-person programming, production, and events as the nation and the world emerge from this once-in-a-century pandemic. The event is free to the public; guests can walk up to enter or reserve their tickets for timed entry at www.PaleyWKND.org."NYC & Company applauds The Paley Center for Media on the creation of PaleyWKND, a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity for locals and visitors to immerse themselves in a thoughtfully curated celebration of media, entertainment and sports that could only happen in NYC," said Fred Dixon, President & CEO of NYC & Company. "This weekend event is sure to be a draw, attracting visitors, spending and further boosting our robust tourism recovery."A signature experience at PaleyWKND will be the first-time-ever public opportunity to see the "Crown Jewels of Sports" together, when all four major sports championship trophies will be displayed inside the museum. Visitors will be able to take photos with the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup, Major League Baseball's Commissioner's Trophy, the National Basketball Association's Larry O'Brien Trophy, and the National Football League's Vince Lombardi Trophy. Football gridirons, basketball courts, batting cages, soccer fields and race cars will expand the sporting experience as professional leagues from the world's most popular sports provide fans with interactive and fun gameday experiences.Photo ops with A-list celebrities, iconic athletes, renowned sportscasters, primetime newscasters, celebrity social media influencers, and the hottest gamers will take place throughout the weekend. The world of gaming will level up with the hottest new titles, video game lounges and e-sports tournaments from Nintendo, XBOX, EA Sports, and Take-Two Interactive. Young guests can be Slimed by Nickelodeon, unleash the play in the Nerf blaster zone with Hasbro, catch a sneak preview of the latest Barbie animated series with Mattel, craft with American Girl and meet beloved larger-than-life animated characters from favorite stories and series.Fans can preview Meta's Metaverse, exploring New York City and the universe through augmented reality and virtual reality, and everyone can become a primetime news anchor or talk show host with pop-up studios presented by Bloomberg.Throughout the weekend, Paley Center members will enjoy VIP access with exclusive members-only hours; fast-track priority lanes; exclusive celebrity, athlete, and character meet-and-greets; as well as an invitation to the Red Carpet Preview Cocktail Reception, which kicks off the event on Friday, September 30. The Paley Center invites all New Yorkers and visitors to officially join its special membership community and enjoy these and other benefits year-round.The initial lineup of organizations and companies at PaleyWKND includes Altice Optimum, AMC/AMC+, Bloomberg, EA Sports, ESPN, FOX, Fremantle, Hasbro, Hearst, Mattel & American Girl, Meta, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, National Basketball Association, NBC Sports, New York Red Bulls, National Football League, National Hockey League, Nickelodeon, Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive Software, Telemundo, TelevisaUnivision, Warner Bros. Discovery, World Surf League, and XBOX.
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Gaming & VR
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Sony has announced the price for its upcoming PlayStation VR2 headset - and it's even more expensive than the console you need to use it.The new virtual reality device will cost £529.99 when it launches on 22 February 2023, compared to £479.99 and £389.99 for the current models of the PlayStation 5.
Much like how the previous headset plugged into a PS4, the new one needs to be hooked up to a PS5 - which means you could face spending north of £1,000 if you're keen and don't yet own the console.The first PS VR launched in October 2016 for £349, although - unlike the sequel - it did not come with controllers.Two so-called Sense controllers will come packed in with PS VR2, offering what Sony says are similar levels of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers seen in the PS5's own DualSense pads.
The headset will also offer eye tracking, which the original did not, and will no longer require an external camera to work out where the player is standing or sitting and how they move.Its display panels for each eye use OLED technology, like many modern TVs, with 4K resolution. There will also be a built-in microphone and headphone jack. More on Playstation Sony PlayStation being sued for £5bn amid claims it 'ripped off' nine million consumers PlayStation launches new subscription service at double original price - can it win over gaming fans? Spider-Man: No Way Home boosts profits for Sony - but chip shortages hold back its PlayStation business What about the games?The marquee launch title appears to be Horizon: Call Of The Mountain, a new entry in the existing action-adventure series which has proven popular with fans and critics. Previous Horizon games have been large, open-world experiences focused on exploration and fast-paced combat, which makes the upcoming first-person VR installment something of a departure.Sony will sell it separately and in a bundle with the headset, priced higher at £569.99, both available for pre-order from 15 November.Other games coming for PS VR2 include Resident Evil Village, an updated entry in the long-running horror franchise, plus fresh takes on other existing titles Cities: Skylines and Jurassic World Aftermath, built with the headset in mind.Prices have not been announced, but many new PS5 games now launch at £69.99. Image: The standard model will cost £529.99. Pic: Sony What are my other options for VR gaming?Until now, one of the most popular options has been the Meta Quest 2.Unlike PlayStation's VR offering, it works as a standalone device and doesn't need to be plugged in.It's also more affordable than the competition at £399 for the base model, although that's well up on what was an original launch price of £299.Other options are pretty high-end and expensive, catering to the PC crowd.These include the Valve Index, which goes for a whopping £919, and the HTC Vive Pro 2, which is £499.And for the real diehards, Mark Zuckerberg will sell you his ultimate gateway to the metaverse - the recently launched Meta Quest Pro - for an eye-watering £1,499.
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Oculus founder Palmer Luckey says that the idea of tying real life to a virtual avatar fascinates him as it instantly raises the stakes. The 'NerveGear' VR headset will take many years to complete.By Abhik Sengupta: Palmer Luckey, the founder of VR firm Oculus (now owned by Meta), has designed a new headset that can kill users if they die in a game. The device is inspired by Sword Art Online (SAO), a Japanese anime where players' death in the game means death in the real world because of a special VR headset called 'NerveGear.' The good news for some users and parents is that Luckey's own take on the NerveGear headset will take "many years" to create as he's only "figured out the half that kills" players. At this point, it is just a piece of office art, but it is also described as the first non-fiction example of a VR device that can kill users.In his personal blog, called Palmer-Luckey, the former Oculus senior executive writes that the idea of tying real life to a virtual avatar fascinates him as it instantly raises the stakes. The blog notes, "You instantly raise the stakes to the maximum level and force people to fundamentally rethink how they interact with the virtual world and the players inside it. Pumped-up graphics might make a game look more real, but only the threat of serious consequences can make a game feel real to you and every other person in the game".Palmer claims he's halfway to making a true NerveGear VR headset, but there's a lot to be done. He explains that in SAO, the NerveGear contained a microwave emitter that could be overdriven to lethal levels. The real-life headset would work in a similar fashion, and the early model included three explosives to destroy a player's brain once the game is over.The post adds that this isn't the perfect system, and the real-life NerveGear needs to be tamper-proof. He says, "There are a huge variety of failures that could occur and kill the user at the wrong time. This is why I have not worked up the balls to actually use it myself, and also why I am convinced that, like in SAO, the final triggering should really be tied to a high-intelligence agent that can readily determine if conditions for termination are actually correct."--- ENDS ---
Published On: Nov 15, 2022
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Apple continues to remain quiet on its rumored AR/VR headset, but the iPhone maker is looking to ship 1.5 million units of the face-mounted device in 2023 at a price of more than $2,000, according to reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, as first reported by MacRumors.Kuo says Apple will announce its headset during a January 2023 event and that the company has already presented the device to board members. This could suggest the headset is nearing the final stages of development.Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.Story is developing
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Apple's long-rumored AR/VR headset may have a few extra tricks. The Information's sources claim the mixed reality hardware will use iris scanning for signing in and making payments. This would make it easier to buy apps and could even simplify multi-user support, according to the tipsters. Apple has declined to comment, but it reportedly bought eye-tracking glasses creator SensoMotorics in 2017 with the headset in mind. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said in 2021 that Primax would supply the eye tracking modules, and that they support iris detection.
The headset might also have a few advantages over Meta's just-announced Quest Pro. Two of the previously claimed 14 cameras will supposedly track your legs, giving it an advantage in full-body tracking versus the 10-camera Meta device (which doesn't have leg-focused cams). The goggle-like design's combination of aluminum, fabric and glass is also said to be lighter than the 1.6-pound Quest Pro, although the tipsters didn't say by how much.
Past rumors also hinted at other premium features, including very high-resolution displays, detailed face expression tracking and even a way to magnetically clip on custom prescription lenses. The headset might be powered by the M2 chip in recent Macs, but could use a low display refresh rate to extend battery life at the expense of a more natural-feeling experience.
Numerous reported leaks have pointed to a headset launch sometime in 2023. The question is whether or not any final product will be accessible. More than one rumor has floated a price tag as high as $3,000. You might get more features than the $1,500 Quest Pro, but you'd also pay for them. Even more so than with Meta's hardware, that pricing could limit the initial Apple headset's audience to developers and other pro creators.All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
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Paris Hilton this week announced that her company, 11:11 Media, will bring her world to the immersive virtual gaming world of The Sandbox.There, she'll launch a "land," in which she'll interact with her fans and sell digital goods. The platform said Hilton "is planning social and community events such as rooftop parties and glamorous social experiences in her virtual Malibu mansion" — with 11 versions of Hilton-inspired avatars.The Sandbox, which describes itself as a leading "decentralized virtual world" that is "part virtual real estate, part amusement park," has 300 existing partnerships, with the likes of Warner Music Group and video game maker Ubisoft, along with other celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Steve Aoki, along with brands such as The Smurfs, and Adidas. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Hilton said she wanted to bring her own metaverse from Roblox into other platforms. "Snoop Dogg released his world in there, which is incredible, and I was so excited when I saw that," she said. "I'm really excited to bring Paris world all over — we're going to be working with a couple other platforms." In The Sandbox she'll sell Paris-inspired NFTs and host virtual parties — but she says this us just the beginning of what she hopes to build. "Right now we're mostly focusing on the experiences and not the monetization because that's just not the focus right now," Hilton said. "But we are going to be doing digital wearables and working with different brands and there's a lot of exciting projects I can't announce yet."Hilton's first move into the metaverse was when she built "Paris Hilton World" inside Roblox late last year. She launched the space with a virtual New Year's Eve party in which her avatar DJ'ed. Then she DJ'ed what she called a "Neon Carnival" festival timed to Coachella. Roblox said that Hilton's virtual world has been visited by nearly 544,000 fans — but it won't say how much revenue it's generated.For Hilton, the virtual presence is an opportunity to reach more people — without the 250-day-a-year travel she was doing before the pandemic. "On New Year's Eve, I was DJing in the Maldives. It was my honeymoon and I was playing and there was more people at Paris World than there was a New York Times Square," Hilton said. "At the Neon Carnival we had almost half a million people there and in the real life party there was 5,000. That's the power of the metaverse where you can have people from all around the world be able to enjoy and experience things that are usually, you know, exclusive events."Paris Hilton attends a private view of "Vogue x Snapchat: Redefining The Body, Curated By Edward Enninful OBE", an interactive augmented reality (AR) exhibition, at Centre d'art La Malmaison on June 19, 2022 in Cannes, France.David M. Benett | Getty ImagesHilton started investing in crypto in 2016 — before crypto's meteoric rise and fall — and she's been selling NFTs since last April. Before that market dropped more recently, last year she sold one for over $1 million. She's also invested in a number of startups in the space, including Genies, which creates customized avatars and has drawn investments from former Disney CEO Bob Iger, entertainer and model Priyanka Chopra and other luminaries.Now Hilton is looking at how to bridge her real-world businesses — such as a tracksuit line — with her digital ones. "We want to be able to do [something] where people could buy the tracksuit and then also get a digital version for their avatar to wear," Hilton said. "That's what we're going to be doing a lot of — things that are happening in real live, I'm going to have them also be happening in the metaverse at the same time." And she's talking to other metaverse platforms to expand her presence. She didn't say which ones, but said she likes what Facebook parent Meta is doing.Hilton's 11:11 Media is private and doesn't reveal financials, but said that the company's business doubled from last year to this year and that it expects to generate tens of millions of dollars in profit this year. There's also no word on what kind of profits – or losses — she's seen from her crypto investments over the years, but her company said she's generated $3.5 million in revenue from NFTs this year. As to what happens with the metaverse, and the NFTs that she's promoted over the years, it's too soon to say.
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The PlayStation VR 2, Sony's long-expected VR headset for the PlayStation 5, isn't arriving until 2023. We know a lot about the headset and some of its games, and have even played it for hours. We also now know that older PSVR games won't be compatible with it. Not unless the older games have some sort of PSVR 2 update, at least.Sony's Official PlayStation Podcast confirmed the news via an interview with the SVP of Platform Experience on the PSVR 2, Hideaki Nishino. "PSVR Games are not compatible with the PSVR 2 because PSVR 2 is designed to deliver a truly next-gen VR experience," Nishino says. "PSVR has much more advanced features like an all-new controller with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, inside-out tracking, eye tracking, 3D audio, and 4K HDR. This mean developing games for PSVR 2 requires a whole different approach than the original PSVR." Now playing: Watch this: I Tried Out Sony's Upcoming VR Headset on the PlayStation... 12:09 The original PlayStation VR has a completely different tracking system, using an external camera instead of the built-in headset cameras the PSVR 2 uses. The controllers are new, too, and have barely anything in common with the older PlayStation Move wands the PSVR used. These could indeed be the biggest reasons why original PSVR games won't be compatible.Hopefully, Sony will enable ways for older games to update easily for the new hardware: Meta did that for older Oculus Go and Quest games that migrated or got enhanced for for Quest 2. Even though plenty of new PSVR 2 games could be arriving, there are already hundreds of still very good games that could be stranded behind...and could help the PSVR 2 catalog feel bigger by the time the headset arrives.
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As readers of this column know, there’s no shame in a mobile game. Despite the fact that at one point in my not-too-distant past I’d been embarrassed about my consumption of corny phone games, Merge Mansion captured my soul and in the process transformed my relationship with mobile gaming and social media. Tuning in to Merge Mansion made it possible for me to tune out doomscrolling.Before we go further, a moment of honesty: This was not planned. I wasn’t trying to avoid social media when I clicked that Instagram ad for Merge (clearly). Instead, by investing in a mobile game rather than a console one, I was able to train my lizard brain to open Merge—rather than Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram—every time I reached for my phone. This, it turns out, is much easier than getting in the habit of picking up a controller instead of a phone. How did this happy accident happen? Like (I’m assuming) many of you, my nights in the past year or so started taking on a toxic shape that always ended with me absentmindedly picking up my phone and just … scrolling. I wouldn’t even realize I was doing it until my 10 pm alarm went off, reminding me to get ready for bed. I’d become the reason journalist Karen K. Ho started sending out reminders to people on Twitter telling them to put down their devices. It was unhealthy; I never really got to relax and would wake up every morning feeling anything but rested.Then I started playing Merge Mansion. The game works by having you produce objects and then merge them. To produce items, you have to use energy, and eventually it runs out. It only takes 15 minutes or so to deplete your resources, so there are lots of natural stopping points built in. Unlike doomscrolling, which can evaporate hours of your life before you know it, Merge Mansion’s energy mechanic makes it easy to keep track of the time you’re spending in the game. It is, simply put, a much more manageable pastime.Social media usage is not nearly as tractable. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’ve tried hiding certain apps far away from my home screen; I’ve set Screen Time limits. At one point, I even attempted to remove them altogether, but as a person who relies on social media professionally, that just wasn’t practical.Mobile games became a loophole. Instead of deleting Twitter or TikTok, I just kept games on my homescreen. Now when I pull out my phone, they’re the first thing I see. And it’s not just Merge Mansion, either. I’m also playing Family Farm Adventure. It’s not that I’ve convinced myself not to open the social media apps—it’s that I don’t want to anymore. I’d rather play games.And you know what? I don’t care if I spend all evening playing. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, and it’s satisfying. I get a real sense of accomplishment when I upgrade a building or clean muck out of a fountain. And I usually end up playing for 15 or 30 minutes and then go find a book or turn on the TV.It even shows in my mobile habits: Before I started playing Merge Mansion, I spent about two hours a day on Twitter. Now, it’s an hour a day on mobile gaming and just a half hour—sometimes even less—on the toxic bird app. Mobile gaming is genuinely improving my quality of life, and it didn’t even take any real work on my part.While some people have had luck replacing doomscrolling with handheld gaming, that’s not the case for me. I absolutely love my Switch (and my new Steam Deck—more on that in future weeks), but the key for me is that the games are on my phone. I don’t have to keep another device within reach to access the games. Because my doomscrolling is an automatic bad habit, I needed to make the solution automatic as well. For me, that meant mobile.If you’re not much of a mobile gamer but are interested in getting started, try downloading a few types of titles. I find merge and improvement games to be the most successful for me. I don’t necessarily like free-to-play games where you end up having to shell out money in order to succeed (though I have definitely bought some add-on packs in Merge Mansion without any guilt—it’s protecting my mental health, OK?). It’s worth experimenting to see what works and what looks good on a smaller screen (a lot of iOS mobile games render better on an iPad).Either way, if you want to break that doomscrolling habit, it’s worth digging into. Speaking of digging, get ready to plant some flowers in Merge Mansion.
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Gaming & VR
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Image: Meta
Meta Quest Pro is the first headset that uses the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1. However, the chip is not that new.The Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 has been the standard chip for standalone headsets that use Android as the operating system since 2020: The SoC powers Meta Quest 2 (2020), HTC Vive Focus 3 (2021) and Pico 4 (2022), among others.However, the premium headset Meta Quest Pro relies on a new chip that manufacturer Qualcomm markets under the name Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1.According to Qualcomm, the SOC offers 50 percent higher continuous performance and 30 percent better heat dissipation compared to the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 of the Meta Quest 2.This increase is due to a spatial separation of chip and RAM, as hardware analyst Brad Lynch reported back in August. RAM typically sits directly on top of the chip, which lowers manufacturing costs but generates more waste heat.What Carmack says about the “new” chipHeat is one of the most significant challenges in designing standalone headsets. The Meta Quest 2’s XR2 is known to run at half CPU load to avoid overheating.Meta’s VR tech consultant John Carmack said during his recent Connect talk that the XR2+ Gen 1 has the same processing cores as its predecessor, but is built to address more RAM and dissipate heat better, so you can clock the chip higher. Meta Quest Pro has 12 GB of RAM, twice as much as Meta Quest 2.“The heat dissipation is a really big deal and there are some specific details around the chip packaging that means you can’t just necessarily slap a bigger heatsink on this, sometimes you need to change the way the entire chip is packaged,” Carmack says.XR2+: Extra power flows into new hardware featuresAn important question is how much apps will benefit from the added performance of the XR2+ Gen 1. According to Meta, the 50 percent additional performance “refers to the increased SoC power that supports additional sensors and new use cases,” and apps that don’t take advantage of these features would only have “a little more performance headroom,” UploadVR reports.
Kündigung jederzeit online möglichab 2,80 € / MonatIn other words, most of the XR2+ Gen1’s increased performance goes to the Meta Quest Pro’s eye and face tracking and higher-end passthrough.Qualcomm says the XR2+ Gen1 won’t be sold only to Meta. Other OEMs are expected to announce devices with the chip by the end of the year. According to Brad Lynch, there is not much interest because the next and much more powerful generation of the XR2 chip, the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, is already waiting in the wings.Next-gen chip could be unveiled soonLynch reported in early October that the brand-new SoC will be based on the still unannounced Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: Qualcomm’s latest high-end chip that is supposed to power premium smartphones of 2023.According to Lynch, the GPU alone could bring a 2.5- to 3-fold performance increase over the Meta Quest 2’s XR2 chip (see video below). The chip will be announced at Snapdragon Summit in November and will be featured in the Meta Quest 3.In his Connect talk, Carmack confirmed that Meta and Qualcomm are working on a “true next-generation XR2 chip.” The two companies announced a deeper partnership in September to develop XR chips for autonomous headsets.“There are several very custom VR-specific features going in that. I’m excited beyond just the normal CPU and GPU advances that you’re pretty much expecting,” Carmack said regarding the new chip. “I do kind of worry though that it’s a very high-end chip, and we may need something low-end targeted for inexpensive VR headsets in the future though.”Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
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Sony’s new VR headset is set for release in February and will set you back around $550.Image: Sony Interactive EntertainmentAfter months of waiting, we finally have an idea how big your wallet will need to be for you to strap Sony’s new PlayStation VR2 headset around your noggin. Essentially, it’s going to cost you more than the price of a full PS5 for just the base setup.OffEnglish01:30Randall Park | First FandomsFriday 3:07PMThe company wrote early Wednesday that the VR2 headset will cost $549.99. This includes the headset itself and controllers. Of course, you’ll need a PlayStation 5 console to run the damn thing. While preorders for the headset, controller charging station, and initial slate of games should be available on Nov. 15, the official release date is set for Feb. 22, 2023. Direct orders from PlayStation will ship out on launch week.Sony also revealed its Playstation VR2 Sense controller charging station that’s going out the gate at $49.99. Thankfully, it does not seem to be a necessary addition, as you can still charge the controllers using the PS5’s USB ports.PlayStation also revealed the initial slate of 11 PS VR2 titles that are also launching next February. It includes games we’ve already seen, such as the rail shooter The Dark Pictures: Switchback or the rhythm game Pistol Whip VR. This is in addition to already announced games like Horizon: Call of the Mountain and a VR version of Resident Evil: Village. It’s been six years since Sony’s last VR release, but this new edition will only work on PS5, compared to the previous device that was compatible with PS4 consoles as well. Of course, its running upgraded specs that put it above devices like the Meta Quest 2 in terms of both price and power.G/O Media may get a commissionCozyCanadian Down & Feather CompanySleepy and ethical. The Canadian Down & Feather Company can check a few people off your holiday shopping list: cozy connoisseurs or family who just needs better sleep. Unfortunately, all those PS VR1 players won’t be able to take their games onto the PS VR2, which is a very strange decision considering how the PS5's limited game library is bolstered due to its wide backwards compatibility with PS4 games. PlayStation exec Hideaki Nishino said this was because “PS VR2 is designed to deliver a truly next generation VR experience,” especially with its haptic feedback controls and environmental scanning systems.Sony probably needs a win with its PS VR system, as its latest quarterly earnings from Tuesday show that the company has lost close to 2 million PlayStation Plus subscribers since it relaunched the service. The company has sold only 3.3 million PS5 units this past quarter, which is the same as last year and is far below what it’ll need to reach its target of 23 million consoles sold by March.
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Apple Inc.’s rumored augmented-reality glasses may not appear until 2025 or 2026, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst at Haitong International Tech Research. The tech giant’s augmented- and virtual-reality moves are being closely monitored, with Apple AAPL, -1.13% reportedly working on an AR/VR standalone headset and AR glasses for everyday wear. In a note reported by PC Mag earlier this year, Pu said the glasses would be announced in late 2024. However, he now believes that they will debut later than that. “We now expect the AR Glass to be postponed to 2025-2026, due to design issues,” he said in an email to MarketWatch. Apple has been teasing AR for a number of years, fueling talk about the company’s plans for glasses. Citing analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, MacRumors reported last year that Apple AR glasses could appear by 2025. Now read: Apple CEO Tim Cook predicts AR will have ‘profound’ impact, downplays metaverse In a recent interview with the Dutch media outlet Bright, Apple CEO Tim Cook described augmented reality as a “profound technology” that will affect everything. Apple is expected to announce its own AR/VR headset in the coming months, with the device likely available next year. Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment from MarketWatch on its plans for AR glasses. The global VR market was valued at $21.83 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15% between 2022 and 2030, according to data from Grand View Research. But Paolo Pescatore, technology analyst at PP Foresight, told MarketWatch that the market for VR and AR is still nascent. “It still feels like a solution looking for a problem,” he said via email. “While there seem to be numerous use cases, adoption and awareness remain lackluster.” Opinion: Apple, more than Meta, holds the key to unlocking a ‘metaverse’-type world of AR Nonetheless, there is scope for a wearable device that would connect to an iPhone, potentially opening up a ‘metaverse’-style world of AR. In this way Apple, more than Meta Platforms Inc. META, +6.42%, could hold the key to unlocking the potential of augmented reality. A product geared toward smart glasses feels like a sensible approach and would also be consistent with Apple’s focus on wearable devices linked to its core product, the iPhone, Pescatore said. “Furthermore, this feels less intrusive and offers more scope for differentiation,” he added. “It builds upon its growing developer community and media partners who are now starting to release features for smart glasses.” “The company has placed strong focus on the iPhone as a gateway to the Apple universe,” said Pescatore, noting that this might suggest it is behind the curve on new hardware. “All rivals have been seeking to differentiate with new product categories such as foldable devices, smart glasses, VR and more,” he said. But just as Apple technologies such as the iPad and Apple Watch have revolutionized their respective product categories, Pescatore is confident that Apple can do the same with AR glasses. “Ultimately, when the device launches, Apple will kickstart consumer demand for smart glasses and the AR landscape in general,” he said. “For sure, a new device will provide much-needed excitement for the entire developer and creative communities.” Apple’s stock ended Friday’s session down 0.2%, while the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.32% closed up 1.4%.
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Gaming & VR
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Today, during the 2022 World VR Industry event, Huawei launched the first smart Vision Glass. These viewing glasses pack a bunch of surprising features and some outstanding functionalities.
The Chief Operating Officer of Huawei Device BG – He Gang unveiled the smart viewing glasses on the event stage. Alongside this, the personnel mentioned how this device could serve benefits in the world of virtual reality.
So without any ado, let’s dive into the glorious Huawei Vision Glasses.
Huawei Vision Glass launched with a Micro-OLED display. Ultimately, this mini panel amounts similar to a 120-inch massive virtual screen.
On the other hand, the display supports binocular 1080P resolution with full HD context and 480 nit brightness. It holds 90% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and has successfully gained the German Rheinland low blue light certificate.
In terms of design, Vision Glass has appeared with a muscular outlook. Further, the glasses showcase matte texture on the broader frames. It holds a plugin void on the left side. The pack-box of the device also retains a robust black structure. Another interesting addition is the ultra-thin smart speakers. These tiny speakers exhibit myopia adjustment ranging from 0-500 degrees. In other words, it can be adjustable up to 500 diopters of refractive power.
Significantly, Huawei Vision Glasses has launched without any local CPU or storage segments. Hence, this gadget won’t support any external mobile hard drive. Though, you can effectively connect the wearable through smartphones, tablets, and PCs.
The battery life of Huawei Vision Glasses is equivalent to the phone’s battery. Thus, you can easily enjoy the device benefits for a good enough period. Price and Availability
As of now, the price of the Huawei Vision Glass is under the hood and will be available for pre-order by November 14. Thereafter, the smart glass will officially make its debut on the sale platform in December.
(Source) Yash is a graduate of computer science and followed his way into journalism, he is interested in various subjects related to technologies and politics. Yash likes to listen classical songs and has a huge library of classical mixes.
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Gaming & VR
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This story is part of Amazon Prime Day, CNET's guide to everything you need to know and how to find the best deals. There are endless places to get PC games -- Steam, the Epic Game Store, GOG, even the PC versions of Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. But Amazon also has a dedicated gaming site for Amazon Prime Members (separate from the fact that Amazon owns game streaming service Twitch). There's usually a rotating selection of free games, plus free in-game items for games like Destiny 2 and League of Legends. But the Prime Day selection is especially good. Most of these games are accessed through Amazon's own gaming hub software (which is Windows-only for now), but some are redeemed on sites like EA's Origin gaming service. Here are the highlights. Mass Effect Legendary EditionThe recent upgraded version of the classic scifi RPG trilogy, definitely worth playing if you've never taken your personalized Commander Sheppard across the cosmos. Classic Star Wars gamesIncluding Jedi Knight II, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Republic Commando.Need for Speed: HeatA recent (2019) racer from EA.Grid: LegendsAnother EA racing game, but a new-for-2022 one, and it's literally $60 on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation right now. Those are the big games available only during Prime Day, but you can find more than 40 other free games, some expiring in a day or two, others that will be available for the rest of the month. These are all on the Prime Gaming main page. Some highlights include:Death SquaredThe Darkside Detective Maniac MansionFellseal: Arbiter's MarkKing of Fighters 2002Metal Slug 2More gaming adviceBest Game Subscription ServicesBest Mainstream and Indie Games on the New PlayStation PlusBest Free Nintendo Switch Games: Fall Guys and More Amazon Prime Day 2022 Amazon Prime Day Deals: Best Ones So Far Amazon Prime Day Alternatives: Shop the Best Anti-Prime Day Deals Now Bundle an Echo Dot and Smart Bulb for a Massive 69% Prime Day Discount 42 Amazon Prime Day Deals Under $25 50 Amazon Prime Day Deals Under $50
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Gaming & VR
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CNBC's Sofia Pitt using Matt Reed's HoriZuck Lens for Snapchat.Nightmares really do come true.Snapchat user Matt Reed has created a filter called HoriZuck Lens that will turn your face into Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s viral Horizon Worlds avatar. I tried it and it felt wrong.If you're not sure what I'm talking about, let me fill you in. Earlier this month, Zuckerberg shared a screenshot of his Horizon Worlds VR avatar on his Facebook page to announce that the project had launched in France and Spain.The internet went wild. Critics slammed the poor quality of the graphics, especially considering the metaverse project is costing Meta $10 billion.Mark Zuckerberg during Metaverse conversation on CNBCSource: CNBCIn response to the backlash, Zuckerberg posted a new avatar days later. He said the original avatar was "basic" and "major updates to Horizon and avatar graphics coming soon." "The graphics in Horizon are capable of much more — even on headsets — and Horizon is improving very quickly," Zuckerberg said on August 19.But as with all viral internet phenomena, pictures never really die. You can become Zuck's avatar, too, by downloading Matt Reed's Snapchat lens here.CNBC's Sofia Pitt using Matt Reed's HoriZuck Lens on Snapchat.
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Gaming & VR
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Apple Inc.’s rumored augmented-reality glasses may not appear until 2025 or 2026, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst at Haitong International Tech Research. The tech giant’s augmented- and virtual-reality moves are being closely monitored, with Apple AAPL, -0.19% reportedly working on an AR/VR standalone headset and AR glasses for everyday wear. In a note reported by PC Mag earlier this year, Pu said the glasses would be announced in late 2024. However, he now believes that they will debut later than that. “We now expect the AR Glass to be postponed to 2025-2026, due to design issues,” he said in an email to MarketWatch. Apple has been teasing AR for a number of years, fueling talk about the company’s plans for glasses. Citing analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, MacRumors reported last year that Apple AR glasses could appear by 2025. Now read: Apple CEO Tim Cook predicts AR will have ‘profound’ impact, downplays metaverse In a recent interview with the Dutch media outlet Bright, Apple CEO Tim Cook described augmented reality as a “profound technology” that will affect everything. Apple is expected to announce its own AR/VR headset in the coming months, with the device likely available next year. Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment from MarketWatch on its plans for AR glasses. The global VR market was valued at $21.83 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15% between 2022 and 2030, according to data from Grand View Research. But Paolo Pescatore, technology analyst at PP Foresight, told MarketWatch that the market for VR and AR is still nascent. “It still feels like a solution looking for a problem,” he said via email. “While there seem to be numerous use cases, adoption and awareness remain lackluster.” Opinion: Apple, more than Meta, holds the key to unlocking a ‘metaverse’-type world of AR Nonetheless, there is scope for a wearable device that would connect to an iPhone, potentially opening up a ‘metaverse’-style world of AR. In this way Apple, more than Meta Platforms Inc. META, +2.11%, could hold the key to unlocking the potential of augmented reality. A product geared toward smart glasses feels like a sensible approach and would also be consistent with Apple’s focus on wearable devices linked to its core product, the iPhone, Pescatore said. “Furthermore, this feels less intrusive and offers more scope for differentiation,” he added. “It builds upon its growing developer community and media partners who are now starting to release features for smart glasses.” “The company has placed strong focus on the iPhone as a gateway to the Apple universe,” said Pescatore, noting that this might suggest it is behind the curve on new hardware. “All rivals have been seeking to differentiate with new product categories such as foldable devices, smart glasses, VR and more,” he said. But just as Apple technologies such as the iPad and Apple Watch have revolutionized their respective product categories, Pescatore is confident that Apple can do the same with AR glasses. “Ultimately, when the device launches, Apple will kickstart consumer demand for smart glasses and the AR landscape in general,” he said. “For sure, a new device will provide much-needed excitement for the entire developer and creative communities.” Apple’s stock ended Friday’s session down 0.2%, while the S&P 500 Index SPX, +1.36% closed up 1.4%.
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Gaming & VR
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Apple and Facebook parent Meta are expected to release mixed reality headsets in the coming year that could finally fulfill the industry's promise to turn head-worn devices into the next big shift in personal computing.But there's one major potential snag: sticker shock.The best-selling virtual reality headset, the Meta Quest 2, retails for $400 and accounted for 78% of the nascent VR market in 2021, according to IDC. Consumers who want the next-generation technology are going to have to spend multiples of that.Meta's forthcoming high-end headset, codenamed Cambria, is expected to cost at least $800, the company said earlier this year. Apple's unannounced device could reportedly cost thousands of dollars. That's a hefty load for products in a category that's yet to go mainstream. Just 11.2 million VR units were shipped last year, IDC said. Apple sells that many iPhones every few weeks.To expand the market, Meta and Apple will have to convince consumers that more advanced systems will be worth the investment. Both companies are reportedly betting on a new technology called passthrough mixed reality, which requires better displays and more processing power.If passthrough mixed reality works as advertised, a VR headset would also function as a set of augmented reality glasses, enhancing the possibilities for applications and real-world use.With existing VR devices, the experience is limited to what's on the headset's display. In passthrough AR, powerful cameras on the outside of a VR headset take video of the outside world and send it to two or more displays, one each in front of the user's eyes.This allows for developers to play with mixed reality, overlaying software or graphics on the video of the real world from just outside.Believers in mixed reality say that we'll eventually be able to condense the technology into a lightweight pair of glasses with transparent lenses. But that's for the future.The passthrough approach is emerging as the preferred near-term option because optical transparent displays are nowhere near ready for primetime. The problem for today is that passthrough mixed reality requires a lot of expensive parts and a powerful headset, limiting the size of the market.In addition to the advanced cameras, passthrough devices need depth sensors that can take detailed video and measurements of the user's surroundings. They also have to track the user's eyes so as not to waste power generating graphics that will go unseen. And they need powerful processing capabilities and software to reduce latency so that what the user sees inside the headset isn't delayed or blurred.Most important is the high-resolution screen that needs to be much denser than a smartphone display because it's so close to the user's eyes. Smartphone screens average about 550 pixels per inch, but mixed reality devices require displays with about 3,500 PPI, according to CounterPoint Research.While Meta and Apple haven't released their headsets, a few devices currently on the market support passthrough mixed reality. The experiences tend to be limited — black and white or low-quality video — because of a lack of processing power.A few weeks ago, I was able to test a headset from Varjo, a Finnish company co-founded by Urho Konttori, a former Microsoft and Nokia executive. Last year, Varjo released the XR-3, which offers full-color, low-latency passthrough mixed reality. It's expensive, heavy, and aimed at businesses. It costs $6,495 to purchase or about $1,500 to rent it for a year.In playing around with the XR-3, I felt less isolated than with other VR headsets.Varjo's XR-3 headsetVarjoI could access a virtual world with the press of a single button, and I could pull up games that took over my entire field of view. I could use virtual computer monitors displaying Windows applications inside the virtual world.I was also able to interact with the world around me through Varjo's passthrough view. In the demo, Varjo placed a life-size car model inside the space. I was able to walk around it and inspect its interior and discuss what I was seeing with someone who wasn't wearing a VR headset.Most impressively, when passthrough was turned on, I could interact with the actual environment around me, carrying on a conversation with the person next to me or finding a chair and sitting in it. This isn't possible with existing VR technology, which forces you to remove yourself from the physical world.Konttori told me that was one of his main goals. The company wants to almost mimic "human-eye" display quality, which he calls the "holy grail" of mixed reality.'A single coherent scene'The XR-3 has two 2880 by 2720 pixel displays, and the company uses eye tracking to focus its processing power to deliver better image quality where your eyes are looking.The key is "being able to merge the physical reality around you with the virtual reality objects and make it into a single coherent scene, where you cannot tell apart what is real and what is virtual anymore," Konttori said. "Part of this evolution is that you can see that at some point, the fidelity of this experience is equal to what you would perceive by looking at it with just your own eyes."However, to use the XR-3 you have to be tethered by a cable to a powerful gaming PC. Meta and Apple are focused on developing devices that don't require attachment to a separate computer. Konttori knows it will be hard for his startup to compete with some of the biggest tech companies in the world, but he says Meta and Apple still face challenges.That's because developing a consumer-friendly product with the right weight and power consumption is very tricky, especially when it comes to keeping costs down and shipping millions of them."Companies are focusing on consumer-alike experiences, which means that they are still really driven by the size, weight, ergonomics point of view, as well as cost," Konttori said.An attendee wears a HTC Corp. Vive virtual reality (VR) headset during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, U.S., on Monday, June 5, 2017.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesApple is notoriously secretive about its product roadmap, especially when it comes to new categories. The company has invested heavily in virtual reality research and development in its Technology Development Group and has purchased several startups specializing in mixed reality technology.According to reports from Bloomberg and The Information, Apple is developing a mixed reality headset that resembles ski goggles with a powerful homegrown chip, similar to what powers its MacBook laptops, and higher-resolution displays than what's currently on the market.The headset will reportedly support passthrough video and offer games and other applications. At one point, Apple was aiming for at least resolution similar to a 4K TV per eye for its first headset, because anything less could result in users seeing individual pixels, The Information reported.Apple hasn't confirmed its plans to release a mixed reality headset, and the company didn't respond to a request for comment on this story. In an interview with Chinese media earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested that something is in the works.Meta has said Project Cambria, with support of color passthrough, is scheduled to be released later this year. Based on renderings of the device that have been made public, it also looks like a pair of ski goggles. It will include pancake optics, a type of lens that doesn't need to be calibrated as finely as other VR lenses.Meta said in May that the price for Cambria would be "significantly higher" than $800.While passthrough technology has yet to hit the market in a real way and will be quite pricey once it does, metaverse developers are rallying behind it. The primary alternative, optically-based mixed reality, uses transparent displays built into lenses to integrate computer graphics with the real world. Microsoft's Hololens and Magic Leap use optical waveguides, a type of transparent display.Transparent displays are also expensive, and they have their own sets of challenges. They're not good when used in bright daylight, and the current offerings can suffer from poor image quality and blurry text.Varjo is making a bet on passthrough technology and Konttori says it's the better approach in large part because it's completely digital, putting more control in the hands of developers."It becomes computable," Konttori said. "It becomes a tool for artificial intelligence to be participating in your world, enhancing your view or your intellect, and you can distort the world in the tiniest ways or the biggest ways possible."He expects passthrough to be "the winning approach for a very, very long time."WATCH: The future of entertainment is mixed reality gaming experiences
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Gaming & VR
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Facebook parent Meta and Qualcomm will work on making virtual reality chips for various metaverse applications.Ercin Erturk | Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesMeta and Qualcomm are teaming up to develop custom chipsets for virtual reality products, the companies announced on Friday.The two U.S. technology giants have signed a multi-year agreement "to collaborate on a new era of spatial computing," using Qualcomm's "extended reality" (XR) Snapdragon technology. Extended reality refers to technologies including virtual and augmented reality, which merge the physical and digital world.related investing news"We're working with Qualcomm Technologies on customized virtual reality chipsets — powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology — for our future roadmap of Quest products," Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a press release.The Quest products are Meta's line of virtual reality headsets. The Meta Quest 2 headset currently uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 chipset.Since its rebrand in 2021, Facebook-parent Meta has staked its future on the metaverse — a term that encompasses virtual and augmented reality technology — with the aim of having people working and playing in digital worlds in the near future.In the smartphone field, companies ranging from Apple to Samsung have designed their own custom processors to differentiate from competitors and create better products than they might have using off-the-shelf chips.A focus on custom chips by Meta makes sense as it looks to differentiate its headsets and possibly create unique experiences for users."Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality brings novel, multi-dimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost, and form factor," Zuckerberg said. "These chipsets will help us keep pushing virtual reality to its limits and deliver awesome experiences."The length of the deal between the companies and financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.It comes as Meta gears up to launch a new virtual reality headset in October, even as losses widened in its Reality Labs division, which includes its VR business, in the second quarter of the year.
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Gaming & VR
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MIT researchers have developed a machine-learning technique that accurately captures and models the underlying acoustics of a scene from only a limited number of sound recordings. In this image, a sound emitter is marked by a red dot. The colors show the sound volume if a listener were to stand at different locations — yellow is louder and blue is quieter. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Imagine the booming chords from a pipe organ echoing through the cavernous sanctuary of a massive, stone cathedral. The sound a cathedral-goer will hear is affected by many factors, including the location of the organ, where the listener is standing, whether any columns, pews, or other obstacles stand between them, what the walls are made of, the locations of windows or doorways, etc. Hearing a sound can help someone envision their environment.
Researchers at MIT and the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab are exploring the use of spatial acoustic information to help machines better envision their environments, too. They developed a machine-learning model that can capture how any sound in a room will propagate through the space, enabling the model to simulate what a listener would hear at different locations.
By accurately modeling the acoustics of a scene, the system can learn the underlying 3D geometry of a room from sound recordings. The researchers can use the acoustic information their system captures to build accurate visual renderings of a room, similarly to how humans use sound when estimating the properties of their physical environment.
In addition to its potential applications in virtual and augmented reality, this technique could help artificial-intelligence agents develop better understandings of the world around them. For instance, by modeling the acoustic properties of the sound in its environment, an underwater exploration robot could sense things that are farther away than it could with vision alone, says Yilun Du, a grad student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and co-author of a paper describing the model. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Most researchers have only focused on modeling vision so far. But as humans, we have multimodal perception. Not only is vision important, sound is also important. I think this work opens up an exciting research direction on better utilizing sound to model the world," Du says.
Joining Du on the paper are lead author Andrew Luo, a grad student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU); Michael J. Tarr, the Kavčić-Moura Professor of Cognitive and Brain Science at CMU; and senior authors Joshua B. Tenenbaum, the Paul E. Newton Career Development Professor of Cognitive Science and Computation in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); Antonio Torralba, the Delta Electronics Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of CSAIL; and Chuang Gan, a principal research staff member at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. The research will be presented at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems. Sound and vision
In computer vision research, a type of machine-learning model called an implicit neural representation model has been used to generate smooth, continuous reconstructions of 3D scenes from images. These models utilize neural networks, which contain layers of interconnected nodes, or neurons, that process data to complete a task.
The MIT researchers employed the same type of model to capture how sound travels continuously through a scene.
But they found that vision models benefit from a property known as photometric consistency which does not apply to sound. If one looks at the same object from two different locations, the object looks roughly the same. But with sound, change locations and the sound one hears could be completely different due to obstacles, distance, etc. This makes predicting audio very difficult.
The researchers overcame this problem by incorporating two properties of acoustics into their model: the reciprocal nature of sound and the influence of local geometric features.
Sound is reciprocal, which means that if the source of a sound and a listener swap positions, what the person hears is unchanged. Additionally, what one hears in a particular area is heavily influenced by local features, such as an obstacle between the listener and the source of the sound.
To incorporate these two factors into their model, called a neural acoustic field (NAF), they augment the neural network with a grid that captures objects and architectural features in the scene, like doorways or walls. The model randomly samples points on that grid to learn the features at specific locations.
"If you imagine standing near a doorway, what most strongly affects what you hear is the presence of that doorway, not necessarily geometric features far away from you on the other side of the room. We found this information enables better generalization than a simple fully connected network," Luo says.
From predicting sounds to visualizing scenes
Researchers can feed the NAF visual information about a scene and a few spectrograms that show what a piece of audio would sound like when the emitter and listener are located at target locations around the room. Then the model predicts what that audio would sound like if the listener moves to any point in the scene.
The NAF outputs an impulse response, which captures how a sound should change as it propagates through the scene. The researchers then apply this impulse response to different sounds to hear how those sounds should change as a person walks through a room.
For instance, if a song is playing from a speaker in the center of a room, their model would show how that sound gets louder as a person approaches the speaker and then becomes muffled as they walk out into an adjacent hallway.
When the researchers compared their technique to other methods that model acoustic information, it generated more accurate sound models in every case. And because it learned local geometric information, their model was able to generalize to new locations in a scene much better than other methods.
Moreover, they found that applying the acoustic information their model learns to a computer vison model can lead to a better visual reconstruction of the scene.
"When you only have a sparse set of views, using these acoustic features enables you to capture boundaries more sharply, for instance. And maybe this is because to accurately render the acoustics of a scene, you have to capture the underlying 3D geometry of that scene," Du says.
The researchers plan to continue enhancing the model so it can generalize to brand new scenes. They also want to apply this technique to more complex impulse responses and larger scenes, such as entire buildings or even a town or city.
"This new technique might open up new opportunities to create a multimodal immersive experience in the metaverse application," adds Gan.
"My group has done a lot of work on using machine-learning methods to accelerate acoustic simulation or model the acoustics of real-world scenes. This paper by Chuang Gan and his co-authors is clearly a major step forward in this direction," says Dinesh Manocha, the Paul Chrisman Iribe Professor of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, who was not involved with this work. "In particular, this paper introduces a nice implicit representation that can capture how sound can propagate in real-world scenes by modeling it using a linear time-invariant system. This work can have many applications in AR/VR as well as real-world scene understanding." More information: Andrew Luo et al, Learning Neural Acoustic Fields, arXiv (2022). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2204.00628 Journal information: arXiv This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching. Citation: Using sound to model the world (2022, November 1) retrieved 2 November 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-11-world.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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Gaming & VR
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Meta’s Reality Labs division might be burning billions, but it’s not all going toward not-great VR headsets. The company is currently putting “about half” of Reality Labs’ operating expenses toward augmented reality (AR), Meta CTO and Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth said in an extensive blog post on Monday.The company has been pushing toward its vision of AR glasses for a while, and while that product might still be very far out, Meta has taken recent steps to get closer to it. Last year’s Ray-Ban Stories sunglasses look like regular glasses and are equipped with cameras, and the Meta Quest Pro is capable of more immersive AR thanks to its color passthrough.But that fully complete glasses product from Meta could be years away, even with how much the company is investing in AR. “Our vision for true AR glasses will require years of progress making our devices slimmer, lighter, faster, and more powerful, all while consuming way less battery power and generating much less heat,” Bosworth said. The Verge reported in June that the first version of Meta’s standalone AR glasses will be for developers only, like Snap’s recent AR Spectacles, and the company is working on three iterations of glasses to be released over the course of years.Meta’s AR glasses could be paired with additional hardware, according to a Monday report from The Information. One device the company is testing is shaped like a phone and could be used to “send commands to the glasses or to access more computing power for them,” The Information says. Meta also attempted to make a smartwatch to pair with the glasses but ran into power and design problems.In his post, Bosworth discussed other aspects of Reality Labs’ work that could see meaningful updates next year. He reiterated that the company is working hard to improve its widely ridiculed avatar system, with “plenty more to share on this in 2023.” (Meta shared in October that it figured out legs.) Horizon Worlds, Meta’s Roblox-like social VR platform, has been struggling to keep users, but Bosworth promises that Meta is going to “spend 2023 focused on helping this community flourish.” And you can look forward to a “Meta Quest Gaming Showcase” in the spring and the official reveal of the “successor to the Meta Quest 2,” something CEO Mark Zuckerberg also brought up in the company’s most recent earnings. As someone watching the VR and AR space, I appreciate Bosworth recapping the year and laying out what’s next. But his post is likely also intended to show Meta’s commitment to VR and AR ahead of what’s a potentially huge year for AR / VR hardware. (Meta probably also wants to put its best foot forward after the sudden departure of John Carmack on Friday.)HTC has already said it will announce a lightweight Meta Quest competitor in just a few weeks at CES. The device, like the Meta Quest Pro, will be capable of VR, AR, and color passthrough. And Apple is widely expected to jump into VR / AR by revealing its own high-end headset next year. Meta expects the field to get more crowded with “new competitors joining us in building for AR and VR next year,” Bosworth wrote. We’ll have to wait and see if what the company has built — and what it has in store — is enough to make all of its investments worth it.
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Gaming & VR
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Apple's mixed-reality headset will feature iris scanning to authenticate payments and log into accounts, setting itself apart from Meta's new Quest Pro headset, according to a paywalled report from The Information.
Two individuals, who apparently helped develop Apple's headset, told The Information that users will be able to scan their irises to quickly log into their accounts and make payments, similar to Face ID and Touch ID – a feature first rumored by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Iris scanning is also said to make it easier for multiple people to use the same headset and sets the device apart from the Quest Pro, which lacks any such feature.
To enable iris scanning, internal cameras track where users are looking. Eye tracking also allows Apple to reduce graphical fidelity in a user's peripheral vision, thereby reducing the amount of processing power required for the headset's graphics. Apple's purchase of German startup SensoMotoric Instruments in 2017 is said to have allowed it to build the technology.
The report reiterated the rumor that Apple's headset will feature 14 cameras, compared to just 10 on Meta's Quest Pro headset, designed to capture motion to accurately represent real-world movements on digital avatars. Two downward-facing cameras apparently capture the wearer's legs, offering another feature that the Quest Pro does not have.
The headset purportedly resembles "a pair of ski goggles" and look different from the Quest Pro. Apple's design is said to rely heavily on "mesh fabrics, aluminum and glass," and conceals its outward-facing cameras better than the Quest Pro. The device is also apparently thinner and lighter than the Quest Pro, which weighs 722 grams.
In addition, the report claims that Apple's headset allows those who wear glasses to magnetically clip on custom prescription lenses inside the device.
On the exterior of the headset, an outward-facing display is said to allow other people to see the facial expressions of the wearer. Despite concerns over how the display may use additional battery life, it is reportedly able to operate at a low refresh rate to conserve power, similar to the always-on displays of the Apple Watch and iPhone.
The Information warned that some previously planned features may not make it into the final version of the headset when it is unveiled next year. Related Stories10 Cutting Edge Features to Expect From Apple's Upcoming AR/VR HeadsetFriday October 14, 2022 3:09 pm PDT by Juli CloverApple next year is planning to enter a new product category, launching its first mixed reality headset. Rumors indicate that the upcoming headset will support both AR and VR technology, and that it will have features that will outshine competing products. Render created by Ian Zelbo based on rumored information With the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, Apple's hardware and software led it to...Apple Rumored to Announce 'Game-Changer' AR/VR Headset in January 2023Apple is "likely" to announce its long-rumored mixed-reality headset as soon as January 2023, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reiterated.
Concept render based on purported leaked information by Ian Zelbo In a detailed post on Medium, Kuo explained that Apple's headset will be a "game-changer" for the augmented-reality and virtual-reality market. Describing some of the headset's...Apple's Struggles With Long-Rumored AR/VR Headset Detailed in New ReportThe Information's Wayne Ma today published a lengthy report detailing technical and leadership challenges that Apple has faced during development of its long-rumored AR/VR headset, which is currently expected to be announced by the end of 2023.
Apple headset render created by Ian Zelbo based on The Information reporting For example, the report claims that Apple's team working on the...Kuo: Apple to Hold Special Event in January to Announce Mixed Reality HeadsetMonday June 6, 2022 11:56 pm PDT by Sami FathiApple plans to announce its long-rumored mixed reality headset during an event planned for January 2023, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today.
In a tweet, Kuo offered a more precise timeline for Apple's mixed reality headset, which despite speculation did not make an appearance during yesterday's WWDC keynote. According to Kuo, Apple will hold an event in January to reveal the product,...Apple Expecting to Ship 1.5 Million Units of $2,000+ AR/VR Headset in 2023Sunday August 7, 2022 10:26 pm PDT by Sami FathiApple plans to ship approximately 1.5 million units of its upcoming AR/VR headset in 2023, according to reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In a research note, Kuo reiterated that Apple plans to announce its long-rumored mixed-reality headset during an event in January 2023. The company's first AR/VR headset is expected to cost upwards of $2,000, making it a niche product. As a result, Kuo...Meta Debuts $1500 'Quest Pro' Mixed Reality Headset Ahead of Apple's 2023 AR/VR DeviceTuesday October 11, 2022 12:04 pm PDT by Juli CloverMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced the launch of the Meta Quest Pro, a new $1500 mixed reality headset that's aimed at "making the metaverse a reality." The Meta Quest Pro has several features that are rumored for Apple's AR/VR headset, which we are expecting to see launch next year.
The mixed reality headset incorporates both augmented and virtual reality, and it is equipped with...Popular StoriesiOS 16 Features an All-New iPhone Keyboard Layout OptioniOS 16 adds native support for the Dvorak keyboard layout on the iPhone, providing users with an alternative to the standard QWERTY layout. The newly added option was noted by @aaronp613 and others back in July, but the feature stayed largely under the radar until it was highlighted this week by Ars Technica and The Verge.
Dvorak was designed to make two-handed typing faster and more...Five New Features Coming to Your iPhone With iOS 16.1 Later This MonthTuesday October 11, 2022 6:39 am PDT by Sami FathiIn a few weeks, Apple will release iOS 16.1 for all compatible iPhones, marking the first major update to the iOS 16 operating system since its public release in September.
With iOS 16.1, Apple is bringing several new changes, features, and bug fixes to iPhone users. We've highlighted five noteworthy changes below. iOS 16.1 is currently still in beta testing with developers and public beta...What to Expect From Apple Through October: New iPad Pro, iOS 16.1, and MoreWednesday October 12, 2022 9:00 am PDT by Joe RossignolWhile it looks increasingly likely that Apple will not be holding an October event this year, the company still has a lot on its agenda this month, with multiple new product launches and software releases expected over the coming weeks.
With the iPhone 14 Plus launch in the rearview mirror, we have recapped what else to expect from Apple through the remainder of October below.
iPadOS 16...Apple Could Be Planning to Redesign Messages App Next YearApple is reportedly working on a new version of the Messages app that could be released alongside its mixed-reality headset next year.
Twitter leaker known as "Majin Bu" today claimed that Apple is working on a completely new version of iMessage, featuring a new home view, chat rooms, video clips, and more. The app purportedly offers "new chat features in AR" and, as such, it "should" be...Google Completes Rollout of iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets With Updates to Maps and SearchFriday October 14, 2022 4:50 am PDT by Tim HardwickGoogle has now rolled out all of the promised Lock Screen widgets for its iPhone apps, including the Google app, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Google News, and Google Drive.
The rollout was completed today with two Lock Screen widgets for Maps, following five widgets for the Google app that were released on Wednesday. In version 233.0 of the Google app, the widgets include the following...10 Cutting Edge Features to Expect From Apple's Upcoming AR/VR HeadsetFriday October 14, 2022 3:09 pm PDT by Juli CloverApple next year is planning to enter a new product category, launching its first mixed reality headset. Rumors indicate that the upcoming headset will support both AR and VR technology, and that it will have features that will outshine competing products. Render created by Ian Zelbo based on rumored information With the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, Apple's hardware and software led it to...Gurman: New M2 iPad Pro Models to Be Announced 'In a Matter of Days'Saturday October 15, 2022 10:44 am PDT by Sami FathiApple will announce new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models in "a matter of days," respected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman said today in his latest Power On newsletter. The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch models, codenamed J617 and J620, will be the first update to the higher-end iPad since April 2021, where both models gained the M1 chip and a new 12.-9-inch mini-LED display. For their...Video Review: One Week With the New iPhone 14 PlusFriday October 14, 2022 1:23 pm PDT by Juli CloverApple last Friday introduced the iPhone 14 Plus, a new 6.7-inch device that replaces the prior-generation iPhone 13 mini. The iPhone 14 Plus marks the first time that Apple has sold a more affordable larger-screened iPhone that is not classified as a "Pro" model since the company started debuting four smartphones at a time.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. MacRumors ...
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Gaming & VR
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The final demo at a day-long visit to Meta’s research offices in Washington state was easily the most memorable — true telepresence.
Realizing true telepresence in consumer hardware may be one of the hardest ideas to prepare for consumers. It may also be the key to unlock VR’s killer use case. Meta calls its approach to the challenge Codec Avatars and the technology could change the world in ways we can hardly fathom right now.
“I think most people don’t realize what’s coming,” Sheikh told UploadVR.
Earlier this year he suggested it was “five miracles away”. Now?
“I would count three to four research miracles we need to solve before it gets onto the on-board compute on Quest Pro,” Yaser Sheikh, research director at Meta’s Reality Labs office in Pittsburgh, told UploadVR.
Codec Avatars aim to make it so that you can feel 1:1 like you’re sharing a room with another person who isn’t actually physically present with you. Meta calls the approach “Codec Avatars” and if those miracles come to pass the concept could transform communications in ways as fundamental as the telephone. It may be the closest we ever come to teleportation and the term “telepresence” takes new meaning placed in context of the most impressive of three Codec Avatar demos presented by Meta. In the Codec Avatars 2.0 demo I came face to face with Jason Saragih, a research director for Meta in Pittsburgh. I moved my head to the right and left and his eyes maintained eye contact with me. As I conversed, I moved a light around his face to highlight his skin and expressions from different angles. The whole time I picked up on the same sorts of subtle facial movements I’d been keying in on all day from people sharing the same physical room with me like Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Bosworth, Michael Abrash, and others.
The difference was that Saragih shared my space virtually. He was physically located in Pittsburgh – over 2,500 miles away by road from where I stood in Washington state. He wore a research prototype VR headset to translate his facial movements and I wore a standard Rift S powered by a PC. We had a cross-continental VR call that, for lack of a better description, crossed the “uncanny valley” in virtual reality. The first call of this fidelity made at Reality Labs’ offices occurred in 2021.
“That’s actually probably the first time anyone has done that in real time for a real person,” Sheikh said. “It felt like what I would imagine Alexander Graham Bell’s moment of speaking with his assistant felt like.”
So what’s the hitch? Why can’t we replace phones immediately with Codec Avatars providing true telepresence? It’s too hard to do the proper scanning. Right now, creating an avatar capturing both the face and body of a person at that fidelity requires several hours in two different ultra-expensive scanning systems followed by at least four weeks of processing time. The “uncanny valley” refers to a well-known concept describing the discomfort people feel seeing faces that resemble humans but miss the mark in meaningful ways.
In film, you feel comfortably immersed in the story looking at something like the cute Baymax robot but constantly distracted looking at more human-like faces in heavily motion captured works like the 2004 film The Polar Express. You can chart out the “likeability” or “familiarity” of those faces and as “realism” increases there’s a point at which people simply get freaked out looking at something almost-but-not-quite human. Likeability drops and you’re left with what looks like a valley on the chart. If you can get enough things exactly right about the digital representation you can come up the other side of the valley when people begin to accept the likenesses again. Arguably, the 2009 James Cameron movie Avatar is the highest profile example of crossing that chasm in movies for extended periods of time as it presented human-like digitized characters which no longer distracted most viewers.
Doing the same thing in real-time with a live human in stereoscopic virtual reality is a much harder task. Failing to meet this standard is the reason so many people critizize the avatar Zuckerberg showed from Horizon Worlds earlier this year. And it’s also the reason most real-time avatars from major companies are closer to babies than photorealistic representations – cartoon babies sit more comfortably on the left side of the valley. An article from The Information earlier this year, for example, referred to a 2019 demo of avatars at Apple from the teams developing its VR headset tech that still fell into the uncanny valley. And indeed, two other demos provided by Meta on either side of the live cross-continental call made clear just how far there is to go. On either side of the most impressive avatar research demo Meta ever presented to press were two more that underscored the incredible challenge ahead.
To the right, Meta showed an avatar scanned from a cell phone. It required a 10 minute phone scan and a few hours of processing time. Meta presented the same concept at SIGGRAPH 2022 recently and, while impressive in its own way, the fidelity of the avatar fell deeply into the uncanny valley. To the left, Meta showed a full-body avatar captured in what the company calls the “Sociopticon”. It contains 220 high-resolution cameras requiring hours of scanning and days of processing to turn out one hyper-realistic scanned Codec Avatar. I could change the clothes on this avatar at any moment as the pre-recorded person performed the same movements over-and-over. As he jumped I could walk around the avatar and see each new set of clothing believably bunch up and drape around his body exactly as I would expect from physical clothing.
Sheikh said the three demos represent the “miracles” required to transform communications in the 21st century the way the telephone changed the 20th century.
“It’s actually the confluence of these three is that is what we need to solve,” he said. “You need to make it as easy as scanning yourself with a phone. It has to be of the quality of the Codec Avatar’s 2.0 and it needs to have the full body as well.”
If there’s a fourth “miracle”, then, it is to drive the hyper-realistic scanned Codec Avatar from the sensors and processors embedded in a VR headset that can be mass produced and priced into the range of buyers.
“There’s a lot of stuff to work out,” Meta’s top researcher Michael Abrash told UploadVR. “But I say the real miracle is how do you scale it?” Meta researchers said they would not allow anyone to drive someone else’s Codec Avatar. This was alluded to in 2019 with some of the first reveals of this technology publicly and reiterated during the recent SIGGRAPH demo of the phone-scanned version of the avatars.
“Internally all of us view the fact that authenticity – the fact that you are able to trust that when you are here in VR or AR you are who you are – the other source has trust,” Sheikh said. “That’s kind of like an existential requirement of this technology.”
The same way Apple’s Face ID scans your face and headsets like HoloLens 2 or Magic Leap 2 authenticate users with their iris – Meta’s own headsets may one day do similar in order to ensure the person wearing the headset is the one projecting their specific scanned Codec Avatar into the “Metaverse”.
“What this thing will allow us to do is share spaces with people,” Sheikh said. “Video conferencing let us survive the pandemic, but we all understood at the end of it what was missing…it was the feeling of sharing space with one another.” Ian Hamilton Ian Hamilton is a journalist based in Arkansas and managing editor at UploadVR. He's covered VR full-time since 2015 as well as Oculus VR since 2012. He is interested in the people creating VR and AR hardware and software, their motivations, and how that work affects the people who spend significant time in simulations. If you have information to pass along you can send him a direct message on Twitter, Facebook or via email. Twitter
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Gaming & VR
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Oculus Virtual reality is one of those consumer technologies that’s always seemed just beyond the mainstream. It’s a permanent fixture in fiction, and it seems tantalizingly close to ruling our reality. But because of a litany of compromises—price and complexity chief among them—it’s remained within the domain of die-hard tech fanatics with deep pockets. After years of attractive but flawed VR headsets, the Oculus Quest 2 may finally be the one that breaks down barriers to invite everyone else in. Indeed, if the Quest 2—the best VR headset ever made—can’t do it, perhaps it’s time to admit that VR will simply never be in every living room. MOST POPULAR Meta Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset The Oculus Quest 2 in a Nutshell
Pros: Excellent resolution Works completely wireless or tethered to a PC Superb pricing Cons: Headstrap is uncomfortable Mandatory Facebook login Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Technical Specifications
Price: $299 for 64GB; $399 for 256GB | Resolution: 1832 x 1920 pixels per eye | Battery life: 3 hours | Weight: 1.1 pounds Dave Johnson/Forbes Oculus Quest 2: Game-Changing VR
The Oculus Quest 2 isn’t just an improvement over last year’s Oculus Quest; it’s a perfect storm of marquee changes, making this a truly compelling headset for anyone with even a passing interest in trying VR. The resolution is a significant leap over the original while also un-tipping the scales as a lighter, more comfortable headset. It has a significantly faster processor, more optional storage, and—despite all the upgrades—it’s $100 cheaper. A $299 price tag puts the Quest 2 squarely in the impulse-buy price range for curious families and casual gamers.
Much of the Quest 2’s appeal comes from the fact that it’s a standalone headset. Unlike models like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, the Quest 2 doesn’t have to be tethered to a high-end computer at the end of a 20-foot-long cable, relying on the PC for all the computer processing. The processor—Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2, which itself is significantly faster than the original Quest’s—handles all the processing on the headset itself. Oculus Not only is the headset wireless and standalone, but it uses what’s come to be called inside-out tracking. Here’s why that’s important: Some VR headsets rely on positional tracking devices that you have to mount on the wall. These outside-in tracking systems require a lot of initial setup and essentially forces that particular room to become the permanent VR space in the house. With an inside-out tracker like the Quest 2, though, a phalanx of tiny cameras mounted all around the headset look outward, providing all the positional info the headset needs. Not only is there zero setup, but you can use the Quest 2 anywhere. It’s not chained to a particular room and is portable enough to take to a friend’s house for an afternoon of gaming. The Quest 2 Experience
Setting up a new Quest 2 takes just a few minutes—you put the headset on, activate your account, trace out a play area, and you’re in business. During setup, you can see your room through the Quest’s cameras and you “paint” the outline of your play area with one of the controllers. Every time you put the headset on in the same room, the Quest 2 recreates your play area so it can warn you if you’re close to potentially bumping into a wall or furniture. In addition, it’ll remember up to five rooms, and has a seated mode for times when you don’t want to take advantage of room-scale gameplay. Dave Johnson/Forbes The headset is accompanied by a pair of controllers, though Oculus recently introduced hand tracking. In games that support it, you can set the controllers down and grasp, grab, push, pull and otherwise manipulate objects with your bare hands, each of your ten fingers accurately represented. This, more than anything else, immerses you in VR in a way that makes you feel like you’re in the future. The only downside is the lack of any kind of tactile feedback because you’re grabbing virtual things with your bare hands. Donning the Quest 2 puts you in a virtual waiting room, with access to your game library and headset controls. You can customize the room, too—there are a handful to choose from, but I’m currently in love with the Cyberpunk-style futuristic apartment. From there, you can launch a game, adjust the headset’s settings or browse the online store and make purchases. What it looks like inside Oculus Quest 2. UploadVR/YouTube The original Quest had a resolution of 1440 x 1600 pixels in each eye. That was respectable, but made VR’s common “screen door effect” relatively obvious — it created a grid-like pattern that made it look like you’re seeing everything through a screen door-like mesh. The Quest 2 bumps that resolution up to 1832x1920 pixels, and that 50% higher resolution essentially renders the screen door effect moot. Everything looks more real and immersive.
The headset also has the potential for a higher refresh rate of 90 Hz (currently it’s 72Hz) which, when Oculus enables it, should lead to even smoother animation and better realism.
Oculus Quest 2 Comfort
Something you won’t notice if you’re trying a Quest 2 with no previous VR experience is that it’s about 10% lighter than the original Oculus Quest. It doesn’t make a big difference, but it’s less tiring to wear the 503 gram headset than its predecessor. Dave Johnson/Forbes The strap and padding have also been redesigned, and while the changes aren’t objectively bad, this is one aspect of the Quest 2 that still cries out for some significant improvement. The Quest 2 is perhaps the least comfortable VR headset I’ve ever worn, and for lengthy gaming sessions, it starts to slide around or dig into my skull in a way that’s distracting and pulls you out of the sense of immersion you otherwise feel in the virtual universe. Oculus sells an optional strap upgrade—if you can find it in stock—that replaces Velcro restraints with a twisting tightening mechanism in the back of your head, and that doesn’t fully solve the problem. I’ve had to learn to live with the fact that it starts to feel uncomfortable for longer VR sessions. forbes.comAmazon Promo Codes | 60% Off In July 2022 | ForbesPlaying Games in VR on Oculus Quest 2
A gaming platform is only as good as its games, and Oculus has had a year to develop a respectable catalog of games for the Quest. The Quest 2 is fully compatible with all of them. While most VR games tend to be short, snackable games created by smaller developers, the Quest offers a wide range of titles that cover the gamut, from fast and casual to deep gameplay that offers many hours of storytelling. Last year, the Quest launched with the three-part Star Wars game Vader Immortal, and it looks and plays just as stunning on the Quest 2. Meanwhile, Arizona Sunshine, a zombie shooter, was an early Quest hit and remains popular. Beat Saber, a rhythm game in which you have to strike incoming blocks in time to music, is a viral sensation. A similar game called Supernatural is designed specifically as a fitness game, and I work out to it daily with the help of in-game fitness coaches and a modern musical soundtrack. And Red Matter, a game that puts you in an abandoned Soviet base on one of Saturn’s moons, is the sort of exploration-based game that VR is perfectly suited for. There are dozens of other popular Quest titles, but perhaps more importantly, the headset rises to a whole new level thanks to Oculus Link. Connect your headset to your PC using a long USB cable, and you can tap into the entire library of games for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets. I previously owned an HTC Vive, and every one of my Vive games remains playable on the Quest 2. Yes, when using Oculus Link you’re tethered to a computer, but the fact that you have a choice and can use the Quest 2 in either mode is incredibly powerful and liberating. The Facebook Conundrum
There is one virtual elephant in the holodeck: New Quest 2 owners need to have a Facebook account to use the headset, while existing Quest users have until January 2023 to switch over to Facebook. Is that a big deal? It depends entirely on how you feel about Facebook. There are people who don’t have—and have vowed to never get—an account, and for them, this requirement makes the Quest 2 a non-starter. Your mileage may vary. Final Word on the Oculus Quest 2
This is what VR was meant to be. There’s no technical configuration, trackers to bolt to the wall, or complex setup. You turn it on and it simply works, like technology from the future. Dave Johnson/Forbes The Quest 2 offers a deep catalog of thoroughly enjoyable games, special treats like controller-free hand tracking, and the ability to play PC VR games if you don’t mind plugging in a long USB cable. Every hurdle—technical and otherwise—that caused older VR headsets to stumble appears to have been cleared. In fact, if it weren’t for the Facebook login issue, which I know is a concern for some people, I’d say this was the right VR headset for everyone. But if you can get past that, the Oculus Quest 2 is the perfect, and perfectly affordable, gaming system of the future, right here, right now.
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Gaming & VR
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Are you looking for a gaming chair that is both stylish and comfortable? Or a height-adjustable motorized desk? Right now at Best Buy, tons of gaming options from Arozzi are on sale. Whether you're looking for comfort during hours-long gaming sessions or just want a more comfortable upgrade to your workspace, with up to $400 off, this one-day deal is worth checking out. The Arena Moto motorized gaming desk allows you to change height at the push of a button, letting you choose when to sit and when to stand, all while staying productive or in the game. It has a sleek, modern design and dual motors, as well as customizable heigh presets, a crossbar for stability and a full surface desk mat. It has plenty of room for additional monitors or other supplies, too. It lists for $900, but with today's $400 discount, you'll pay just $500. This deal is packed with gaming chair options from Arozzi. With stylish designs and ergonomic support, you'll be able to revamp your gaming hub or workstation for much less. Plenty of options are marked down right now, including the Primo-PU. This premium leather chair features a high back seat, lumbar and neck pillows, four-directional arm rests and more. And this chair is durable, too and can support weight of up to 320 pounds. It's $270 off right now, meaning you'll pay just $330. Another option is the Verona Professional V2 gaming chair. It's $250 after the $200 discount, which is less steep than the Primo, but still boasts a lot of comfort. It has a swivel and tilt mechanism and adjustable armrests, and it even has a lumbar form to provide some back support. And for $200, you can score the Inizio gaming chair. It features mesh fabric and only supports up to 230 pounds in weight, but it does have a lot of the basic adjustments you would expect from a gaming chair. To shop all the different finishes, be sure to check out the entire sale selection at Best Buy.
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Gaming & VR
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and general manager of avatars Aigerim Shorman show off the functions of “legs” during the Meta Connect conference keynote.Gif: Meta“Legs,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg exclaimed during his 2022 Meta Connect keynote. The camera then zoomed back to show his Horizon World avatar standing, actually standing. Truly, it’s a new era.OffEnglishMeta’s Reality Labs showed off its first preview of Horizon World’s new avatars, with Zuckerberg himself again forcing his “I was human” image to be the face of Meta’s attempt to create a live-in VR environment. The CEO said these newly redesigned avatars have “their own Meta style to them,” though it remains unclear how these avatars really stand above the shoulders of similar experiences like PlayStation Home (which came out in 2008).Zuckerberg called legs “the most requested feature on our roadmap,” as he and Aigerim Shorman, Meta’s general manager of avatars and identity, lifted their legs up and down like they were just getting used to the concept of gravity. The reason why legs were so hard in the first place, according to Zuckerberg and Shorman, was because “legs are hard.” He added “that’s why other virtual reality systems don’t have them either.”That’s patently untrue. VRChat has had legs and more advanced full body tracking for years. Still, Zuckerberg said his company has worked hard to create systems to accurately simulate arms and legs in virtual space, since users might feel odd if their VR limbs bend in unnatural ways.“Your brain is much more likely to accept a rendering of a part of you as long as its in the correct position,” Zuckerberg said. He added that the biggest difficulty of getting legs to work was with occlusion, or the ability for the headset to know where your legs are. He said an AI model is needed to recreate where legs are when they are blocked from the headset’s sensors by an intervening object.G/O Media may get a commissionGreat deals happening right nowSad that Prime Day is over? Don’t be! Best Buy is picking up the slack with a sales event of its own. From smart TVs to earbuds to laptops, there are plenty of opportunities to save.Meta’s head said these avatars should be available “later next year” on phones, VR headsets, “and more.” Aigerim said their company’s plan was to allow avatars to be used across all of Meta’s apps, which includes Facebook and Instagram, as well as in virtual reality. Avatars will be rearing their heads in stickers in Facebook and Instagram messenger, and there are plans to somehow include them in WhatsApp. Avatars will also be usable inside video chat in messenger. Zuck even showed off avatars dancing in Instagram reels, but it remains to be seen if that will increase Reels’ clout among the app’s most dedicated users.Legs are coming to Horizon Worlds first before they’ll be included in Meta’s other apps.Aside from legs, the graphics on Meta’s avatars have improved measurably from the balloon heads and dead eyes of the previous incarnation. Zuckerberg boasted these avatars were the most expressive of their kind, though the pre-recorded demo showed off in the keynote may not be the most accurate display of the app’s capabilities. The CEO promised that cameras will detect whether users wink or show outward expressions, then replicate that on avatars themselves. He added these avatars use AI to generate their movements.The company also mentioned it will be releasing the Avatar Store, launching first in VR, later this year. This will allow users to spend real money on creator made digital goods for their in-app facsimiles. Of course, Meta also promoted more brand tie-ins with the Avatar Store, such as with Netflix, because nothing screams individuality like a Stranger Things t-shirt you bought for your fake human counterpart. Meta also showed off codec avatars using multiple cameras to record “life-like” digital versions of people for use in some future metaverse.Screenshot: MetaToward the end of the keynote, Michael Abash, the chief scientist at Reality Labs, said the ultimate goal is avatars that are “photorealistic.” Why? Abash said its because users need to feel at a “gut level” that they are with other people. He added that the end goal we should be trying to reach is interacting with the metaverse “using personalized AI” that adapts to users and proactively understands inputs.The company also showed off so-called “codec avatars” that use full-body cameras to track users. Abash also mentioned they were considering encrypting avatars and tying these real-seeming versions of people to a dedicated account for the sake of security. This does bring up an interesting point: what should happen if people eventually learn to hack and steal people’s virtual avatars? Though all that technology seems far, far in the future, especially considering the company only recently figured out, ahem, “legs.”
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Gaming & VR
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Facebook Instagram Youtube Linkedin Solution About Blog Get Updates HTML video is not supported by your browser. Transform boring treadmill workouts into VR fitness adventures with Octonic’s virtual worlds, and inspire your personal best without leaving your home or gym! Get it now The benefits of exercising with Octonic VR Treadmill workouts are great for cardio; however, running on a treadmill can be dull and uninspiring which can stand in the way of fitness goals. Indeed, research has shown that even tech-enabled treadmills have not really solved the problem of captivating treadmill users or motivating prolonged exercise. Whether you're an avid runner, recreational jogger, or health-oriented walker, Octonic VR workout makes treadmill training fun and requires minimum investment in time and effort. Entertaining and social With realistic visuals, interactive virtual reality worlds, and AI runners in the game, you can compete and explore. VR is so life-like and fun you won't even notice you’re exercising. Quick and efficient No need to spend time commuting to the gym or the park, no dependency on the weather. With Octonic VR, just step on a treadmill and start exercising in a matter of seconds. Educational and exploratory Wander the earth's most beautiful places and discover world landmarks at your own pace. You won’t get bored on your treadmill with so much to learn and explore. Safe and comfortable Walking and running using our proprietary VR technology prevents motion sickness and is as safe as using a conventional treadmill. Octonic allows natural Virtual Reality exercising. How it works All you need is a treadmill, Oculus / Meta Quest 2 or Quest Pro VR headset, and the Octonic VR software. When you’re on a treadmill with the VR headset on, the hand-tracking system will allow you to seamlessly navigate Octonic's virtual menu and choose a place/track you want to be teleported to. As you start walking or running, the VR movement exactly replicates the treadmill movement. You’ll be able to choose between multiple paths on your journey and will have complete freedom to control your speed and how far you go. VR headset Octonic VR software is compatible with the Oculus / Meta Quest 2, a mobile VR headset that delivers high performance and comfort. We plan to support all new mobile VR headsets as they become available. Treadmill Octonic supports 99% of fitness treadmills in semi-automatic mode. We also support multiple treadmill brands and models in fully-automated mode and strive for software compatibility with all existing treadmills. Octonic VR software Octonic smart VR software consists of a proprietary VR Motion Engine and a VR Content Library with various worlds/tracks and is available now on Meta AppLab, SideQuest, and itch.io. VR Headsets Octonic VR software is compatible with the Oculus / Meta Quest 2, a mobile VR headset that delivers high performance and comfort. We plan to support all new mobile VR headsets as they become available. Meta Quest 2 Get It Now
The Meta Quest 2, by far the most popular standalone headset on the market, is an excellent choice for recreational walkers and joggers. We recommend it for use at speeds of up to 6 MPH, with the addition of non-fabric headstraps to maximize comfort. Meta Quest Pro Get It Now
The Quest Pro, a premium product with its balanced weight distribution and enhanced graphics capabilities, offers optimal features for high-performance runners. Because of its weight balance, we recommend it for higher-speed runs at above 6 MPH. Pico 4 Get It Now (Support Coming Soon)
We’re working on adding support for the Pico 4. The headset is available in Europe and Asia. It combines a relatively low price with a lightweight and balanced design and is perfect for walkers, joggers, and runners who want to exercise with minimal resistance. Treadmills Octonic can be used with 99% of fitness treadmills at least in one of three modes: a non-connected mode, connected mode, and fully integrated mode. No matter in which mode you’re using Octonic with your treadmill, you will be able to get access to any of the Octonic worlds at an uncompromised level of performance and safety with full support from Octonic’s Motion Engine and 3-Level Safety system. Please review the below to find out which mode works with your treadmill. Non-Connected Mode For non-connected treadmills, runners can use the passthrough viewbox in the app to access the physical controls of the treadmill, without taking off their headsets. By matching the speed of the treadmill with the speed of the VR controls, they can run seamlessly through the VR worlds. Non-connected mode is compatible with 99% of treadmills on the market. Requirements: handrails and at least 18” belt width. Get Octonic Now! Connected Mode In connected mode, runners will perform a quick bluetooth calibration to wirelessly connect their headsets to their treadmills. This will allow for communication between both devices, so that when users change speeds or press start/stop in VR, the actual treadmill does the same in real time. Connected mode is available for 40 treadmill brands and 200+ models. Check the list of supported treadmills below. Treadmill List Fully Integrated Mode In collaboration with our long-standing treadmill partner NoblePro, we have developed the first ever fully integrated treadmill mode that not only synchronizes controls, but also introduces a VR treadmill model which can be calibrated with the real world one. So when people reach out to their VR treadmills, they will touch their real NoblePro treadmills in complete synchronicity. Get NoblePro below. Get Noble Pro Now VR worlds and tracks Octonic VR offers diverse choices for exercising. Want a peaceful jog in a desert canyon? We’ve got you covered! Do you desire a more intense out-of-this-world athletic experience? Just teleport to the floating space Arena to race solo or multiplayer against friends, random runners from across the world, or AI competitors, with a cheering crowd in the background. Sky Island New! Take your workout to our Sky Island world. This isn’t your everyday island, though, but a floating landmass on a planet far from Earth. Enjoy unmatched vistas of a neighboring moon and planet while you run on a pristine beach, past a soaring waterfall and through cavernous tunnels. Be mindful to stay away from the edge! Caves and Canyons Our Caves and Canyons natural wonder environment can be experienced by day or during a spectacular sunset. There, you’ll swing past scores of desert cacti, swerve in and out of caverns, and trot by towering mountains and arches. Our stunning and breath-takingly beautiful vistas will be the perfect backdrop for your workouts. Sprintblaster New! Test your mental and physical endurance in Sprintblaster, a post-apocalyptic world that combines fitness and gaming. Use your visual aiming system to shoot rockets at targeted objects along your run and clear your path to the finish line. This run features randomly generated opponents, ensuring that no two laps can ever be the same. Arena Transport yourself to an interplanetary competition in our Arena environment. Set in a futuristic stadium floating through space, you’ll run through a simulated, 8-lane track that will test your speed and endurance. You won’t be alone, either, as you can add up to seven friends, AI competitors, or random runners from across the world to join you on their marks, pushing you to your limit as you race to the finish line. Clear Lake New! Journey back to the early days of Octonic in Clear Lake, our very first cartoon-like running world that set the stage for the advanced worlds we’re building today. Based on the actual trail of the same name in Oregon, you’ll run through a forest, across expansive bridges, and by a glistening lake. Be sure to look out for wildlife as well – just don’t get too close to them! Get Updates If you would like to join the Octonic community and receive an occasional email about product updates, special pricing offers, and early access opportunities, please leave your email below Contact us Please submit your inquiry below and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Address: 1330 6th Ave, FL 23, New York, NY 10019
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Gaming & VR
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The Federal Trade Commission has backed off on some of its claims made against Meta's attempted acquisition of a VR fitness app, but the agency is nevertheless continuing its suit to block the purchase from going through.The FTC amended its charges against Meta, dropping claims that it's in competition with Within, the company that makes the immersive workout app Supernatural that tracks health data through Apple Watches during sessions. However, the agency maintains that if the acquisition were to go through, there wouldn't be enough competition in the future, effectively giving the social media giant a monopoly on VR fitness, according to Bloomberg. Immediately after Facebook's parent company renamed itself Meta a year ago, it sought to acquire Within. Then in July, the FTC formally brought suit to block the acquisition, claiming it would give Meta a monopoly since it also owns the popular workout game Beat Saber. The two sides have shown some compromise already, after the FTC removed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a defendant in the antitrust case after he promised not to personally buy Within.
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Gaming & VR
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Mass shipments of Apple's upcoming augmented reality and virtual reality headset, expected to be released next year, may be delayed until the second half of 2023 due to unspecified "software-related issues," according to a information shared Sunday by noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.Shipments of the much-rumored headsets are still expected to begin in the first half of the year, but not at the same volume previously predicted, Kuo wrote in a series of tweets. (6/8)My latest survey indicates that the mass shipment schedule of Apple's MR headset may delay to 2H23 because of software-related issues (vs. the previous estimate of 2Q23).— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 4, 2022 Kuo had previously reported that the iPhone maker was looking to ship 1.5 million units of the face-mounted device in 2023 at a price of up to $2,000. Kuo reported in August that Apple was expected to announce its headset during a January 2023 event and that the company has already presented the device to board members.Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.Apple's first headset is expected to be pricey: a rumor last year suggested the company's first VR headset would be "far more expensive" than other VR products that come in under $900 -- though it's unclear if it would be more exorbitantly priced that the $1,500 Meta Quest Pro.
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Gaming & VR
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that his company's newest virtual reality headset, dubbed the Meta Quest Pro, will cost $1,500 and start shipping on Oct. 25.Zuckerberg debuted the device at Meta's Connect conference, geared toward VR and augmented reality developers.The new headset costs $1,100 more than Meta's Quest 2 headset and contains new technologies like an advanced mobile Snapdragon computer chip, developed with Qualcomm, that helps the device produce more advanced graphics.The Quest Pro also has improved touch controllers that contain embedded sensors, allowing for better hand tracking, and new lenses for improved reading experiences.The Meta Quest Pro, which will cost $1,500.MetaThe new headset contains some mixed-reality features that can blend elements of the virtual world with the physical world. Zuckerberg has touted that as an important feature in the creation of the metaverse, which refers to digital worlds that people can access via VR and AR headsets.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also appeared during the online event and discussed a partnership with Meta intended to bring some of his company's work-collaboration apps to Quest VR devices.Some Microsoft apps that people will be able to access with a Quest device include the Team's chat app, the Microsoft 365 suite of work software and the company's Xbox cloud gaming service."You will be able to play 2D games with your Xbox controller projected on a massive screen on Quest," Nadella said. "It's early days, but we're excited for what's to come."Meta shares were down about 4.5% in midday trading to $127.85, underscoring a muted response from investors about the new VR headset.WATCH: Meta to release new high-end VR headset
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Gaming & VR
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An attendee wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset tries out a VR application on the Meta Platforms Inc. booth at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comJuly 7 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is modifying how users log onto its virtual reality headsets, backtracking on an earlier change to require accounts from the company's flagship Facebook app on the devices while preserving links to social connections there.The company will roll out its new "Meta accounts" starting in August, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Thursday.The social media giant announced plans to remove the Facebook login requirement last year, after a backlash from users who had previously accessed the headsets using separate accounts from Oculus, the virtual reality company that Meta, then known as Facebook, acquired in 2014.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWith the new login structure, Meta accounts will control device-level access and manage app purchases, while Meta Horizon profiles will represent the users' social presence in virtual reality, with associated user names and avatars, the company said in a blog post.People will also have the option to connect their profiles in a unified Meta Accounts Center, which will integrate existing social connections from Facebook, Instagram or Messenger into their virtual reality experiences, it said.For accounts not added to the Accounts Center, the company will only combine user data across apps for counting users and enforcing safety rules, a spokesperson told Reuters.In a memo last week, product chief Chris Cox alluded to the change, which he referred to as Project Simile and said would "power continuity across the metaverse," according to a copy of the post viewed by Reuters.Meta has been pushing to integrate accounts and other products across its "family of apps," which gives users cross-app functionality while enabling the company to consolidate data about their behavior in different environments.The company announced plans to unify its messaging structure across apps in 2019 and later that year rolled out a payment service, now called Meta Pay, through which users can process transactions across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Katie Paul; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Gaming & VR
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Starting early next year, Sony plans to capitalize on the rise in popularity of VTubers—virtual YouTube (and sometimes Twitch) celebrities—and our slow but steady transition to a life spent entirely in VR. The company will be introducing a new and relatively affordable motion capture system that relies on just six sensors strapped to the body and a smartphone capturing all of the tracked motion data.OffEnglishComputer-generated characters appearing in movies, TV, and video games were once all animated by hand; a time-consuming and expensive process that can result in a human character’s movements looking less than realistic (which, fair, isn’t always the goal). Motion capture helped solve that problem by capturing the nuanced movements of human performers and translating their movements to virtual characters, right down to facial expressions and even the movements of the eyes. Now, it seems we’re taking the steps to do it live.Hollywood’s approach to motion capture for VFX-heavy productions like She-Hulk involves lots of expensive equipment, cameras strapped to actor’s heads, and often massive purpose-built studios packed with sensors to accurately capture a full-body performance. In other words, a budget that most VTubers don’t have access to.There are more affordable solutions, such as software-based motion trackers, but they often suffer from accuracy issues. VR systems, like the HTC Vive, offer robust full-body tracking solutions through wearable trackers and nearby base stations, but the price of that hardware starts to quickly add up again. And while solutions like SlimeVR offer multi-limb tracking for just a couple of hundred bucks, it’s a crowd-funded product, which often means challenges when something goes wrong.Sony’s mocopi not only comes from a company with as recognizable a name in electronics as it gets; it also delivers six lightweight wireless tracking sensors (reminiscent of Apple’s AirTags) worn on the ankles, wrists, lower back, and the head. The whole package costs 49,500 yen, or about $360. Expensive, but much cheaper than a studio or even a Vive. Although the sensors are held in place with velcro straps (and a clip for the lower back sensor to attach to pants), the mocopi system looks mostly unobtrusive, as all of the performance capture is handled by a mobile app running on a smartphone.Setup, as demonstrated in this how-to video, looks easy and straightforward, with the app providing a live preview of the user’s captured movements as applied to a virtual character. The mocopi system can be used as a real-time solution to bring a VTuber character to life, or a virtual reality character in apps like VRChat, but through an SDK being released on December 15th, the captured performance data can also be imported into 3D animation programs to create more life-like characters.Although mocopi won’t provide the same level of accuracy as the hardware that Hollywood relies on, it could be a more affordable motion capture solution for filmmakers or game developers with limited budgets. Pre-orders are expected to be available sometime in mid-December, with the system shipping about a month later in January 2023; however, Sony is initially only making mocopi available to the Japanese market, with no details on if or when it will be available in other markets at a later date.
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Gaming & VR
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What's happening Meta is adding more VR games such as Among Us and Iron Man to the Quest 2 later this year. Why it matters The new games could entice people to try out a Quest 2 VR headset or spend more time in virtual spaces as the company continues to bet big on the metaverse. Meta is doubling down on virtual reality games.During a virtual event on Tuesday, Facebook's parent company revealed that highly anticipated VR games such as Among Us and Marvel's Iron Man will debut later this year on its Quest 2 VR headset. Meta has been betting big on the future of the metaverse, which is a virtual space where people can work, play and socialize. Getting more people into VR games is one way to entice them into entering computer-generated worlds. And while Meta wants people to use VR outside of gaming, offering more game titles could get people to strap on a VR headset for the first time or try out the metaverse.The company has been buying buying VR game developers, which has caught the attention of US government agencies and lawmakers trying to rein in the power of tech giants. In July, the Federal Trade Commission said it's trying to block Meta's acquisition of Within Unlimited and its VR fitness app called Supernatural. The FTC accused Meta of illegally trying to expand its "virtual reality empire," but Meta pushed back against allegations that the company is harming competition.Meta's battle with the FTC isn't stopping the company from pushing forward with its metaverse ambitions. On Tuesday, Meta also announced that game developers Camouflaj, Twisted Pixel and Armature Studio are joining Meta-owned Oculus Studios."It'll be a while before we can reveal what they're working on, but we're excited to continue working with and supporting these developers as they bring ambitious and forward-thinking games to VR," Meta said in a blog post.The company said that Quest headset users have already spent more than $1.5 billion on games and apps. There are more than 400 apps in the Quest Store and roughly one in three developers are making revenue in the millions.Here are the new games coming this year to Quest 2:Among Us VRAmong Us is a social deduction game where players have to identify imposters before they kill their crewmates on a virtual spaceship. Meta Described as a "party game of teamwork and betrayal," Among Us grew in popularity in 2020 after players started to stream videos of the game on Twitch and YouTube.As part of this multiplayer game, players need to complete tasks on a virtual spaceship before one or more imposters kill all the crewmates aboard. The concept of Among Us is similar to a social deduction game known as Mafia that people play in the physical world. Among Us is available on various gaming platforms such as Playstation and Xbox and through an app on Android and Apple devices. Now the game is making its VR debut. Among Us VR launches on Nov. 10 for $9.99 on the Meta Quest and Rift stores. Players can preorder the game on the Meta Quest store.Among Us VR supports four to 10 players, but you have to play with others who also have the VR version of the game. Marvel's Iron Man VRIron Man VR is coming to Quest 2. Meta Marvel's Iron Man VR, which has been available on Playstation's VR headset since 2020, is coming to Quest 2 on Nov. 3.The action-adventure shooting game puts players in Iron Man's body armor as the superhero battles a computer hacker known as Ghost and his army of hacked drones. "Packed full of deep-cut references for longtime Marvel fans, this is the closest you can get to inhabiting Iron Man's armor, short of building your own," Meta said in a blog post.Population: One SandboxPopulation: One Sandbox will allow players to create their own games. Meta The creators of Population One, a virtual reality battle royale game released in 2020, is leaning into more user-generated content.In December, Population: One Sandbox will become available on the Quest 2 allowing players to create and share new games within this virtual world."Take the action to a moon base. Lay siege to a Viking village. Fight in zero gravity with nothing but swords. There's plenty to explore. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination," Meta said in a description of Population: One Sandbox.The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: RetributionThe second chapter of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is scheduled for release on Quest 2 on Dec. 1. Meta If you're a fan of zombie apocalypse game The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, the second installment of the first-person shooter game is coming to Quest 2 on Dec. 1. The game puts players in the shoes of a tourist who is trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic New Orleans filled with zombies."Hunted by the seemingly unstoppable Axeman and facing off against the Tower's latest push for total dominance, discover what connects these new threats together before it's too late," the game's description states.Meta also revealed Skydance Interactive, the team that helped design The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, is also working on a new VR survival game called Behemoth.
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Gaming & VR
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VR games like FitXR can give you a workout on par with anything you might get in the real world. FitXR It didn’t take long for VR fans playing high-energy games like Beat Saber and Pistol Whip to realize that virtual reality isn’t a sedentary gaming experience—it’s possible to get a sweaty and exhausting workout while wearing a VR headset like the Oculus Quest. And game developers took notice, too. Hot on the heels of those energetic arcade games, some exciting fitness-focused games have emerged as well. These days, there are a handful of great options, and the best fitness games for the Oculus Quest give you a solid workout while still feeling like a game—so you never get bored or feel like you’re at the gym. Thanks to a recent update to the Oculus Quest, the headset has become a sort of fitness tracker as well. Oculus Move is a built-in app that tracks minutes spent actively moving and estimated calories burned across all your apps. There’s no need to rely on a developer building fitness tracking into an action game—this turns every app on the headset into a fitness app automatically. The bottom line is that the Oculus Quest has become part of your home fitness workout. In fact, it could easily be the best fitness gadget you own, because it’s a lot more fun to play a game in VR—and get a workout along the way—than to climb onto a treadmill or elliptical machine. If you want to join the VR fitness revolution, start by getting an Oculus Quest 2. Then be sure to add an inexpensive silicone cover to keep yourself from sweating all over your headset, plus some other great Oculus Quest 2 accessories that may help in your calorie-burning efforts. Finally, start playing some of the games below—here are the best VR workout and fitness apps for the Quest. Best VR Workout App Overall: Supernatural Most Intense Workout: FitXR Best Way to Distract Yourself on an Exercise Bike: VZFit Best High-Energy Rhythm Game: Beat Saber Best John Wick Simulator: Pistol Whip Best Racquetball-in-Outer-Space Simulation: Racket: Nx Best Aerobic Dance for People Who Don’t Like to Dance: OhShape Best VR Workout App Overall
Supernatural Calories burned in 10 minutes (according to Oculus Move): 112
Supernatural just might be the gold standard in fitness apps for the Quest these days. It’s a purpose-built workout app, not a rhythm game that just happens to give you an energetic workout. The premise is familiar—you bat at incoming projectiles in time to music, working out your upper body. There are also flying triangles that you need to contort to fit through, which makes you do squats and thrusts. But that’s just scraping the surface. Supernatural’s secret sauce is twofold. First there’s a cadre of human coaches who lead you through workouts with personality and, at times, charm (some coaches can also be a little grating and may talk a little too much). There’s at least one new workout each day, or you can re-play any past workout as well. They’re searchable by intensity (all workouts are light, medium or hard), music genre and length. And that leads to the other element that distinguishes Supernatural: Unlike other fitness apps, Supernatural licenses a lot of popular music. You're not working out to generic beats and obscure royalty-free songs; you’re grooving to actual radio hits you know and love in a wide range of genres, from rock to pop to hip-hop to EDM and metal. Supernatural has other unique features as well. Workouts take place in breathtaking locations around the world. And the app syncs with Bluetooth heart rate trackers (like the Apple Watch, Garmin fitness watches, Polar chest straps and more) so the app can track and report your heart rate throughout each workout. It’s the only fitness app that connects to a heart rate monitor. All this doesn’t come cheap. The app is free to download, but Supernatural costs $15 per month, which gives you up to four user profiles so everyone in the family can use it. forbes.comOculus Promo Codes | Deals From $9.99 In July 2022 | ForbesMost Intense Workout
FitXR Calories burned in 10 minutes (according to Oculus Move): 86
The disadvantage of many workout routines is that your body eventually adjusts and you stop feeling challenged. I guarantee that won’t happen with FitXR, at least no time soon. This app combines two different kinds of exercises in the same package—boxing and dance. You can choose either workout, picking whatever is featured that day or filtering the library of workouts to just one or the other. And the workouts are intense. Boxing workouts require you to jab, hook, uppercut and block in response to targets moving toward you, along with occasional squats and lunges. For the punches to count, they need to be sufficiently powerful, and that makes this game more exhausting than apps in which you can “pull your punches,” so to speak, to complete the workout without over-exerting yourself. Even just 10 minutes in FitXR can leave you a sweaty mess, and it’s now an essential part of my daily workout.
The visuals aren’t remarkable, and the music is pretty generic, so the real appeal here is the game’s physicality. And though the game is $30, there’s no ongoing subscription—though you can buy some additional workout packs within the game. Best Way to Distract Yourself on an Exercise Bike
VZFit Calories burned in 10 minutes (according to VZFit): 75
If you have an exercise bike—even an inexpensive model—VZFit can radically transform your exercise experience and distract you from the fact that you’re pedaling. To get started, you need to purchase an inexpensive cadence sensor and mount it to your bike (some elliptical machines are compatible as well), and then get a VZFit account for $8.25 per month. That gives you access to a suite of VR experiences while you ride your exercise bike. There are games, and those might initially be the most intriguing. You can pedal to drive a race car around a track or command a tank and fire its turret to destroy other vehicles. Your speed is determined by your pedaling, and you can turn just by tilting your head. That turning mechanic feels most natural when you use VZFit’s other experience: Riding your bike anywhere in the world on Google Earth’s immersive street views. You can choose from a preset library of locations and ride though gorgeous Midwest landscapes or quaint European cities, or plug in an address and explore your childhood hometown. The game has its own time, distance and calorie tracker in a small dashboard at the top of the screen, which is handy because the Oculus Move app won’t track your calories accurately at all (because all your work is in your legs, which the headset doesn't know anything about).
VZFit feels like a work in progress and isn’t as polished as some other Quest games. And be careful—if you lean into turns too aggressively, you might get a hint of VR motion sickness. But if you have an exercise bike, it’s worth trying out. Best High-Energy Rhythm Game
Beat Saber Calories burned in 10 minutes (according to Oculus Move): 78
Beat Saber wasn’t designed as an exercise app, but it might have unintentionally inspired fitness games like Supernatural and VRFit. The concept is simple: Armed with a pair of light sabers, you need to strike incoming blocks that match the color of the saber. You also need to evade and avoid unbreakable obstacles. The game is instantly addictive, endlessly replayable and can definitely work you into a sweat. Indeed, if you don’t have a game like Supernatural, a half hour in Beat Saber is enough to get a decent workout. While you might like the music that backs up every Beat Saber game, it’s a little disappointing there aren’t more music options. You can buy additional music packs—there’s a BTS pack, Linkin Park, Timbaland and Green Day, for example, but nothing if you happen to be a classic rock fan. You can choose from among various difficulty levels, and your score depends in part on how much follow-through your strikes have—so while you can get through a game with minimal effort, you can gauge how hard you worked out by what your final score looks like. Best John Wick Simulator
Pistol Whip Calories burned in 10 minutes (according to Oculus Move): 36
In some ways, Pistol Whip is Beat Saber with a gun. There are obstacles you need to avoid, which gives you some squatting and shuffling action, and you need to shoot adversaries as they appear around you. Nothing is color coded, so the cognitive load is low. Just shoot anything that moves. The environments are the opposite of Supernatural. Instead of photorealistic vistas, you’re moving through vaguely impressionistic sketches of scenes that suggest set-piece moments from action movies. It’s the shootout in the factory, in the museum, in the graveyard, with a pounding musical score in the background. The action is fast, and the adversaries shoot back, so you need the reaction time of a cat. The first time I played the game, I didn’t think it was much good for exercise, but upon returning to it, it quickly became clear that you can burn some calories. You’re not moving around very much—just popping up and down through squats—but your arms are constantly scanning the path in front of you looking for something to shoot, and you need to swing your arm down frequently to reload. After just a few minutes in Pistol Whip, your heart will be pounding like you have spent that time on a treadmill. Best Racquetball-in-Outer-Space Simulation
Racket: Nx Calories burned in 10 minutes (according to Oculus Move): 58
Racket: Nx is like a cross between racquetball and Breakout. Positioned inside a giant dome, the inside of the wall is covered with illuminated tiles that you have to destroy by hitting with the ball. There’s a twist: The racquet has a tractor beam that you can use to pull the ball back to you, so play is a combination of swatting and retrieving the ball to take out tiles. The trick is getting the ball to roll across the wall and obliterate a lot of tiles at once. The game isn’t designed with fitness in mind, but instead an ordinary single- or multi-player arcade-style game. That means the game makes no real effort to build you to a particular workout level, and the game ends when your health meter runs out, so your heart rate will inevitably drop during the interlude when you restart the game. But it’s a solid diversion that can distract you with a moderate workout. Best Aerobic Dance for People Who Don’t Like to Dance
OhShape Calories burned in 10 minutes (according to Oculus Move): 60
If you love dancing, there are already VR games for you like Dance Central and FitXR (also on this this list). But if you don’t like the idea of matching dance moves with a virtual avatar but still want the aerobic benefits that go along with dance, OhShape might be perfect for you. On the surface, OhShape doesn’t look much like a dance game, and that’s what’s so cool about its approach. As you stand on a conveyor belt that brings you to a wall, you need to match your body to the body cut-out shape in the wall. There are a few other moves as well, such as the need to catch some floating jewels, punch breakable walls and sliding out of the way of others. It’s clever, fun and easy to do—at least at first. As the game speeds up and the walls arrive more quickly, you find yourself moving in a way that, well, is basically dance. But if you prefer, you can just think of it more like you’re playing some sort of human Tetris game.
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Gaming & VR
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Microsoft's proposed acquisition of the the troubled Call of Duty and Candy Crush gaming firm Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn (£50.5bn) is being investigated.The all-cash takeover would give the Xbox maker a leap into the mobile gaming sphere and "play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms", according to Microsoft boss Satya Nadella.
If the deal is approved by regulators it would make Microsoft the third-largest gaming firm in the world by revenue, however many competition authorities are currently investigating it.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will be engaging with its counterparts around the world "as appropriate" and will aim to issue a decision in its Phase 1 investigation after 40 working days, or 1 September.At the end of the Phase 1 investigation the CMA will have decided whether the merger might harm competition - if this is the case then it will have to launch an in-depth Phase 2 assessment. Activision's shares had slumped by almost 40% since hitting a record high last year after allegations of widespread sexual harassment and other misconduct came to light.
Microsoft said that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick - who had even faced calls to quit from staff over his handling of the claims - would continue in the role. More on Microsoft Microsoft reveals extent of attacks by Russian hackers on Ukraine allies - and why Estonia is striking exception Bill Gates jokes Internet Explorer died because Microsoft 'ran out of microchips' Goodbye Internet Explorer: Microsoft retires web browser after 27 years Activision said that while its work to address the problems was continuing, it had fired or pushed out more than 36 staff and disciplined another 40.Microsoft's move was seen as giving it the edge over fierce console rival Sony - maker of the PlayStation - because of its extended library of games.Its gaming investments in recent years have included the $7.5bn acquisition of Minecraft maker Mojang Studios.
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Gaming & VR
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Now that its TVs are finally getting serious about cutting edge gaming support and its PS5 console is apparently on the verge of overcoming the stock shortages that have plagued it since launch, Sony has today expanded the gaming part of its business with new ‘Inzone’ ranges of desktop monitors and gaming headphones. The new Inzone monitor range will at launch comprise two models: the flagship M9, and the entry level M3. Both models will be available in 27-inch screen sizes and offer 1ms Gray to Gray response times, and both will support variable refresh rates in the Nvidia G-Sync and HDMI standards, via HDMI 2.1 ports. Sony's new M9 gaming monitor Photo: Sony Both monitors are attached to innovative desktop mounts that create more space than most for tucking a keyboard and mouse mat right up close to the screen, and both support Sony’s Perfect for PS5 system, whereby the PS5 can recognise when it’s connected to one of the monitors and automatically adjust its HDR settings accordingly. Also available on both monitors is ‘Auto KVM Switch’ functionality enabling you to control two PCs from just one keyboard/mouse setup, while new Inzone Hub software enables PC users to control features of both Sony’s new monitors and headphones from their computer screens. That’s where the similarities end, though. A key selling point of the £999/$900 M9 is its use of a full array with local dimming panel design, where the LEDs are positioned directly behind the screen, and can have different sections of them output different levels of light simultaneously for any given image frame. This premium lighting arrangement can usually be depended on to deliver a superior contrast performance. The new flagship Sony H9 gaming headphones Photo: Sony The M9 backs this up with VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification, versus DisplayHDR 400 certification on the M3. This should help the premium model deliver a much more satisfying demonstration of what high dynamic range pictures can bring to the gaming party. The M9 is also claimed to reach more than 95% of the key DCI-P3 colour space while the M3 tops out at 99% of the sRGB colour space - though actually both monitors use 10-bit colour processing to deliver a claimed 1.07 billion colours. The M9 sports a native 4K resolution that it can sustain up to 144Hz refresh rates, while the (US$529.99, UK price TBC) M3 only has a full HD native resolution - though it can sustain that at up 240Hz refresh rates. Finally, the M9 sports a colour-adjustable LED strip on its back edge, while the M3 doesn’t.
The Inzone M9 is expected to be available this summer, while the M3 has a less imminent ‘Available within 2022’ launch date attached to it.
The new Inzone gaming headset range comprises three models: the flagship H9s ($299.99/£269), the mid-range H7s ($229.99/£199), and the entry level H3s ($99.99/£89). All three headsets support Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound technology for a more immersive surround sound gaming experience that works with both PS5s and PCs. The H9 and H7s ships with a dongle that opens up wireless use with both PCs and PS5s - though not, tellingly, Xbox consoles. Only the H3 headset can work with Xboxes - albeit only in stereo - courtesy of its wired rather than wireless design. The H9s are claimed to deliver up to 32 hours of battery life from a single charge, or an hour’s play time from a quick 10 minute charge if you need to get up and running in a hurry. The H7s actually offer a longer claimed battery life of up to 40 hours, but crucially they lack two key features of the H9s: Noise cancelling support and Ambient monitoring mode. The former shuts out all external sounds for complete immersion in the gaming world, while the Ambient Monitoring mode instead makes sure you won’t miss potentially important sounds from the real world while you’re exploring a game world. Sony's new entry-level H3 gaming headset costs under £100/$100. Photo: Sony The H9s benefit exclusively, too, from ultra-comfortable soft-fit leather ear pads while the H7s and H3s only get Smooth Nylon. The H9s get exclusive LED light ‘rings’ around the points where the headband attaches to the cans too, and as a final key point of difference between the ranges, the H9 and H7 both support Bluetooth as an option for in-game chat while the H3s do not. While all three Inzone headsets are currently scheduled for a July launch in the UK, there’s currently no concrete release date information for the US. I’ve been lucky enough to spend quality time with a couple of Sony’s new Inzone products, so here are links to reviews of the M9 monitor and a pair of H9 headphones.
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Related reading
Sony Inzone M9 Gaming Monitor Review: All Things Bright And Beautiful
Sony Inzone H9 Gaming Headphones Review: Comfortably Awesome
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Gaming & VR
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There’s been no better exploration of the uplifting side of the metaverse than a recent People Make Games documentary titled Making Sense of VRChat, the "Metaverse" People Actually Like. The host, Quinton Smith of Shut Up & Sit Down fame, amiably describes a platform where users have created a bewildering variety of private spaces, including museums and libraries, a record shop where you can listen to everything in stock, fantasy kingdoms, and even an eerily accurate recreation of a late 1990s Kmart, complete with a photo booth. Notably, VRChat has provided a familiar efflorescence of socialization and expression for transgender people exploring their identities for the first time, disabled people who find freedom in VR, and furries and otherkin who’ve built dens for themselves and their kith. Smith’s interviews with people from all of these groups are quite touching, and a reminder of the power of online anonymity.It reminded me of the internet I grew up with: IRC chatrooms, Neverwinter Nights private servers, a bewildering variety of BBCode forums, and LiveJournal. Each was a wholly different world, loosely yoked together by the Windows GUI and nothing more.The metaverse in its current form resembles that early internet in a number of crucial ways: relative freedom, cellular communities devoted to niche interests, the ability to remain anonymous, platforms being multilayered rather than flat and conformity-inducing. The internet of GeoCities rather than the internet of Facebook.Of course, there’s an ugly reality to that time period as well. As early as 1995, media scholar Lisa Nakamura was warning that utopian dreams of the internet erasing all inequalities and prejudice were vastly overhyped, noting that early online games like LambdaMOO evinced ugly racism, orientalism, and harassment. Yet it’s clear that the rationalizing, homogenizing, and imposition of corporate-hegemony over that old internet has not only failed to solve that problem, but allowed it to metastasize into a threat to democracy itself. Questions of online harassment are vital in today's metaverse, and made all the more urgent by ugly episodes of abuse, like a SumOfUs researcher who experienced what can only be described as a virtual gang rape in Meta’s Horizon World.Despite the barrage of bad press, it’s worth remembering that the metaverse is not wholly owned by Meta (née Facebook). The marketing sleight of hand in Facebook’s rebrand was an attempt, likely, to link the two entities in the public consciousness. But the reality is that the word “metaverse” describes all networked VR and AR experiences, regardless of who owns them. While much attention is understandably focused on Horizon World, what with Meta’s aspirations to make it an omnibus social media platform for all occasions, there are other planes. Though contemporary VR in the form of the metaverse is not a true new beginning—it is, after all, still deeply tied to the internet we already have—its dramatic shift in medium offers us the opportunity to do certain things over again.We can transition to a more regulated space without losing the beauty, freedom, and creative spirit of this incarnation of virtual reality. It’s an opportunity to get it right this time. We can effect a shift to a more ethical regulatory framework that will curb the awful episodes we’ve witnessed already without snuffing out the beauty that Smith found in VRChat. In short, we need to prevent the metaverse from becoming the Planet of the Bored Apes.We cannot afford to leave regulation up to any one corporation. People Make Games opened my eyes to the risks of a heavy-handed approach, or one that turned things over to multinational hegemons who are equally PR-conscious and avaricious. Neither quality is especially helpful in preserving the best of individual expression while curbing predatory behavior. At the risk of stating the obvious, Meta cannot be trusted to act in good faith here: their raison d’être for investing so deeply into the metaverse in the first place is their desire to, at last, create a walled garden of their own. After all, owning Oculus means that Meta would control the platform, the hardware, and the distribution after years of being at the mercy of other companies’ app stores, browsers, and equipment.Now that we can see the train coming from a mile off, what can we do to stop it? To that end, I propose a framework that seeks to address the metaverse’s problems in the most minimally intrusive fashion, while preventing the full-blown strip-mining of the space.Begin With a Rights-Based MindsetAt present, most online spaces lack a sense of their inhabitants as individual carriers of rights. They are first, foremost, and often only consumers. It’s a grim exigency of capitalism, but it has been intervened in before: antidiscrimination law prohibits private businesses using their discretion to deny service to people of color, for example. A combination of existing national or supranational laws, as well as platform-specific policies, can ensure that a right to privacy, for instance, follows you wherever you go in the metaverse.We should assume that all users of VR and AR spaces have inalienable rights that should guide policy. Individuals have a right to privacy, anonymity, control over their data, and control over their experience. Existing laws in the European Union governing privacy and control over data, such as the GDPR, provide a model that should cover many existing metaverse properties; the proposed Washington Privacy Act should be passed, planting a flag in Microsoft and Amazon’s backyard. But national legislation could also be modeled after it, as well as existing laws in Virginia and California: crucially, these laws hold corporations to a common standard, provide users with more control, and in the case of California, permit remedies for citizens whose data has been misused.On most VR platforms, companies would have to be responsible for developing a prosocial architecture from the ground up: for instance, by implementing tools that protect users and give them control over their space. Giving players agency over how they interact or can be interacted with is vital for curbing online abuse. As a matter of design, building spaces to protect individual expression and discourage unwanted expression will be vital. Robust content moderation will be key to guaranteeing this, and cannot be an afterthought in virtual spaces. Content moderation professionals should be well remunerated by the builders of VR platforms and included in major design decisions. Larger corporate structures should include a C-suite officer whose sole job is overseeing and representing moderation strategies: that is, a CMO or chief moderation officer.Ethicist and researcher Lucy Sparrow further argues for the need for a “community manager” approach to moderation, whereby some moderators are tasked not just with quietly managing content behind the scenes, but with actively cultivating the wider community of players. I’ll echo that call. Moderation is vital, and it is more than being punitive.It is important to note that these strategies must be employed together. Tools at the level of the individual only work in conjunction with effective oversight. A techno-libertarian approach that suggests all the user needs is a “block” tool is merely going to re-create the layers of hell that already exist on social media.Virtual Reality Is Reality, Act AccordinglyExisting laws may already apply to metaverse spaces. What’s vital is recognizing that online interactions are real and meaningful. Stalking in VR should be treated like stalking in the physical world; so should sexual harassment. While law enforcement rarely has any interest in genuinely helping people, this doesn’t mean that the companies in charge of various metaverse spaces have no responsibility to their users. Thus, even if a potentially illegal act is not referred to the police, it should still be grounds for severe sanction—perhaps through a watchlist shared across all virtual spaces by a trusted third party, like an ethical collaborative.Similarly, though the legal landscape remains globally divided on this question, we need to nip any implementation of gambling mechanics in the bud.The use of microtransactions in many games can be easily converted into gambling via systems like lootboxes, and platforms like VRChat already have a lucrative secondary market for avatars, costumes, and other digital assets. For the moment, it’s proving to be a mostly friendly and lucrative space for digital artists. In the hands of a corporation, it could turn into a casino. Existing laws around gambling, such as restrictions against selling to children or confinement of gambling mechanics to narrowly circumscribed digital spaces, could theoretically be used to stop this before it starts. There is even scope for updating or rewriting the Interstate Wire Act for the 21st century.Many gaming studios insist that the virtual nature of the transactions, combined with the fact that the “payouts” are always digital items rather than real currency, distinguishes them from “real” gambling. There’s a reason for this: most existing restrictions on gambling in the US turn on questions of whether the stakes have “real value.” But we must broaden our understanding of reality to include these mechanisms, because virtual goods are undeniably valuable. And if VR ever does become a bigger part of our lives—as big as the internet already is—then asseverations about digital goods not having value will look even more dangerously antiquated than they already do.Just Say No to CryptoThe most obvious source of corruption in metaverse spaces right now is the risk posed by NFTs and cryptocurrency. In recent months, a number of Ponzi schemes and other scams built around NFT properties involved the creation of video games and virtual worlds, and many people remain eager to shoehorn NFTs into online gaming with word salad promises of value for ordinary gamers.While the ongoing crypto crash may solve this problem, securing a viable future for virtual reality means ensuring that its early adopters are not scammed into losing their life savings. For some, the advent of the metaverse is nothing more than yet another opportunity to hawk various crypto offerings. But that would be poisonous to this young garden of creativity. It would not only be stultifying to that innovative spirit, but it would also—like the gambling mechanics I’ve already inveighed against—create and nurture a predatory environment for users.If we are to prevent the mistakes we made nearly two decades ago, we will need to close off as many avenues of capitalist predation as possible. This includes stopping attempts at re-creating our real world housing crisis, with its out of control speculation, in virtual spaces. Matters are already at a crisis point in some videogames: adding cryptocurrency to this combustible situation would be catastrophic.Policy is a rich and intricate endeavor that requires attention to deep specifics and innumerable edge cases. But I hope that this framework offers a way to conceptualize a regulatory solution to the metaverse’s many problems. Not coincidentally, such a framework would begin to help save us from the existing problems of surveillance capitalism that already bedevil us. VR simply affords a chance, however small, to build it right the first time.The VR future we deserve should be more than Meta’s quest for vertical integration. If we begin from an individual rights based framework based on principles of freedom to do, freedom to be, and freedom from—combined with a recognition of the fundamental reality of the space and a closing off of early opportunities for capitalist predation—we might just make the most of this second chance.
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Gaming & VR
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I'm lining up for a shot in mini-golf. I'm playing table tennis. I'm putting together a 3D puzzle. I'm shooting undead creatures with a bow and arrow. These are the things I usually do with a Meta Quest 2 VR headset, but this time I'm doing them strapped into the Pico 4, and it feels very much the same.The Pico 4, made by Bytedance (parent company to TikTok), feels like the very first true competitor to the 2-year-old Quest 2 VR headset from Meta (formerly Facebook). It's a possible sign that standalone VR headsets in the next few years may see more hardware options. But it still may not be a better choice. At least, not for me.The Pico 4 isn't available in the US, but n Asian and European markets it's competitively priced compared to Quest 2: in fact, it undercuts it. The Pico 4 feels very Quest 2-like: responsive controllers (that use AA batteries), a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor, and a library of games and apps that often overlaps with some of the best titles the Quest 2 has. It even has a few upgrades. But it also a few downsides, too.Price and availabilityThe Pico 4 is priced at 429 euros for the 128GB model and 499 euros for the 256GB version. It won't be available in the US, but the starting price converts to roughly $425, £375 or AU$640. This undercuts the Meta Quest 2, which starts at $400 (or 450 euros) for the same storage options.The headset is available in 13 European countries, Japan and Korea at first. ByteDance doesn't have any plans to release the Pico 4 in the US in the future, instead opting for a business-focused pro-level version with eye tracking arriving next year that could compete with the Meta Quest Pro.The Pico 4 (left) is significantly smaller in the front than the Quest 2 (right), but the battery gets moved to the larger back strap. Scott Stein/CNET Display and design: Like a Quest 2 upgradeThe slimmed-down Pico 4 headset design, which uses a new type of pancake lens (also used in Meta's new Quest Pro), shrinks down the front of the headset. The Pico 4 still feels like VR goggles, but it's notably more compact on my face. Unfortunately, just like the Quest 2, the foam-covered headset eyepiece doesn't quite fit over my extra-wide glasses.Other than that, I love the fit of the Pico 4. A battery on the back of the adjustable head strap balances weight out more, letting the headset rest lighter on my head. The Quest 2, in comparison, comes with an elastic head strap that feels less comfy but more compact. Optional add-on head straps for the Quest 2, including Meta's Elite Strap, that are closer to the Pico design. The headset slides on and off easily, with the front angling up a bit so I feel like I'm able to dip into VR much faster than on Quest 2.The headset's LCD displays have a 2,160 x 2,160 pixel resolution per eye, which is better than the Quest 2's 1,832 x 1,920 displays. But with most of the apps I've tried, it's hard to note a big difference. The refresh rate can ramp up 90Hz if you enable it in the settings, but it won't allow 120Hz yet like the Quest 2 can. The field of view in the headset is wider than the Quest 2, as well (105 degrees), so panoramas in games feel a little less like you're peering through a scuba mask. I love the way things look.The passthrough cameras, which shows your surroundings on the headset display, are also higher-res full-color compared with the Quest 2's grainier black and white. I could look around my office with the headset on and see greater detail, but there are drawbacks: while the Pico 4 has a similar draw-your-play-area boundary setup than can be used with the headset on, there aren't any big mixed reality applications I could find. The Fruit Ninja game on the Pico app store has a passthrough-enabled mode, but the VR aspects didn't line up with the real world…they were just layered on top.The far more expensive Meta Quest Pro I tried recently had an actual ability to layer virtual objects onto 3D real world environments: the Pico 4, at least with its current software, couldn't do that.The Pico 4 charges via USB-C, just like the Quest 2, and battery life is expected to be around 2 to 3 hours (same as Quest 2). So far, it's lasted about that long.The Pico 4 controller (left) has similar button layout to the Quest 2 (right), and full motion tracking works the same. Scott Stein/CNET Controllers: Familiar FeelThe included controllers have a similar button layout to the Quest 2, including two raised buttons, two flat buttons (one more than Quest 2 has), an analog stick, and two grip triggers. A raised plastic ring above the controller enables tracking with the headset's built-in cameras (similar to the Quest 2), but the position of the ring is different, arcing down instead of up in a loop. The controllers use 2 AA batteries each and so far have had good battery life. Vibrating haptics in the controllers sometimes feel a bit more punchy than the Quest 2, but not as detailed or realistic as on the upcoming Quest Pro and PlayStation VR 2.I was able to play high-speed games like Eleven Table Tennis and Space Pirate Trainer effortlessly, as easily as I could play games on Quest 2. The larger lenses also create a wider field of view in the headset. Scott Stein/CNET App Library and Software Extras: Mixed BagThe Pico app ecosystem seems like a smaller subset of what Meta's Quest app store offers, which is one of the biggest downsides to the headset. A lot of familiar favorites are here, including Walkabout Mini Golf, Demeo, Eleven Table Tennis, Red Matter and plenty of other games. But there are plenty of missing games: not only Meta-owned titles like Beat Saber and Population One, but also Resident Evil 4, Moss, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy's Edge and many other games are absent. The Quest 2 wins on game selection, especially since the Pico 4 offers no true exclusives of its own to make up for the losses.The lack of certain social/productivity apps I use also concerns me: while Rec Room, Tiltbrush and Virtual Desktop are available, VRChat, Microsoft's AltspaceVR, and plenty of other art and productivity apps aren't. Meta's made a lot of strides trying to fold in a bunch of 2D apps into its Quest platform, with new Microsoft partnerships coming soon too. The Pico 4 lacks these.As far as fitness (a big part of standalone VR), there are some apps like LesMills Body Combat and OhShape, but Beat Saber and the popular subscription app Supernatural aren't here. Body tracker accessories promised next year by Pico sound like they could allow extra full-body fitness options that the Quest 2 currently lacks, but it's hard to tell how good they'll when (or if) they arrive, or what apps they'll work with.The Pico 4 can connect to a PC and be a PC VR headset, much like the Quest 2, but the Pico lacks the phone-connected extras I'm used to now: phone notifications and even Meta's Facebook hook-ins (crazy, I know, but they're actually helpful). I'm not sure how good Pico's counter-solutions will be.Hand tracking without controllers, which is standard on Quest 2, isn't on the Pico 4 yet either. A software update should add this soon, but I don't know how good it'll be versus what Meta has.Even so, I've loved played the games I've tried so far: I've downloaded a bunch of games I'm familiar with (Walkabout Mini Golf, Demeo, In Death Unchained, Puzzling Places, Fruit Ninja, Space Pirate Trainer, Eleven Table Tennis, Cubism, Superhot and Real VR Fishing), and they've all been great to play, even if they're basically the same as I remember them.A look at the back: the Pico 4's fit is a lot more comfortable (left), but involves a larger included headstrap than Quest 2 (right). Scott Stein/CNET For now: promising, but I wouldn't pick over a Quest 2Unless I felt absolutely dead-set on avoiding Meta's products at any cost, I'd pick the Quest 2 right now over the Pico 4. As promising as the Pico 4 is, its lesser app library and its not-quite-fully-here software features mute my feelings about its improved hardware compared with Meta's older headset. Meta will likely have a Quest 3 headset next year, possibly with features similar to the Pico 4. By that point, the Pico 4 could also improve with future software updates, much like the Quest 2 has evolved. Paying $400 or so for VR still may not make sense for many people, but the best part of what the Pico 4 offers is an option: Meta no longer feels like it's the only game in town for affordable standalone VR.
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Gaming & VR
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Meta's new VR/AR Quest Pro headset costs $1,500. A HoloLens 2? $3,500. Magic Leap 2? $3,000. The little HoloKit X I wore to swipe AR fireballs at a holographic avatar with my magic wand? $129. All it requires is an iPhone.Before VR was a thing you could easily get in any Target or Best Buy, companies like Samsung and Google sold little goggles you'd drop your phone into to see cheap, but surprisingly effective virtual images. Using the HoloKit X brought me back to that time nearly a decade ago, but now it's for AR. The simple visor and headband uses a wide variety of iPhones to lean on their built-in AR capabilities, creating head-up images I can see on my face. I tried a few demos of HoloKit X in an NFT gallery in New York, guided by its creator, Amber Hu. The Holokit concept has been something Hu has worked on for years, but the latest headset is one that Hu feels is ready to work because of how advanced devices like the iPhone have become.The HoloKit X uses an iPhone to power AR, reflecting the display down onto a half-mirrored visor and viewed through lenses. HoloKit My demos were a mixed bag. I did see 3D things, like a glowing Buddha made of flowing dots, appear in front of me. HoloKit X works with hand tracking, so I could even hold my hands out to "touch" the 3D object. The headset triggers the iPhone to vibrate, so I felt a buzzing feedback on my face that didn't feel as weird as you might think.I found that objects didn't stay in place all the time, though, sometimes drifting a bit. Hu says that's due to the iPhone processor being taxed hard, and is working on solutions to optimize the experience (it was better for me when standing still).Even so, technically the headset can do full-movement tracking using the iPhone cameras, similar to how a VR or AR headset would with its built-in headset cameras. Hu wants to ambitiously go even further, using the Apple Watch as a motion tracker for certain apps (the one where I used my magic wand to swipe attacks used the Apple Watch for gesture recognition). Spatial audio, even moving through spaces, can work while wearing AirPods.Me wearing HoloKit X (and a face mask). It fits over my glasses, but it's quite a look. Scott Stein/CNET The headset is nothing more than a phone holder combined with an angled reflective visor that mirrors the iPhone display down into my view: OLED display iPhones like mine can create AR effects with perfect transparency when the display is black. The phone automatically orients and connects to the goggles using NFC, and an exposed strip of display above the goggles' top edge cleverly works as a touch display to launch or exit apps, or even have extra controls. The elastic headband on the goggles stretches over my big head reasonably well, and the rubber-lined eyepieces fit over my glasses without applying too much pressure.The whole idea, knitting together iPhones, the Apple Watch and AirPods into an AR headset experience, feels exactly like where I've imagined Apple heading with its expected AR headset -- except the Holokit X is doing it now, and for just $129. Granted, the experience right now feels like "you get what you pay for," and it's hard to tell how many apps will work with this headset in the future (Hu insists the headset is not actually a developer kit, and instead will be a product that leans on interested art and content partners to make experiences). Right now, the HoloKit X app that I tried on TestFlight and will be available in the App Store at the end of the month only has nine experiences, which Hu calls "Realities." Hu sees shared AR experience as being like rule sets, and shared experiences being the main goal of where HoloKit X could head. Sharing seems like the headset's most interesting strong suit. The app-like Realities could be played with by multiple people at the same time with other headsets, or with their phones using the app. The app can also record and share video, which can layer AR effects with people to create mixed reality that's hard to create on other AR headsets at the moment (see the video embedded to see an example).While HoloKit X seems like a work in progress, it also makes sense to me. Any art galleries trying to develop AR experiences could use little goggles like these for visitors instead of investing in expensive headsets. The app's cross-support of regular phone AR also means the headset part could be optional - which is exactly the speed of where most casual AR explorers are these days.As more AR headsets start to inevitably arrive in the next few years, HoloKit X asks that same interesting question Cardboard and Gear VR and Daydream asked years ago…can we make these experiences happen even more casually? Maybe the answer has been right in our phones all along.
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Gaming & VR
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CNN — Until a couple of months ago, I would have described myself as a Luddite when it came to the metaverse. But working on the Decoded show for CNN International I had the opportunity to dive headfirst into these virtual worlds and meet some of the key players in this space. At its most basic definition, the metaverse is the internet gone three-dimensional. The word itself it much older than you might think; it was first created in 1992 by sci-fi author Neal Stephenson, who, with alarming foresight, wrote about a dystopian future where people escaped into a virtual world, accessed with goggles. The metaverse has been reimagined many times in the three decades since, but Stephenson gave me the best definition of what it is right now: “It’s a virtual environment where large numbers of people can get together and interact with each other, through avatars.” Perhaps the most surprising element for me as I got to know the metaverse, was that there’s more than one, and they all look and feel very different. If I wanted to meet friends virtually and have some fun, I might head into Somnium Space. On this platform users create incredible virtual experiences and earn real money for their efforts. This is where you can find worlds within worlds. It’s like descending into the movie “Inception.” If you want to dance in a virtual club, or race cars in a desert, this may be the metaverse for you. However, if I want to have a meeting for work, you’ll find me in Meta’s Horizon Workrooms. The whole Decoded team meet here, sat around a virtual desk chatting about the next episode. We can share ideas and even have a viewing of the latest episode on the big virtual screen. I live in London, the producer and cameraman live in Dubai, but this makes us feel like we are together and collaborating in a way that a video call just can’t. Why brands are buying real estate in the metaverse 02:53 - Source: CNN If you don’t have a VR headset, then Second Life may be for you. It’s the oldest metaverse platform, created in 1999. Here I went to a virtual Paris, bought a virtual lion in a virtual pet shop and flew off with it into a virtual heart-shaped cloud. It may have been fun but it wasn’t easy; in my effort to buy the lion my avatar somehow lost her trousers. It was embarrassing, not least as I was with the founder of Second Life, Philip Rosedale at the time, who thankfully saw the funny side. One of Rosesdale’s biggest concerns is how future metaverse platforms make money. “It has to be a business model that doesn’t include surveillance, targeting and advertisement,” he says. It’s a shared concern for many, and a rational one given the biggest social media company in the world is staking its future on the metaverse; it’s even changed its name to Meta. Andrew Bosworth is the CTO and our avatars met in Horizon Workrooms, where I was struck by the fact neither of us had any legs – a feature that’s isn’t yet available in this metaverse, but will be in the future, according to a recent announcement. He joined the company formerly known as Facebook in its infancy and is adamant that Meta can be trusted to forge this new generation of the internet. “Frankly, there’s no one who’s investing more in privacy and data security. Nobody is more focused on this problem than Meta,” he said. He admits though, it won’t be easy to convince people. “It’s going to take a long time for consumers to see that value, to understand that, to believe that, and that’s what you expect,” said Bosworth. “Trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback.” In my mind there is no doubt that there is a lot of hype about the metaverse. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) spring to mind. The technology behind NFTs, which uses the blockchain to transfer ownership, is valuable – I’m just not sure about some of the use cases, like digital artwork selling for millions of dollars. I’m also not convinced about virtual real estate on metaverse platforms selling for similar figures. Brands can interact with customers by building experiences within these worlds, but it’s unclear which platforms will be a success, and how brands should best use them. So valuing virtual real estate is a tricky business. I entered the headquarters of a well-known alcoholic beverage brand in Decentraland. I was the only avatar there, and while there was a game and a quiz on offer, they were not fun. There’s certainly no way to sample the brand’s drinks virtually, and I left confused about what it was trying to achieve. But according to research company Gartner, by 2026 a quarter of us will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse for work, shopping, education or socialising. I think it’s possible, not least if you consider a game like Fortnite is effectively a metaverse using the broadest definition, and, following the pandemic years of more people working from home and using video conferencing, a better virtual work meeting experience seems like a logical next step. The metaverse will fundamentally change the way we do things, it’s just hard to pin down the how and the what. “This doesn’t just change individual lives, it changes society,” said Bosworth. “We have collective access to the entirety of human talent, not just human talent lucky to be born in certain places, which has been the reality. “This technology starts with something trivial like virtual bowling, and ends with an entirely different outlook on society.” The metaverse is still evolving – even the definition of the word is changing, and the exciting part is we can all be a part of its future. So pick a platform and explore.
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Gaming & VR
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The global VR in the education market will hit 13,098.2 million by 2026. (Fortune Business Insights)Greenlight Insight reports,78% of Americans are familiar with VR technology now.The AR/VR market worldwide will touch $209.2 billion in 2022.It feels like just a couple of years ago, technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality were the hot trends in science fiction.And now, they are the reality that every industry strives to achieve. All sectors are grappling with effectively utilizing these technologies, from education to corporates.The emergence of the metaverse and metaverse training have made the craze for immersive technologies more alive. All industries are now focussing on leveraging metaverse technology in almost all facets of their businesses. The global metaverse market will ascend to $426.9 billion by 2027. (Markets And Markets)Hence the novel metaverse reality is going up the Web 3.0 tide, breathing life to concepts like metaverse training. This unique phenomenon can change the human outlook on teaching and learning approaches.VR and AR technology will influence about 23 million jobs shortly. (PWC)If we value PWC's forecast, then training in the metaverse seems peerless for corporates to stay relevant in the market. You can learn more about metaverse for enterprise.For a few years, corporates have been experimenting with immersive technologies and e-learning platforms to train their employees.But, now switching to metaverse seems the most beneficial for them to help employees grow their technical and soft skills.What Is Metaverse Training For Corporates?As per the reports of PWC,The global top 100 companies' market capitalization has increased by 11% by March 2022. The amount is a whopping $35.2 trillion. Another fascinating fact is that technology companies worldwide represent almost 34% of the top 100 global companies. They contribute approx. $12.0 trillion market capitalization.Hence, corporate companies must stay up-to-date regarding the latest technologies and trends to remain relevant in the market.Companies must provide their employees with relevant training to boost productivity in person, blended, or remote work settings.Moreover, frequent corporate training ensures employees grow their knowledge and skills and work in a supportive environment.As technologies like AI, ML, AR, VR, MR, Etc., are fostering metaverse training, it opens new prospects for training corporate employees.Companies invest a lot in training their employees in the verticals of sales training, technical training, soft skill training, and even customer services.For example, if a company decides to grow a new service line, they must arrange short training for employees before the big launch. Metaverse training allows employees to acquire new knowledge and skills faster than before in a safe virtual environment.Theoretical knowledge may not always prove effective; they lack real-life experiences.On the contrary, metaverse training is an ideal, cost-effective, and practical solution for corporates looking to enhance their employees' performance. The efficiency of Metaverse Training to Grow Technical SkillsThe global metaverse market will grow to 61.8 billion in 2022. (Markets And Markets). The growing corporate training space is equally responsible for this massive growth. The more innovative technology corporates implement in their training program, the learning impact will get more extensive. The innovative metaverse training will bring the following immediate benefits to the corporate sector:Learning SpeedMetaverse corporate training program allows employees to access several digital tools.Consequently, Employees learn faster than in a traditional training environment.Convenient Learning ModeIn the case of arranging traditional employee training programs, employers need to organize the training space that goes hand in hand with all the safety parameters.On choosing the metaverse training option for employees, employers do not need to walk the extra mile to select the training venue or check the safety parameters.Employees can learn and upgrade their skills in a virtual and safe environment.Cost-Efficient LearningMetaverse corporate training is undoubtedly a cost-effective solution.Employers do not need to arrange employee transfers, training tours, office rearrangements, or other preparations associated with physical training.Employee training in metaverse helps corporate decision makers to save the unnecessary spending of their resources.Improved Skill And PerformanceEmployees can learn critical business operations within a safe virtual environment.It allows them to get virtually hands-on experiences, facilitating their skill growth.They learn how to solve critical issues in real-world scenarios while training in a virtual risk-free zone.No doubt, it fosters their learning growth but also ensures faster onboarding.Moreover, metaverse training space enables employees to gain and master new skills simultaneously.Employees can boost their performance within the organization with sharpened skill sets.How Metaverse Training Help Employees Grow Soft SkillsIn a global corporate scenario, companies are going through gaps not only in technical skills but also in the case of soft skills.The technological skill demand will touch 55% by 2030. (McKinsey)On the other hand, the Soft skills training market will grow at a CAGR of 12.5% between 2020 and 2027. (Data Bridge Market Research)Soft skills are in great demand and surprisingly hard to attain and implement in a workplace. Conflict resolution, teamwork building, communication skills, time management, and leadership have become more critical than ever. However, the challenge lies within stuffing your employees with soft skills and teaching them how to implement them rightfully. The challenge gets heightened for hybrid or remote workplace settings.Well, with the metaverse training approach, even challenges like remote soft skill training become effortless. With the help of a metaverse development company, corporate employers can refer to real-world scenarios to show their employees the immediate actions of their specific way of speaking, the proven methods of leadership, and many other things. In this way, employers can leverage the metaverse technology to fine-tune their employees' technical and soft skills.Parting WordsBy 2024, the global metaverse market will snowball to almost $800 billion. (Earth Web)The IT industry has already fastened its seatbelt to go higher with its metaverse venture. And in that case, metaverse training for employees is worth of investment. It will push corporate metaverse efforts to a new dimension of success.EDIIIE boasts of its professional and experienced immersive technology experts in NFT development, and Blockchain development. Our experts hold ample metaverse knowledge and skill to feed the corporates.Access to EDIIIE website to squeeze the most out of the metaverse technology until it's hot.
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Gaming & VR
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Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., demonstrates an Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset and Oculus Touch controllers.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that his company's newest virtual reality headset, dubbed the Meta Quest Pro, will cost $1,500 and start shipping on Oct. 25.Zuckerberg debuted the device at Meta's Connect conference, geared toward VR and augmented reality developers.The new headset costs $1,100 more than Meta's Quest 2 headset and contains new technologies like an advanced mobile Snapdragon computer chip, developed with Qualcomm, that helps the device produce more advanced graphics.The Quest Pro also has improved touch controllers that contain embedded sensors, allowing for better hand tracking, and new lenses for improved reading experiences.The new headset contains some mixed-reality features that can blend elements of the virtual world with the physical world. Zuckerberg has touted that as an important feature in the creation of the metaverse, which refers to digital worlds that people can access via VR and AR headsets.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also appeared during the online event and discussed a partnership with Meta intended to bring some of his company's work-collaboration apps to Quest VR devices.Some Microsoft apps that people will be able to access with a Quest device include the Team's chat app, the Microsoft 365 suite of work software and the company's Xbox cloud gaming service."You will be able to play 2D games with your Xbox controller projected on a massive screen on Quest," Nadella said. "It's early days, but we're excited for what's to come."WATCH: Meta to release new high-end VR headset
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Gaming & VR
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Super-resolution image display using diffractive decoders. Credit: Ozcan Lab @ UCLA. One of the promising technologies being developed for next-generation augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) systems is holographic image displays that use coherent light illumination to emulate the 3D optical waves representing, for example, the objects within a scene. These holographic image displays can potentially simplify the optical setup of a wearable display, leading to compact and lightweight form factors. On the other hand, an ideal AR/VR experience requires relatively high-resolution images to be formed within a large field-of-view to match the resolution and the viewing angles of the human eye. However, the capabilities of holographic image projection systems are restricted mainly due to the limited number of independently controllable pixels in existing image projectors and spatial light modulators.
A recent study published in Science Advances reported a deep learning-designed transmissive material that can project super-resolved images using low-resolution image displays. In their paper titled "Super-resolution image display using diffractive decoders," UCLA researchers, led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, used deep learning to spatially-engineer transmissive diffractive layers at the wavelength scale, and created a material-based physical image decoder that achieves super-resolution image projection as the light is transmitted through its layers.
Imagine there is a stream of high-resolution images waiting in the cloud or your local PC to be sent to your head-mounted or wearable display for your visualization. Instead of sending these high-resolution images to your wearable display, this new technology first runs them through a digital neural network (the encoder) to compress them into lower-resolution images that look like bar-codes, not meaningful to the human eye. However, this image compression is unlike other digital image compression methods because it is not decoded or decompressed in a computer. Instead, a transmissive material-based diffractive decoder decompresses these lower-resolution images all optically and projects the desired high-resolution images as the light from the low-resolution display passes through thin layers of the diffractive decoder. Therefore, the image decompression from low to high resolution is completed using only light diffraction through a passive and thin structured material, making the whole process extremely fast since the transparent diffractive decoder could be as thin as a stamp. Schematic of a PSR image display composed of an all-electronic encoder and an all-optical decoder. (A) Building blocks of a PSR image display composed of an all-electronic encoder and an all-optical decoder including five diffractive modulation layers are shown. An all-electronic encoder network is used to create low-resolution representations of the input images, which are then super-resolved using the diffractive optical decoder, achieving a desired PSR factor (k > 1). (B) Optical layout of the five-layer diffractive decoder network. d1 = 2.667λ, d2 = 66.667λ, and d3 = 80λ. ReLU, rectified linear unit. Credit: Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add3433 In addition to being ultra-fast, this diffractive image decoding scheme is also energy-efficient since the image decompression process follows light diffraction through a passive material and does not consume power except for the illumination light. The UCLA research team showed that these diffractive decoders designed by deep learning can achieve a super-resolution factor of ~4 in each lateral direction of an image, corresponding to a ~16-fold increase in the effective number of useful pixels in the projected images. In addition to improving the resolution of the projected images, this diffractive image display also provides a significant decrease in data transmission and storage requirements thanks to encoding the high-resolution images into compact optical representations with a lower number of pixels, which significantly reduces the amount of information that needs to be transmitted to a wearable display.
The research team has experimentally demonstrated their diffractive super-resolution image display using 3D-printed diffractive decoders that operate at the terahertz part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is frequently used in, for example, security image scanners at airports. Researchers also reported that the super-resolution capabilities of the presented diffractive decoders could be extended to project color images with red, green and blue wavelengths.
The principal investigator of the research, Professor Aydogan Ozcan, said, "This diffractive super-resolution image display design will inspire display solutions with enhanced resolution, potentially forming the building blocks of next-generation 3D display technology including, for example, head-mounted devices." The other co-authors of this work include Professor Mona Jarrahi, Northrop Grumman Endowed Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCLA, and graduate students Cagatay Isil, Deniz Mengu, Yifan Zhao, Anika Tabassum, Jingxi Li and Yi Luo, all with UCLA. More information: Çağatay Işıl et al, Super-resolution image display using diffractive decoders, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add3433 Citation: AI-designed structured material creates super-resolution images using a low-resolution display (2022, December 5) retrieved 5 December 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12-ai-designed-material-super-resolution-images-low-resolution.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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If you own a Nintendo Switch and like to occasionally play mobile games on your Apple iPhone or iPad, you'll be happy to hear that the forthcoming iOS 16 update, slated for a fall release, will include the ability to connect your Nintendo Joy-Con controllers to your iPhone or iPad.Read more: Play Fortnite on iPhone: A New Workaround Brings the Game Back to iOSIn the last few years, game-makers have introduced more complicated gameplay to the mobile experience. Services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now allow you to play games like Call of Duty, Fortnite and Apex Legends, which can be difficult to tame on your mobile device. Your phone or tablet has a smaller screen than your TV, which means less real estate for visuals and controls, and so a gaming controller might be necessary.Third-party controllers aren't new to Apple, though. Right now, you can pair both the DualSense from PlayStation and the wireless controller for Xbox to your iPhone or iPad. And controllers from other companies, like the Backbone One and the Razer Kishi, are made specifically for mobile gaming.Check out: Best Controllers and Accessories for Xbox Cloud GamingHowever, if you already own a Nintendo Switch, there's no need to purchase a third-party gaming controller. You've got two attached to both sides of your console. And best of all, pairing the Joy-Cons to your iPhone or iPad takes only a few seconds.For this to work, you'll need to be running iOS 16, which is currently available as a public beta. Here's how you can download it right now.You can either use one or both Joy-Con controllers. Jeremy Perez/CNET How to pair your Joy-Cons to your iPhone or iPadTo start, you'll want to make sure that your Joy-Cons are charged and ready for use. If not, simply attach them to the Nintendo Switch while it's charging in the dock. Once your Joy-Cons are charged and ready to go, slide them off of your console and do the following:1. First, press and hold down the black pairing button on top of the Joy-Con until the green light starts running back and forth. This means the Joy-Con is now in pairing mode.2. Next, on your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Bluetooth.3. Now, scroll down and find your Joy-Con under Other Devices. You should see either Joy-Con (L) or Joy-Con (R), depending on which Joy-Con you're currently pairing.4. Finally, tap the Joy-Con option to pair it. Repeat this process for the other Joy-Con, if needed.@cnetdotcom Did you know this? #iPhone#iOS16#NintendoSwitch#Nintendo#Switch#apple#bluetooth#hack#howto♬ original sound - CNETOnce your Joy-Cons are paired, you can go into any game that supports third-party controllers, like Minecraft, Among Us and Call of Duty, and play with your newly paired Joy-Cons. Not all mobile games will support both Joy-Con controllers at once, so you might only need to pair one.To unpair the Joy-Cons, go to Settings > Bluetooth, tap the blue information icon, and then hit Disconnect.
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Big moves are happening in the video game industry. Microsoft, the tech giant behind the Xbox console, announced plans in early 2022 to buy Activision Blizzard, the force behind "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft," among other major titles.This $68.7 billion all-cash acquisition is expected to close in 2023. If approved by regulators and shareholders, it will be the largest tech deal in history."There's been a consolidation wave going on in the game space for the last several years," said Eric Handler, managing director and senior research analyst at MKM Partners. "You've had a lot of private equity money flow into the industry. It's highly fragmented. It's just natural to see consolidation. Microsoft being a trillion-dollar company, obviously, they can do bigger deals." Shortly after the Microsoft-Activision purchase, Sony announced plans to buy Bungie in a deal valued at $3.6 billion. Bungie is currently the developer of the Destiny series, a multiplayer online game that incorporates first-person shooter and role-playing mechanics. Bungie remains best known for creating the original Halo, a first-person shooter that launched with the first Xbox console in 2001. Representatives for both Sony and Microsoft declined to comment for this story.Watch the video to find out how these deals will shape the future of gaming.
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Meta is making a big push to sell its new Quest Pro to office workers. At Meta Connect, Mark Zuckerberg showed off upcoming integrations with Zoom and Microsoft teams, along with a slew of other features meant to make the headset more appealing to businesses.
The updates are the clearest sign yet that Meta is keen to position the $1500 Quest Pro as a business and productivity tool, and that it sees offices as a key part of its vision for the metaverse. And Horizon Workrooms, the VR meeting software launched in beta last year, is central to that pitch.
Among the updates: new integrations with Zoom and Microsoft Teams so people can call into meetings happening in VR. With the change, people will be able to join colleagues meeting in VR Horizon Workrooms from their non-VR devices. In a blog post, Meta said the Zoom integration, expected “early in 2023” will give “more options on how you choose to show up.”
Likewise, the integration with Microsoft’s Teams will enable participants to join more “immersive” meetings in Teams from Horizon Workrooms. The company hasn’t said when the tie-in with Teams could be available, but the feature is part of a broader partnership with Microsoft to bring its productivity apps to Quest.
Meta
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined Zuckerberg to announce that the company was also working Windows 365 for the Quest Pro and Quest 2, and that content from Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook would be viewable from the headsets. Meta’s newly improved avatars will also be available in Teams.
Meta also showed off improvements to existing Workrooms features, like the ability to add sticky notes to VR whiteboards, and the ability to collaboratively view 3D models. The company is also riffing on a popular Zoom feature with the ability to form smaller breakout groups within larger meetings. And for solo office tasks, workers will be able to work from up to three virtual screens in Workrooms and add up to four customizable “personal environments.”
Meta
Zuckerberg also teased a new feature called “magic rooms” that will allow teams to work together in mixed reality, rather than solely in VR workspaces. He said the feature will be suited to hybrid teams, where there are people working remotely with groups of people who are in the same physical space. "Everyone is present and has the same tools, whether they're in full VR or in mixed reality," he explained. Ina. blog post, Meta said magic rooms are currently being tested internally, and could launch more widely sometime in 2023.
Also coming in 2023 will be a new “Quest for Business” subscription bundle that comes with device management controls and security features so businesses’ can manage Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets the way they would with company-issued laptops or mobile phones. The bundle will also include access to “premium support” features. All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
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CNBC's Sofia Pitt using Matt Reed's HoriZuck Lens for Snapchat.Nightmares really do come true.Snapchat user Matt Reed has created a filter called HoriZuck Lens that will turn your face into Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s viral Horizon Worlds avatar. I tried it and it felt wrong.If you're not sure what I'm talking about, let me fill you in. Earlier this month, Zuckerberg shared a screenshot of his Horizon Worlds VR avatar on his Facebook page to announce that the project had launched in France and Spain.The internet went wild. Critics slammed the poor quality of the graphics, especially considering the metaverse project is costing Meta $10 billion.Mark Zuckerberg during Metaverse conversation on CNBCSource: CNBCIn response to the backlash, Zuckerberg posted a new avatar days later. He said the original avatar was "basic" and "major updates to Horizon and avatar graphics coming soon." "The graphics in Horizon are capable of much more — even on headsets — and Horizon is improving very quickly," Zuckerberg said on August 19.But as with all viral internet phenomena, pictures never really die. You can become Zuck's avatar by downloading Matt Reed's Snapchat lens here.CNBC's Sofia Pitt using Matt Reed's HoriZuck Lens on Snapchat.
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The Australian-made video game Cult of the Lamb has topped global gaming charts on the first weekend of its release.“It’s just blown up, it’s been pretty crazy,” developer Julian Wilton, from Massive Monster, said.In Cult of the Lamb, the player character, an adorable but possessed lamb, has their life saved by an ominous deity; as repayment, they must form a cult to appease the deity, growing its following by launching crusades, collecting resources and venturing out into the game’s five regions to defeat rival cults.Since its global launch in the early hours of Friday morning, the game reached No 1 on the US Switch store, the main outlet for Nintendo games, and Wilton has high hopes for early sales figures.Game developer Julian Wilton says jokingly: ‘We’ve just got to figure out what to do with all this money now.’ Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP“I wouldn’t be surprised in the first month if we hit like a million units, which is just crazy,” he said.On PC gaming platform Steam, Cult of the Lamb had seen hundreds of thousands of downloads, and while Wilton can’t reveal the exact figures due to Massive Monster’s backing by UK-listed Devolver Digital, pre-sales numbers show the game has already recouped its investment costs. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morningIt is rare for an Australian-made game to see such global success, with 2017’s Hollow Night by Adelaide’s Team Cherry a recent example.Gamers have given Cult of the Lamb the thumbs up so far, with more than 8,000 positive Steam reviews, and some predicting it would become a cult classic.But the large number of gamers trying the game have uncovered bugs and the Massive Monster team is working to fix them, devoting the next 12 months to updates and new content.“There’s just so many people playing the game that there’s no way you can find some of these bugs that people are finding,” Wilton said.Some of the problems that come with Massive Monster’s success would be nice to have.“We’ve just got to figure out what to do with all this money now,” Wilton joked.In 2020/21, Australian game development studios made $226m, with 82% of that money from overseas markets, according to figures from the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association.Recent Aussie hits included Unpacking by Witch Beam in Brisbane, Hollow Knight by Team Cherry in Adelaide, and in Melbourne, Untitled Goose Game by House House and Florence by the studio Mountains.The federal government offered tax breaks for developers in 2021 and pledged fresh funding through Screen Australia in March.
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This story is part of Amazon Prime Day, CNET's guide to everything you need to know and how to find the best deals. Trying to find one of the newest Xbox has been a struggle lately. While there were a few deals for them earlier in the year, they seem to have disappeared recently, but Amazon Prime Day changes that. Right now, Amazon is bundling an Xbox Series S console with a few different SteelSeries gaming headsets and offering a nice discount on the packages. Prices start at $285 for the console with a SteelSeries Artcis 1 wired headset, which means you can save $65 on the Prime Day deal.If you don't want a wired headset, don't worry. There are two other bundles available here as well. The second one, which is priced at $295 includes the SteelSeries Artcis 3 wired headset in your choice of black or white. Finally, for the wireless crowd, Amazon has the Xbox Series S paired with the SteelSeries Artcis 9X gaming headset for $420, which is an $80 savings compared to buying them separately. These are all Lightning deals, which means that while they are scheduled to run for the day, they will only last while inventory remains available. If you've been trying to get an Xbox Series X and struggling, you may want to consider opting for the Xbox Series S instead. During our full review of the console, CNET's Dan Ackerman noted "If you have a smaller TV or a non-4K TV, I don't think you'd ever notice the difference. The most I got out of it was a slightly softer look to games like Gears 5 on my 4K TV when flipping back and forth between the Series S and Series X." when comparing some of the differences between the two consoles.If you're interested in one of these, you'll want to act sooner than later, as we have no idea when the inventory will sell out and these deals will be gone.
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Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that immerses the user in an entirely artificial world, which has the illusion of reality. According to GlobalData forecasts, in 2020, the global VR market was valued at $5 billion. The VR market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 25% during 2021-2030. The estimate includes revenues generated by VR hardware (i.e., headsets) and software. The market remains heavily gaming-oriented, but VR is gaining traction in areas such as social media and live streaming. Consumer-focused VR companies are striving for a semi-mythical killer app that would make VR a mainstream hit. Meanwhile, VR headset makers are increasingly exploring growth among enterprises.
VR has been around for over six decades, in one form or another, but is still not a mainstream technology. Both VR hardware and software have evolved significantly in recent years, but issues like latency, nausea, high prices, privacy concerns, and a dearth of compelling content prevent widespread adoption. While technologies such as 5G, cloud services, and motion tracking are used to address latency and nausea issues, improving content and developing effective data privacy practices will be paramount for VR’s success.
The number of emerging enterprise use cases reflects VR’s growing adoption and, as such, VR headsets will become critical tools, mainly for training, in the long run. On the consumer front, VR is primarily associated with gaming but has other uses, including accessing social media and viewing video content. VR will play an essential role in the metaverse, an emerging mega-theme that could potentially revolutionize the digital media industry.
Overview of virtual reality market For more insights on this report, download a free report sample
What are the market dynamics of virtual reality market?The market remains heavily gaming-oriented, but VR is gaining traction in areas such as social media and live streaming. Consumer-focused VR companies are striving for a semi-mythical killer app that would make VR a mainstream hit. Meanwhile, VR headset makers are increasingly exploring growth among enterprises. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a shift to remote working that has boosted the adoption of VR by enterprises for training, collaboration, data visualization, and customer experience. VR will be a key technology in the future of work, and the development of enterprise-grade metaverse platforms will further enhance its appeal.
COVID-19 has hit the VR market on both the supply and demand sides. According to GlobalData forecasts, shipments of VR headsets fell by 50% in 2020, and revenues declined compared to 2019. Consumer spending on non-essential products, including VR headsets, was negatively impacted by the economic recession. VR will be a key technology in the future of work. Today, VR is used in industries such as retail (e.g., Walmart), aerospace (e.g., Boeing), airlines (e.g., Qatar Airways), oil and gas (e.g., Saudi Aramco), and healthcare (e.g., Johnson & Johnson), mainly for training and collaboration. The explosion in remote working during the COVID-19 crisis has fueled the use of VR in enterprises. VR-based collaboration and training will become key use cases for the emerging enterprise-grade metaverses in the coming years.
What are the segments involved in the virtual reality market by end-user and platform?In terms of end-users, the VR market is segmented into Enterprise VR and Consumer VR. The consumer VR segment accounted for more than 70% of total VR revenue in 2020. However, by 2030 the enterprise segment will be dominant, accounting for more than 60% of total revenue. In terms of platform, the VR market is segmented into VR software and VR hardware. VR software accounted for more than 50% of the total global VR market in 2020, with the remaining coming from the sale of hardware. VR software market observed a slight decline in 2020 compared to 2019. VR software comprises of VR apps and content distributed via app stores. It does not include revenues generated by services like app development platforms and VR arcade operators. VR hardware declined in 2020 due to production and supply issues during the pandemic. The market will recover as the pandemic subsides.
Virtual reality market, by end-user For more segment insights, download a free report sample
What are the value chain segments in the virtual reality market?As per Globaldata’s report, the Augmented reality value chain is split into five segments: semiconductors, components, headsets, platforms, and applications and content. Semiconductors: Several chipmakers are investing in developing VR-specific chipsets, which will enhance the standalone capabilities of devices and make them more versatile. It is further segmented into Central processing units (CPUs), Graphics processing units (GPUs), Vision processing units (VPUs), Image processors, Communication chips, Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), and Memory chips.
Components: The aim is to reduce the lag between the user’s motion and the computer-generated response inside the VR headset. It is further segmented into Motion tracking, Batteries, Displays, Cameras & 3D lenses, Audio components, and Machine vision.
Headsets: VR requires headsets – also called HMDs or goggles – that completely cover the eyes for an immersive experience. It is further segmented into Console-tethered, PC-tethered, Smartphone-tethered, and Untethered.
Platforms: Long-term success in the VR industry will come to those who build an entire ecosystem for users rather than simply manufacturing hardware. It is further segmented into Application programming interfaces (APIs) and SDKs, VR engines – games and enterprise, Application delivery networks (ADNs), and content delivery networks (CDNs).
Apps and content: The main bottleneck for VR is content. While the first generation of VR was primarily interested in hardware development, the second generation is more focused on content. Which are the key players in the virtual reality market?The key players in the virtual reality market include ByteDance, DPVR, Meta, HTC, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Sony, Unity, Valve, and Walt Disney.
Virtual reality market, key companies To know more about key players, download a free report sample
Market report scope Market size (Year – 2020)
$5 billion Growth rate (CAGR)
>25% Base year for estimation
2020 Forecast period
2021-2030 Key Companies
ByteDance, DPVR, Meta, HTC, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Sony, Unity, Valve and Walt Disney Key Segments by the end-user
Enterprise VR & Consumer VR Key Segments by platform
VR software and VR hardware Key Value Chain segments
Semiconductors, Components, Headsets, Platforms and Applications and Content Scope
This report provides an overview of the virtual reality theme. It identifies the key trends impacting the growth of the theme over the next 12 to 24 months, split into four categories: technology trends, macroeconomic trends, regulatory trends, and media trends.
It includes comprehensive industry analysis, including forecasts for virtual reality revenues to 2030. These forecasts are split by end-user (consumer and enterprise) and platform (hardware and software). There is also market share information for the VR headsets markets.
It contains details of M&A deals driven by the virtual reality theme, and a timeline highlighting milestones in the development of virtual reality.
The detailed value chain comprises five segments: semiconductors, components, headsets, platforms, and applications and content. Leading and challenging vendors are identified across all five segments. Reasons to Buy This report tells you the need to know about VR, including market forecasts to 2030 and profiles of the leading companies Key Players AMD AAC Technologies AdHawk Microsystems AG Microsystems Airbnb Airbus Akamai Alibaba Alphabet (Google) Alphabet (YouTube) Amazon Ambarella Analog Devices ANIMA RES ANTVR ApertusVR AppGameKit Apple Applied Materials AppliedVR Autodesk BAE Systems Baidu Baobab Studios BBK Electronics BigScreenVR Blu Wireless Boeing Bosch Broadcom Burberry BYD ByteDance (Pico) Cadence CAE Canbor Capcom Carl Zeiss CBAK Energy Technology Chukong Technologies CineVR Cirrus Logic Cloudflare Cognex Colopl Crytek Dassault Systèmes Dialog Semiconductor Digital Domain (3Glasses) Dish Network (Sling TV) Dolby Labs DPVR eBay Elbit System Electronic Arts Enhance EON Reality Epic Games F5 Networks Fable Studio Facebook Fastly Felix & Paul Studios Firsthand Technology Fove Foxconn Fulldrive FundamentalVR Garmin G'Audio Genius Electronic Optical GestureTek Godot Goertek Gravity Sketch HaptX Himax HP HTC Huawei ImmersiveTouch Infineon Intel Invensense (TDK) iQiyi Japan Display JD.com jsDelivr Kinicho Kioxia Knowles Electronics Leica Lenovo LG Chem LG Display LG Electronics Lockheed Martin LVMH (Christian Dior) Macronix Mantis Vision Manus Machinae Matterport MediaTek Medical Realities MeetinVR Merge Labs Micron Microsoft Mimi (3D Sound Labs) MindMotionPro Mozilla (Hubs) Murata Myer Nanome Nanya Tech NetEase Netflix Nexon Nikon Nintendo Northrop Grumman Nvidia NXP Semiconductors Occipital Olympus OmniVision Omron Oncomfort OnSemi OpenXR Osso VR Oxford VR Panasonic Penrose Studios Pimax Psious Qorvo Qualcomm Resolution Games Ricoh Safran Samsung Electronics Seiko Epson Sennheiser Sensata Shanghai Optics Shenzhen Arashi Shinecon SideQuest Sine Wave Sixense SK Hynix Skyworks Softbank (Arm) Sony Spatial Systems Square Enix StackPath STMicroelectronics Suning.com SUPERHOT TDK (ATL) TDK (InvenSense) Tencent Tencent (WeChat) Texas Instruments Toshiba Tsinghua Unigroup TSMC Ubisoft Ultrahaptics Unity Unity Technologies Universal Display USound Valve Varjo Verizon Vicarious Surgical Vicon VR Lens Lab VRChat Walt Disney WearVR Western Digital Wild Technology Wookey Technologies WorldViz Xiaomi Xilinx Young Optics Yulio Technologies Table of Contents Executive summaryPlayersTechnology briefingTrendsIndustry analysisValue chainCompaniesSector scorecardsGlossaryFurther readingThematic methodology Frequently Asked Questions The virtual reality market was valued at $5 billion in 2020. The virtual reality market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 25% during 2020-2030. By end-users, the VR market is segmented into enterprise VR and consumer VR. In terms of platform, the VR market is segmented into VR software and VR hardware. The key players in virtual reality market include ByteDance, DPVR, Meta, HTC, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Sony, Unity, Valve, and Walt Disney.
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Wilf (Gary Carr) and Flynne (Chloë Grace Moretz) in The PeripheralImage: Prime VideoTen years from now, a young woman in the rural South turns to a lucrative side hustle to pay for her mother’s medical treatment: playing virtual reality games to help rich clients level up. But as we see in The Peripheral, her latest gig is far more than a game, and the world it opens up is incredibly vivid, dangerous, and complex.OffEnglishThat’s the very basic set-up for Prime Video’s new series, which is based on the 2014 novel by cyberpunk legend William Gibson, is produced by Westworld’s Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, and was created for TV by novelist turned screenwriter Scott Smith (A Simple Plan, The Ruins). With that kind of pedigree, it’s no surprise that The Peripheral paints a grim yet intriguing vision of the future—or futures, as it turns out. Not only does gamer Flynne (Chloë Grace Moretz) live in 2032, her VR adventuring sees her visit London in 2099, which turns out to be a very real time and place where technology has advanced to the point that “quantum tunneling” allows contact between the time periods, including the ability to port someone’s consciousness from the past into an eerily lifelike android body, called a “peripheral,” in the future.Flynne puts on the headset that changes her life.Photo: Sophie Mutevelian/Prime VideoMuch like Westworld, The Peripheral is a series that demands viewers pay close attention, lest they miss some bit of critical information—be it a clue to the story’s central mystery, or an explanation as to who is where and what the hell is going on. Fortunately, we have Flynne and her brother, Burton (Midsommar’s Jack Reynor) learning right along with us, and a script that admits more than once that even the characters pulling the strings get confused sometimes. (If you’re someone who had to rewind Westworld on occasion to clarify WTF just happened, like I did, get ready to do the same here.) The Peripheral runs eight episodes—io9 got a chance to see the first six, but won’t be spoiling story points here—which feels exactly right; it’s the ideal framework for a snappy pace, but also provides enough breathing room to let its more complicated ideas settle in.Once you have a grasp of The Peripheral’s tech elements, as well as the creative way it approaches “time travel,” then it becomes the intrigue-laden thriller it really aims to be, and becomes a lot more fun to watch, too. There are two storylines at play that intersect more and more as the episodes progress. Flynne and Burton’s life revolves around caring for their ill mother and trying to make ends meet in a small town where Flynne works in a 3D printing shop and Burton spends most of his time hanging out with his friends, all of whom served in the Marines together and have an intense bond further enhanced by the “haptic implants” they all share. Then, 70 years later in a dystopian London—still an unsteady, underpopulated place decades after a cataclysmic worldwide event dubbed the “Jackpot”—we meet Wilf (Gary Carr), a “fixer” for the outrageously wealthy Lev (JJ Feild), who’s trying to find Wilf’s adopted sister, Aelita (Charlotte Riley); she vanished while doing high-stakes corporate spying on his behalf, accompanied by Flynne (in peripheral form). G/O Media may get a commissionBurton is a good ol’ boy... who will also kill you if he has to.Image: Prime VideoOther elements complicate both storylines, including backwoods kingpin Corbell Pickett (Louis Herthum), who becomes an at-first-unwilling participant in Flynne and Burton’s drama; and the machinations of Research Institute, which controls future London with its insidious, reality-shaping tech, and whose leader (The Haunting of Bly Manor’s T’Nia Miller) is also very interested in tracking down Aelita, believing she’s stolen something of incredible value, and Flynne by extension. There’s also a murder, and that’s when things get really messy.It’s a lot to take in—but hardly any of it is extraneous, and nearly every nugget of information sprinkled throughout both stories becomes important. (Like I said, The Periperal demands you pay close attention.) And even with all that plot going on, which is carefully doled out one puzzle piece at a time, and all the sleek visual effects it necessarily relies on, the show does an excellent job fleshing out its characters, using flashbacks to show us moments that shaped them into the people we’re meeting now. It helps that the performances are across the board excellent, with Moretz at the center as a sheltered young woman who’s also intelligent and confidently badass enough to hold her own after being plunged into some rather outrageous circumstances. The supporting turns are of the sort where the characters make indelible impressions even if they’re only in a few scenes—like Riley as the elusive, sharp-tongued Aelita, and Miller, whose RI boss simply oozes evil and elegance from every pore. Pickett wonders why the future has come knocking on his door.Photo: Sophie Mutevelian/Prime VideoThe Peripheral poses some pressing questions to its characters—including, but not limited to, why everyone in the future is so interested in North Carolina circa 2032—that will no doubt find answers by the end of the season. But the show also explores bigger themes that come into play with its bleak view of the future. The “Jackpot” warns of a near-apocalypse caused by a domino effect of all-too-relatable horrors (climate change, a pandemic, domestic terrorism), and there’s an underlying narrative about the dangers of changing the past, as well as what not changing the past might mean when something so close to doomsday is looming on the horizon. The Peripheral’s ultimate message is really a warning; as we see quite clearly, even something as dire as the “Jackpot” can’t curb humanity’s obsession with greed, power, violence, and stomping on anyone who questions the fucked-up status quo. By season’s end, the show might find some sort of uplifting ending for its heroic characters—but there’s a darkness running throughout that feels less like science fiction, and more like a troubling inevitability.The Peripheral will have a weekly release on Prime Video starting October 21.Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
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The remake of beloved video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is reportedly back on track after being shelved by Aspyr Media last month. The game is now being developed by Saber Interactive, according to Bloomberg Monday, citing unnamed sources.Both Saber Interactive and Aspyr Media are owned by Swedish company Embracer Group. Bloomberg pointed to a statement from Embracer in its financial report last week that noted a AAA gaming title had shifted to another studio within the group."This was done to ensure the quality bar is where we need it to be for the title," the financial report says. "We are not expecting any material delays for the title based on this transition."Embracer Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Read more: Game Release Dates of 2022: The Biggest Titles Still ComingIt follows Bloomberg reporting last month that two directors working on the game remake were fired just days after finishing a demo for the game.The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake was announced as part of Sony's PlayStation Showcase in September last year. It's set to release on PS5 and PC.The game, set thousands of years before the original Star Wars trilogy, was first released in 2003 for PC and Xbox by BioWare.
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Gaming & VR
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Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription game service, originally intended to sell online gaming access, went through a big change in June. Still called PS Plus, it has now become Sony's version of Xbox Game Pass, offering access to a large and evolving Netflix-style catalog of games. While it does some things better than Microsoft, the new PS Plus still lags behind in other aspects of the service. The new PS Plus offers three subscription tiers, from an Essential package that mimics the old PS Plus, to Extra and Premium tiers offering hundreds of games, cloud streaming, monthly bonus games and online multiplayer access. What it doesn't offer, however, is a clean interface to make it easy to find games, and it also includes only a few of the biggest Sony games on the PlayStation platform. PS Plus mostly lines up with Xbox Game Pass on paper when you're going down a list of features. But for overall value and accessibility, it doesn't always feel like that when actually using it. LikeThree price optionsExpanded cloud streamingBig game catalog Don't LikeLots of shovelwarePoor discoverabilityMissing key Sony gamesNo mobile app yet, PC app isn't great PS Plus is a big plusBefore the big update, Sony offered two different PlayStation subscriptions. PS Plus for playing online, with a couple of bonus games every month, was $10. PS Now offered a catalog of mostly older games to download or cloud stream for the same price. The new PS Plus combines the two under a single name and comes in three tiers:Essential: Same as the original PS Plus, with two or three bonus monthly games, which you keep only as long as you're an active subscriber; online play; cloud saves; and PSN Store discounts. It costs $10 a month, or $60 a year. (In the UK it's £7 a month or £70 a year, and in Australia it's AU$12 or AU$80.)Extra: All the features of Essential and more than 400 PS and PS5 games available to download or selectively stream. It costs $15 a month, or $100 a year. (In the UK it's £11 a month or £84 a year; in Australia it's AU$19 or AU$135.)Premium: A step up from Extra tier adding in PlayStation 1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games, growing the overall catalog to more than 700 games. That tier is available at $18 a month, or $120 a year. It also has time trial game demos, so subscribers try out certain games for a few hours before buying. (In the UK it's £13.49 a month or £100 a year. In Australia, where it's called "Deluxe" for some reason, it's AU$22 or AU$155.) See also PS5 Review: Exclusive Games Power Sony’s Sky-High Console Xbox Series X Review: Game Pass Is the Secret Weapon Xbox Series S Review: Making Next-Gen Gaming More Affordable Meta Quest 2: Facebook’s VR Headset Feels Too Good to Be True Nintendo Switch OLED Review: Not Quite Different Enough As for the games available, they're some of the best on the PlayStation console. This includes Death Stranding Director's Cut, God of War (2018), Demon's Souls (the updated 2020 version), Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Red Dead Redemption 2, Control and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Those who have the Premium tier will also access classics from older generations, including Dark Cloud 2, Syphon Filter, Tekken 2 and Hot Shots Golf. Since PS Now included cloud gaming before it was integrated into the new PS Plus, this means game streaming is available from the get go. For Xbox Game Pass, that took years to implement. This means subscribers can play games on their consoles without having to download them or on their PC via the PS Plus app. Some of the classic games are only available to play via streaming, and as long as your internet connection is speedy and stable, there are hardly any noticeable hiccups. The Xbox Game Pass flavor of cloud gaming, however, lets you play some games on phones and tablets, or laptop web browsers.The overall PS Plus catalog is larger than Xbox Game Pass, and it offers some unique features. But there are flaws with the service that Sony will need to address if it wants to match the popularity of Microsoft's service.Read more: Best Games on PS Plus Now playing: Watch this: PlayStation Plus: Picking the Best Tier 10:39 Some major minusesPS Plus' biggest issue is the lack of organization with the catalog of games. There are a few categories games are placed in, but there seems to be little rhyme or reason to it. The Xbox Game Pass user interface is similar to what someone would see on Netflix or Disney Plus, by having some of the more notable games and certain genres easily discoverable. PS Plus, on the other hand, doesn't have this so it's just tedious to find something of interest. Another glaring problem is the overall quality of games. It's not as though you'd expect all 700 games to be winners, but there are some absolute garbage games seemingly there just to pump up the numbers. This was the biggest issue with PS Now, and it carried over to the new PS Plus. Xbox Game Pass, in comparison, has just over 100 games available, but it seems like the games are of a higher overall average quality than what PS Plus has to offer. Compound the lackluster games on top of the lousy UI and finding a new game to play becomes a bit monotonous.What makes the catalog issue even more frustrating is the lack of certain Sony-published games. Microsoft made it clear that its games will be available on Xbox Game Pass from launch day, and they will stay on there. It's been true for Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5, and will be for upcoming games like Bethesda's Starfield. Sony has yet to do the same with many of its well-known classic games as well as its most recent titles. PS Plus feels like it should include The Last of Us Part 2, Horizon Forbidden West and most of the Gran Turismo titles… but it doesn't. There's also the question of the longevity of the titles. PS Now routinely had titles available for a few months before they were removed, and it's unclear if PS Plus will do the same. While cloud streaming is available at launch, there's a lack of platforms available to stream to. There are no apps for iOS or Android, and the PC app, while it works, reportedly has problems with not being able to launch certain games. PS4 and PS5 owners who want the absolute most bang for their bucks should subscribe to at least the Extra tier of PS Plus. It's still a wealth of great games to play at a reasonable monthly price. Fans of some of the older titles could see a reason to jump to the Premier tier in order to play those classic games, while the Essential tier should be avoided, as it makes little sense to not pay the extra $5 a month to access hundreds of games.
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Gaming & VR
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FILE - Lina Khan, then-nominee for Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 21, 2021. Whether it is a fitness tracker, “smart” home appliances or the latest kids’ fad going viral in online videos, they all produce a trove of personal data for big tech companies. How that data is being used and protected has led to growing public concern and officials’ outrage. Now federal regulators are looking at drafting rules to crack down on what they call harmful commercial surveillance and lax data security. The FTC announced the initiative Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner via AP, Pool, File) Even before she took the job as the Federal Trade Commission's new chairwoman, Lina Khan had her sights set on Big Tech. But few expected her to block tech companies from buying into gaming. This summer, the Federal Trade Commission sued Meta to block a deal to purchase virtual reality (VR) fitness app-maker "Within." Months later, when the suit finally made its way into a courtroom, the Commission sued Microsoft to block its acquisition of video game developer Activision Blizzard, Inc. This month, the Commission reached a settlement agreement with Epic Games over alleged privacy violations and use of dark patterns — an emerging class of ambiguous harm. These suits are only a sign of what’s to come. Khan has clearly signaled the Commission's intent to disrupt nascent industries by blocking mergers and acquisitions. But the FTC should be wary of compromising the incentive for such investments. Preventing companies from pouring capital into emerging markets will put a damper on growth and cripple the U.S. economy. The FTC’s ambitious expansion of antitrust enforcement into burgeoning markets like virtual reality ironically threatens innovation itself. As others have noted
, suits such as these discourage investment by creating fear that the government will take aggressive action to undermine developing industries. The threat posed by these suits alone limits the capability of large firms to expand into nascent industries and build out consumer markets. Before this shift in enforcement tactics, tech companies made notable investments in emerging markets. Meta, for example, invested billions into expanding the virtual reality space, spawning over a thousand apps. Far from attempting to centralize the market, Meta’s actions thus far have focused on boosting the growth of a diverse and vibrant VR ecosystem. In fact, even though the company is struggling to turn a profit on its Metaverse project, the recently released Quest Pro headset is setting new standards for what VR could look like in the very near future. Other large tech companies such as Apple, Sony, and Samsung have been notable competitors to early VR leaders HTC and Valve — competition that has driven innovation in virtual reality headset development. But more importantly, these companies have driven down costs to bring VR to a broader consumer market. What was once a few thousand dollars to experience is now attainable for a few hundred, and there is nothing anti-competitive about that. This suit by the FTC against Meta, however, along with the latest complaint lodged against Microsoft, clearly indicates that no capable tech company will be allowed to continue growing nascent markets like VR under the FTC’s current leadership. While the desire to promote competitive markets is noble, the latest string of suits from the FTC demonstrates a failure to comprehend the full picture of the Commission’s ability to disrupt innovation. Moreover, the FTC’s novel legal arguments face a steep hurdle in the courts. The FTC under Khan is unlike the FTC of the past forty years, which followed the Consumer Welfare Standard to make the right call in these matters. This new Commission is organized around adversarial posturing without regard for success. But while the Commission is set on scaling down the dominance of tech companies, the real losers in this are consumers — especially gamers. Now that the Commission has drawn a clear line in the sand between tech companies and emerging consumer markets, indie games with limited graphics capabilities will likely plague virtual reality for the next few years. In the future, the Commission’s battle against tech companies will expand to other industries. Especially now that the Commission no longer views consumer welfare as its guiding standard, the pitfalls of an unbridled and unchecked regulator will be felt throughout the market. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RESTORING AMERICA Caden Rosenbaum is the technology and innovation policy analyst at Libertas Institute, based in Lehi, Utah.
Sebastian Anastasi is the former tech and innovation policy intern at the Libertas Institute based in Lehi and an economics student at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
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Gaming & VR
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Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook Inc., speaks during the virtual Facebook Connect event, where the company announced its rebranding as Meta, in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMeta is introducing a new way for people to log in to virtual reality headsets without using their Facebook credentials, the company's latest effort to separate its futuristic metaverse ambitions from its core social media business.Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the company now known as Meta, announced in a blog post on Thursday that Meta accounts will debut in August. Users will be able to access their Meta Quest VR headsets with their new accounts and to see a history of their VR app purchases, Zuckerberg wrote.While Meta still gets substantially all of its revenue from its Facebook family of apps, Zuckerberg is trying to convince investors and a certain subset of customers that the business is headed in a different direction as the metaverse evolves.Zuckerberg's vision of the metaverse involves an assortment of virtual worlds that can be accessed by VR and augmented reality technologies. Although VR and AR headsets are still niche devices in a world dominated by smartphones, the Facebook founder has indicated they represent the future of computing and he recently said he envisions 1 billion users spending hundreds of dollars each in the metaverse by the second half of the decade.The story looks wildly different today, however. Reality Labs, Meta's division responsible for developing the metaverse and its underlying technologies, posted a $10 billion loss in 2021.Meta also is trying to make amends with its current customer base of Quest VR users after the company previously required them to use their Facebook accounts to access headsets. The backlash resulted in Meta announcing in October that it would change course."When we announced that we would start requiring people to log into Meta Quest using a Facebook account, we received a lot of feedback from the Quest community," Zuckerberg said in Thursday's blog post. "We took that feedback into account as we designed a new Meta account structure that gives people flexibility and control."Along with abandoning the need to use Facebook credentials, Meta is making a marketing change to further showcase the brand. Rather than users having Oculus profiles, they will now have Meta Horizon profiles. Facebook inherited the name when it acquired Oculus in 2014 as an entry into the VR market. Now people will be able to use their Meta Horizon profiles to customize their VR usernames, virtual avatars and other information, Zuckerberg said.A Meta spokesperson told CNBC that users will need both a Meta account and a Meta Horizon profile to access the company's VR headsets.Zuckerberg also noted that Quest VR users will have "followers" instead of "friends," making the Quest nomenclature more akin to Instagram."If you already own a Meta VR headset, your Oculus friends will automatically become your followers and you'll follow them back by default," he said. "You can choose to unfollow anyone or remove followers at any time."Meta also is releasing new tools to let users manage their privacy settings in VR, allowing them to choose whether they want their Meta Horizon profiles to be open to everyone, only to friends and family or to be kept private.If users don't select a privacy setting, they will be set to friends and family by default, a spokesperson said. Current Quest VR users will need to select a privacy setting in order to continue using their headsets.WATCH: What is the metaverse and why are billions of dollars being spent on it?
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Gaming & VR
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GAZA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The owner of Gaza's first virtual reality gaming cafe is offering a fantasy world of action, music, and sports to young people who have grown up under the blockade."Often many of the youth who come here to play they look for an escape from the reality they live in," Firas Al-Khodary, the owner of VR Station in Gaza city, said.With opportunities for travel ruled out for most people by the years-long border closure imposed by Israel and Egypt, the online realm is an outlet for young people hungry for entertainment and distraction.[1/5] A Palestinian girl Nisreen Shamalakh wears virtual reality glasses inside a gaming store in Gaza City, November 22, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa"I move into cities, different places, mountains, and oceans, cities that are impossible for us to visit," said 22 year-old Youssef Al-Qudairi.According to Al-Khodary, virtual action and combat games are the most popular among young men, while young women tend to favour sports, music and travel."Since we are blockaded and it is difficult to travel and move from one place to another, we come to VR and make up for all these things and we live it in the virtual reality," said 16 year-old Nisreen Shamalakh as she put on her headset.Writing by Nidal Almughrabi; editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.Nidal Al-MughrabiThomson ReutersA senior correspondent with nearly 25 years’ experience covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict including several wars and the signing of the first historic peace accord between the two sides.
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Gaming & VR
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This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas. Game consoles, gaming hardware and new games and accessories are an easy holiday win. Finding exactly what you want, however, can be harder. Yes, the PS5 from Sony is easier to buy than at any point in its two-year lifespan, but you still have to hunt around a bit. The Xbox Series X and Series S are generally easy to buy now, as is the OLED Nintendo Switch. If you're looking for the absolute best gaming gift, any one of these consoles is a sure hit. Going a little further afield, Meta's Quest 2 is still the VR headset to beat, even though Meta/Facebook recently raised the price. Newer VR headsets like the PSVR 2 (for PS5) aren't coming until next year, and Meta's upcoming new VR headset is going to be a much more expensive, pro-level device, rather than a casual gaming system. Handheld gaming is experiencing a renaissance in 2022, with the Nintendo Switch joined by the Analogue Pocket and Panic Playdate -- two retro-feeling mini-consoles that will give you classic GameBoy vibes. On the other end of the spectrum, the Steam Deck from Valve (also still hard to find) is a full-featured mini gaming PC. For an overall favorite, the $499 PlayStation 5 is for gamers who want high-profile, Sony-exclusive games like God of War or Horizon: Forbidden West. The $499 Xbox Series X is great for gamers who want a whole ecosystem of Xbox Game Pass games that work across Xbox, PC and even tablets and phones (via cloud gaming). Out best budget pick for a game console is the Xbox Series S, which does almost everything the bigger Series X does, but for $299. Another budget idea: For $49, you can pick up a Microsoft Xbox controller, in a variety of colors -- it's a great gift because it works across Xbox, gaming PCs, iPads and iPhones, even Apple TV. Oliver Padilla/CNET The Xbox Series X is a powerful 4K gaming machine that works best with a similarly advanced 4K TV. The platform offers exclusives like Halo and Forza, as well as for games from Microsoft-owned Bethesda, including the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, and the upcoming Starfield. The Xbox's biggest advantage is the excellent Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which includes many of the biggest new games, for $15/month, and also includes PC and cloud gaming. Read our Xbox Series X review. Dan Ackerman/CNET The smaller, cheaper Series S version of the new Xbox plays all the same games, but outputs them at 1440 resolution, which lies somewhere between traditional HD and 4K. More importantly, it's great for downloading and playing the huge catalog of Xbox Game Pass games, or for free-to-play online games like Fortnite. Read our Xbox Series S review. You're receiving price alerts for Microsoft Xbox Series S Dan Ackerman/CNET The Xbox controller has become the unofficial industry standard. It connects via Bluetooth, so it works on not only Xbox consoles, but also your PC or Mac, iPhone, Android phone or iPad, and even the Apple TV. Since nearly every PC game, and many iOS games, are already mapped to work with this controller, so it's as close to pick-up-and-play as a gaming accessory can get. You're receiving price alerts for Xbox Core Wireless Controller Lori Grunin/CNET For the budget-friendly price of $50 this remains one of the most comfortable gaming headsets under $100 you'll ever clamp over your ears. Among the updates from the previous version, the Cloud Stinger 2 now has an expanded frequency response on both ends, an updated headband with rotating earcups, a bendier boom for the mic and a better on-ear volume dial. Dan Ackerman/CNET This fourth iteration of Nintendo's Switch hybrid handheld adds a bigger, better built-in display (now an OLED screen), plus a redesigned kickstand and TV dock. For anyone looking to jump into Switch or add a second unit for household multiplayer, this is the default model to consider. But if you're looking for the next Zelda game, that's not coming until May, 2023. Read the OLED Nintendo Switch review. You're receiving price alerts for Nintendo Switch OLED (Red/Blue) Dan Ackerman/CNET Taking the openness, flexibility and scale of PC gaming and putting it into handheld form has long been a holy grail for a devoted subset of WASD gamers. The Steam Deck comes closer than anything I've seen to nailing that formula. The Steam Deck is made by Valve, the company behind the hugely successful Steam online game store/platform, but you should know what you're doing before committing to the device. It's a handheld AMD-powered PC running Linux (with an overlay called Steam OS), and it plays many, but not all, of the PC games on the Steam online store. If you're prepared to do some tweaking and experimenting with settings, and feel comfortable with general PC game troubleshooting (versus the plug-and-play ease of living room consoles), the Steam Deck is a fantastic gaming device. Scott Stein/CNET For anyone with a pile of old Game Boy games, the Analogue Pocket is a Game Boy revival dream come true. The Pocket plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges, and other retro handheld games like Sega Game Gear with separately sold adapters. A sharp color screen and a battery with USB-C recharging mean games play and look fantastic. A separately sold dock can play games on a TV screen, too. Read our Analogue Pocket review. Scott Stein/CNET The Panic Playdate is tiny, yellow, has a nonbacklit black-and-white screen, and plays its own unique indie games, 24 of which come included with the purchase price. Games are controlled with buttons, a D-pad, and a wacky turning crank that's used in multiple games to good effect. The Playdate's adorable and weird, very experimental-feeling, and we have no idea what future games will arrive. But it's destined to be a collector's item for handheld and indie game lovers. Read our Panic Playdate review. Sarah Tew/CNET The Quest 2 is the easiest to use VR headset, even though the starting price has jumped from $299 to $399. It's totally self-contained, need no cables or external tracking cameras, and plays a pretty diverse set of games, from shooters, to puzzle games to theme park rides. And it's not just for gaming; it can be used for fitness training, virtual theatergoing and even VR meetings. Caveat parentis, though: The user has to login to Facebook, so be wary if you're giving it to a kid. Read our Oculus Quest 2 review. Find The Perfect GiftAllUnder $10Under $20Under $50Under $100Under $250allmomsdadsgrandparentsfitnesstravelersteenspreteenstechgamingfoodieshomeromanticjewelrykids107 results
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Gaming & VR
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience Thursday to talk about social media, mixed martial arts and his company's new virtual reality headset known as "Project Cambria." Zuckerberg says the next headset comes out in October, and that more will be revealed at the company's Connect event. Meta has yet to announce the date of the show.
Rogan -- a longtime fan of the Oculus hardware -- gave his impression about the new hardware, saying it would track his eyes and facial movements that would then show up on his avatar. Zuckerberg called this feature "social presence" that would convey non-verbal communication in VR such as eye contact or smiling. Project Cambria is the next evolution of Meta's VR hardware announced in 2021. It will have the eye-tracking sensor as Rogan mentioned, and will be a stand-alone device like the Meta Quest 2. There also could be more sensor technology in the new device that could be used for other activities such as health and fitness.
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Gaming & VR
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Sofia Pitt using Meta Quest ProSofia PittI've been testing the new $1,500 Meta Quest Pro virtual reality headset since it launched on Oct. 25.After spending about two weeks with it, here's my takeaway: The Pro has an identity crisis.At $1,500, it's far too expensive to be considered a consumer device for gaming. Unfortunately, most of the apps on the device haven't been optimized for the new Pro, so it also doesn't feel ready for professional use, either. Meta still needs VR developers who are looking to enhance the metaverse to buy the Pro and create more apps and use cases for the headset.Investors have been particularly concerned about the amount of money the company is spending on its Reality Labs division, which built the new headset. So far this year, Meta has lost $9.4 billion betting on the metaverse, and shares of the company are down about 70% year to date. Meta announced Wednesday it's laying off 11,000 employees.But CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned that these metaverse advancements wouldn't be seen for five to 10 years. "Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers," Zuckerberg wrote in an October 2021 blog post. He's betting the metaverse is the new frontier of the internet. "We believe VR devices will help usher in the next computing platform — becoming as ubiquitous as laptops and tablets are today — and that people will use them in their everyday lives to access the metaverse," Zuckerberg wrote in the announcement for the new Meta Quest Pro."The metaverse is not going to be busted or made based on Pro," said Gene Munster, founder and managing partner at Loup Ventures.Instead, this latest product launch is another "aggressive experience experiment," Munster said. "They're creating a business around how people are going to use tech in the future."In other words, the Meta Quest Pro is a very expensive experiment built to help figure out the use cases for the metaverse.Here's what the headset is like.Meta Quest Pro vs. Meta Quest 2: Design upgradesThe fit and design of the Meta Quest Pro are a huge upgrade compared with the Meta Quest 2 headset, which launched in 2020 under the name Oculus Quest 2.The battery has been moved to the back, making the weight distribution much better. New "pancake" lenses — they're flat like a pancake instead of round and bulky — are much thinner and provide better peripheral vision.Meta Quest Pro.Sofia PittEven though the headset is more comfortable, wearing it for long periods of time can take a toll on your forehead. When you set up your Pro, and whenever you put it on, it will prompt you to do a fit calibration check to make sure the device is snugly fastened to your head. I found that these recommendations make the headset too tight, so follow Meta's fit guidelines at your own risk.Forehead marking after prolonged use of the Meta Quest Pro. The Meta Quest Pro has an upgraded processor. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Plus promises up to 50% more performance power, according to Meta. Paired with the new screens, it also allows for richer colors, deeper blacks and better visuals.The new processor, combined with added eye and face tracking, means your avatar more accurately reflects you in VR. Eye and face tracking is the most exciting update. If you're smiling, your avatar smiles too. If you're looking pensive, your avatar looks deep in thought. This makes interactions in the metaverse feel more lifelike. Your avatar won't look like an accurate depiction of you, but your true emotions will be communicated in your expressions when you're interacting with others.Meta Quest Pro with light blockers attached.Sofia PittYou can also attach the included magnetic light blockers to the sides of your headset to feel more fully immersed in the world of VR. While much more light is blocked out when compared with the Quest 2, it's still not completely dark. There's also a magnetic face ring attachment that's meant to block out light entirely, but it's sold separately and costs an additional $50.The controllers were also upgraded. They are now chargeable and don't require you to replace the batteries, which makes them much easier to use. They track your hand movements through cameras that face outwards. They're much less clunky and they even have a cool feature where you can replace the strap hardware with a stylus nub so you can replicate the feeling of drawing.The new controllers pair with previous Meta headsets, too, but cost $299 if you buy them separately.Meta also added color pass-through capability on the Pro, replacing the hazy black-and-white version on earlier models, allowing you to see virtual images on top of real-life objects. For example, while painting on a virtual canvas, you can see the objects in the room around you. It looks as though the virtual canvas is set up in the room you're in.The headset has angled speakers that project sound into your ears and a microphone that picks up even faint whispers slightly better than the microphone on the Quest 2.Entering the metaverse: A not-so-warm welcomeThe first interaction I had with someone in Horizon Worlds was another avatar telling me to "f--- off."Horizon Worlds is a social virtual reality application created by Meta that allows users to explore virtual worlds and interact with other participants virtually. This is Meta's main metaverse platform.Social etiquette isn't the same in VR as it is in reality. While I was engaging in another social interaction, a female user's avatar started hitting my avatar, which is not allowed per Meta's guidelines. If someone's behavior is inappropriate, you can report them. You can also set up boundaries so people can't get too close to you.There are Community Guides, employed by Meta, who walk around Horizon Worlds and help guide you through your Horizon Worlds experience. I listened in on a conversation others were having with one of the guides. The other users wanted to know more about him and how much money he made, which he said he couldn't share.And I thought it was weird when someone asked me how I could afford my Meta Quest Pro.There were pleasant interactions, too. Many legless avatars told me information about the different worlds I was in and where to go to see a comedy show or play a game. I even played virtual beer pong with some folks, but things turned sour when my opponent said, "If I make this shot, you have to CashApp me $5." I walked away from the game.Horizon Worlds using the Meta Quest Pro.Sofia PittWooorld helped me see the metaverse's potentialThe major issue with the new headset is not its design, it's the software. There aren't enough apps that are optimized to take advantage of the Meta Quest Pro's updates.The app Wooorld is a perfect example of this. The point of Wooorld is exploration. You are transported by picking a landmark on a topographical map, which then shows you real photos of your surroundings. I was able to travel to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Pyramids of Egypt, and a mountain in Japan.Egyptian Pyramid in Wooorld on Meta Quest Pro.Sofia PittI can see the use case for this sort of application. Imagine being a middle school history teacher trying to explain the Great Wall of China. Taking the students right to it in virtual reality could help keep them interested.Golden Gate Bridge on Wooorld application using Meta Quest Pro.Sofia PittBut the pictures are grainy and getting to different locations isn't easy. It took me 45 minutes to figure out how to move around in Wooorld. When you make it to your desired location, you can see a 360-degree view of the landmark, but I wish you could see more, walk around and access additional information about the location.Overall, the experience is not better than the much more affordable Meta Quest 2.Wooorld application view of Japanese mountain. Sofia PittMeditating in the metaverseI am an avid meditator; I try to get 10 to 20 minutes of mindfulness practice every day. I typically use a guided meditation app to practice, but meditation in the real world will never be the same now that I've done it in the metaverse.TRIPP is a guided virtual reality experience that fully immerses you in meditation. If you've ever tried meditating before, you know that quieting your thoughts is usually the most challenging part. Connecting to the present moment is easy when you are consumed by visuals and auditory instructions.TRIPP application on the Meta Quest Pro.Sofia PittIn TRIPP, users are guided through breathing exercises that use visual cues to help them get into the activity. For example, when you're inhaling and exhaling, little particles appear to virtually flow in and out of your mouth. The app also incorporates games into mindfulness. You're tasked with using your head to direct an object that touches different coins, while simultaneously avoiding obstacles. For me, it was pretty hard to stress about my to-do list when I was trying to focus on the object of the game.I left my meditation sessions feeling a little more connected to the present moment. I was able to better concentrate on tasks afterward without getting pointlessly lost in thought.Productivity in the metaverseI did not find it productive to actually work with my headset on, which is one of the main Pro headset use cases Meta promotes."One of the problems Meta is trying to solve is trying to help people collaborate in a hybrid environment," Munster said.I used an app called Immersed to project my computer screen in VR. While using Immersed you can co-work with others, write on a whiteboard, type, watch videos — essentially anything you can do on a computer.There's also Meta's own Horizon Workroom, which is a VR workspace that allows you to connect, collaborate and create. The face and eye tracking make the avatar experience more lifelike, but besides that, both apps perform similarly to how they do when used on the Meta Quest 2.Immersed application on Meta Quest Pro.Sofia PittThe benefit of working in the metaverse is that you remove outside distractions. Unless you have phone notifications set up, you can only see what exists on the screens in front of you. In theory, this is a great idea. I often get distracted by things going on in the environment around me, and Immersed removes the temptation to talk to people around you or pick up your phone.But I felt disoriented. I was itching to take the headset off after a few minutes of trying to read an article. My eyes felt tired from stimulation and the headset felt too heavy to wear for more than an hour at a time. While I was able to wear the headset for longer while in Horizon Worlds, for some reason reading and typing felt more strenuous, which is why I had a hard time with work productivity in VR.Being creative in the metaverse is a different story. I used the app Painting VR and found it really engaging and exciting to put a virtual brush to a canvas. Once you get a hang of the hand gestures, you can mix colors, experiment with different brush sizes and even press against the canvas harder to achieve a thicker line. You can display your paintings on the wall and invite friends to see your exhibition.Painting VR on Meta Quest ProSofia PittThese experiences are not new or exclusive to the Pro. All of them can be done on the Quest 2. But everything is faster on the Pro. The visuals are sharper, and the cameras are better and portray your facial expressions in the digital world. The headset is more comfortable. The sensors are more accurate, and the battery life is better. But, besides that, you'll play the same games and use the same applications with the much less expensive Quest 2.Should you buy it?Probably not.I see some promising use cases for the headset, especially when it comes to education, but there's no justification yet for buying the more expensive Pro since you currently get similar virtual reality experiences from the Quest 2.I'm excited to see how developers can expand on the metaverse and give people access to better apps and learning opportunities that may otherwise be impossible in the real world. I can picture a surgeon practicing in the metaverse, or a celebrity holding a free virtual concert that anyone with a headset can attend. But these applications will only work if Meta improves the graphics and makes virtual reality feel much closer to actual reality.Meta has made improvements to its headset. The software and hardware are better, but there aren't new applications to justify the huge price hike. While I'm sure the cost of these adjustments justifies some of the price increase, consumers aren't getting any more real value or new experiences by splurging for the much more expensive headset.
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Gaming & VR
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Home Gaming News Nvidia Working on Holographic VR Display Technology Graphics cards manufacturer Nvidia applies for a patent for a holographic technology designed to be used in displays and headsets. The technology company mostly known for its graphics cards, Nvidia, has applied for a patent for a new type of Holographic VR display. The patent application seems to involve a display that is placed on a head-mounted gear and would work as a virtual reality headset. Nvidia's intentions are not on display in the patent application, and it is only a technical explanation of the potential technology, but this could prove to be one of the first gaming-focused Holographic VR headsets on the market. Nvidia is a conglomerate working in software development and hardware manufacturing. While it became known as a graphics card manufacturer in the 1990s, Nvidia has since grown to produce myriad of semiconductor applications, software solutions, and consumer goods. In the gaming field, in addition to its GeForce graphics cards, Nvidia offers the likes of Shield gaming devices and game streaming platform GeForce Now. The patent application by Nvidia is first and foremost described as a Holographic Virtual Reality Display. While this doesn't distinguish immediately that it is indeed designed for use in headsets, the background of the technology and the detailed description reveal that is intended to be placeable on head-mounted displays. Of course, the most popular head-mounted displays in the consumer space are traditional VR devices, like the gaming-oriented Meta Quest headsets. This isn't the first holographic headset on the market. In fact, Microsoft's HoloLens project has been working on Holographic head-mounted displays for years. However, those aren't, strictly speaking, VR headsets. Microsoft's HoloLens uses what is called Augmented Reality to project images on top of regular field of vision. Nvidia doesn't seem to be aiming to reproduce Microsoft's product, although it does mention that the technology could be used in AR and Mixed Reality applications. Nvidia's descriptions of the device specifically call the device a virtual reality display, which suggests that this is likely aimed for more than adding content on top of the users view. This also suggests that there might be more gaming related holographic purposes. Games are mentioned as possible form of entertainment consumed on the device, game controllers as an input device, and game consoles as a source of the displayed image. Unfortunately, the patent images don't give any indication of the products the technology is intended to be used in, as per usual. As with all patents, this doesn't mean that Nvidia necessarily has a product on its development pipeline using the technology at this point. The company could simply be trying to position itself better as virtual reality games are becoming more popular. However, it definitely shows the company is working on developing a technology to make that happen. MORE: 8 Best RPG VR Games On PC
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Gaming & VR
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If you roll your eyes at the mention of VR because you never found the idea of Star Trek’s holodeck or the world of The Matrix very appealing, then you’re in the right place. After all, VR gaming isn’t for everyone—but it turns out that there’s a universe of genuinely compelling stuff out there for VR-curious non-gamers. Virtual reality has come a long way since its beginnings in the mall culture of the 90’s. These days, VR is flat out cool, no matter who you are or how little interest you have in tech. Virtual reality isn't just for gamers anymore and these games and experiences prove it. NurPhoto via Getty Images These days, you can pop on a Quest 2 headset and immerse yourself in everything from dance parties to sculpting and painting to marveling at the globe’s most impressive scenic vistas. Meditation, chess and challenges to overcome phobias are just a few more ways that VR isn’t aimed solely at the kids on Stranger Things. Of course there will always be games for gamers, but the world of virtual reality has started expanding in ways that even nana and pop-pop can get into. Here are some of our top picks for the best VR experiences for non-gamers. The VR Headset For Getting Started Recreate The Feeling Of A Cozy Living Room If watching a movie in your own living room has lost some of its appeal, hop into a viewing room in the Netflix VR experience. It gives any Netflix content the VR treatment of a cozy—and clean—living room, and lets you feel surrounded by TV shows and movies on a really big screen. And if you love the idea of lounging in VR and watching shows on a bigger screen than you have in your own real living room, don’t forget that there are Amazon Prime and YouTube VR apps on the Quest 2 as well. forbes.comOculus Promo Codes | 11% Off In June 2022 | ForbesTravel The World’s Most Amazing Destinations Visiting some of the world’s most stunning places in high-definition virtual reality is a must for people with wanderlust or a love of nature. You don’t have to pack a bag or bring a passport to be instantly transported around the planet. Brink Traveler gives you your own personal guide book to each location, meticulously captured in VR, so that you can learn about the environment as you explore and hike around. Visit real locations around the world including Iceland’s waterfalls, Horseshoe Bend, Mount Whitney, The Wave, Arches National Park and more. Treat Yourself To Immersive Mindfulness Meditation Looking to cultivate your inner calm? Tripp is a meditation app that uses guided meditation, breathwork, mindfulness techniques and stunning visuals to take the user to a peaceful Zen-like state of being. Whether you want to soothe your anxious mind or you are seeking a personal Nirvana, this is an accessible path toward your goal. You can drop in to a state of meditation anywhere you can use your Quest 2—from airports to WeWork desks to home offices. Dance, Box And Sweat With Workouts Led By Pros FitXR is our top choice for a seriously sweaty VR workout. Choose a coach—some talk more than others—and choose a HIIT, boxing or dance workout that fits your mood. This app was originally designed as a boxing workout so there are lots of heart-pumping squats and punches involved for a full-body toning meltdown. Music and environment choices abound, from pop to rock and peaceful mountains to digital realms, to further customize each experience. Anyone who gets bored of the same old workouts on repeat will enjoy this app because of the seemingly endless number of options available. Become A Chess Master Chess has been said to improve focus, memory and problem solving skills—all essential qualities for being on your A-game in any aspect of life. Chess Club lets you play against the computer or human players in three beautiful environments like a grand palace and Stonehenge at progressive levels of difficulty. Play a standard tabletop version or animate each piece for a live-action experience and watch the knight battle a pawn, for example. Regardless of which options you choose, Chess Club will help anyone elevate their skills and appreciate chess in a whole new way. Learn A New Language If, despite the best of intentions, you didn’t pick up a new language during the Covid-19 lockdowns—and who did, really?— then give Mondly a try. Enter a world in one of 30 languages where voice recognition software, real-life scenarios and intuitive learning modes create an incredibly useful VR experience. Whether preparing for a move abroad or just looking to know enough to show off to a colleague or friend, this app is a smart download. Sit In On The History Of The American Black Experience Some truly gripping documentaries are starting to appear in VR—like Traveling While Black, a non-interactive 20-minute look at the history of how the rights of Black Americans to travel in their own country has often been restricted. You sit beside real people—on busses and in diners—while listening to their firsthand accounts for a close-up and emotional experience that makes history come alive and become very personal. Bring A Full-Scale Art Experience To Life Google's 3D painting app is a new artistic environment medium that creative people can endlessly tinker within. The remotes let you paint with fire and sparkle or sculpt with paint and textures like stone or the universe. Design an immersive world at the whims of your imagination. Overcome A Fear Of Heights Richie's Plank Eperience Richie’s Plank Experience It's not a game—it's a sensory experience that lets you confront your fear of heights, in which you can force yourself to step onto and across a plank 80 stories in the air. The app has several scenarios that let you and your friends explore your comfort level with dizzying heights. Choose between walking its namesake plank and several hero modes where you fly to save the day amidst city skyscrapers. A fear of heights is one reason to try this out, but it’s also just plain entertaining or a good ego boost. Play In A Digital Clay-Sculpting Sandbox Remember Sculpey colored modelling clay from when you were a kid? Now, imagine playing with an endless supply of it in a digital atmosphere without any sticky or color-transferring mess. If you've ever wanted to sculpt a statue, build a house from scratch or create an entire immersive world out of clay, SculptVR is your tool for making anything imaginable and then touring the finished project alone or with friends.
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Gaming & VR
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Nobody likes being forced into too many subscriptions, but sometimes they're necessary. If you're hoping to play online games with the Nintendo Switch, you'll need a Nintendo Switch Online membership. The Xbox and PlayStation require subscription plans to allow online multiplayer gaming, and Nintendo Switch Online is a similar proposition.The good news is that Nintendo Switch Online costs less than PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass, at $20 a year. (You can also pay in installments, at $4 a month or $8 for three months, but the $20 for 12 months plan is the best value.) That plan gets you online play, online cloud saves and access to some free games you can play as long as you're subscribing to the service. But it'll only cover one Nintendo Switch account holder. LikeLow yearly costFamily bundle optionLots of included retro Nintendo games Don't LikeOptional Expansion Pack has N64 games at a steep step-up price Families with multiple Switches, or anyone with multiple accounts on the same Switch, will need to pay $35 a year, which covers up to eight family members. Otherwise, the only way to play many games online will be through whichever individual account has the Switch Online membership. Online play: For me, it's essentialYou don't need to play Nintendo Switch games online, and Nintendo's games are arguably the most offline-friendly experiences offered by the big three console makers. (You can also get tons of local, same-room multiplayer games.) Still, a lot of Nintendo's games have online multiplayer, and for that alone the service is essential. Nintendo's online multiplayer features aren't always great, but they're slowly getting better over time: Switch Sports, Mario Strikers: Battle League and Animal Crossing are all online-focused, and many of Nintendo's recent games have online features.There are some games that don't need Switch Online, and most of them are free-to-play games such as Fortnite or Fall Guys. So, there are ways to live with a Switch without Nintendo Switch Online.Cloud saves: They come in handyCloud game saves are useful if you have multiple Nintendo Switches. Hopping from one Switch to another to play a game is a lot easier when you can just load your game save from the cloud. If you have multiple Switches in your household, only one can be set up to play games while offline, but the others can be used while Wi-Fi connected.Even if you're a solo-Switch household, you might want this for upgrading from, for example, the original Switch to the new OLED version. If you don't have cloud saves, game save data can still be transferred between systems.Nintendo's retro game collections are a tempting nostalgia archive. Screenshot by Scott Stein/CNET 'Free' games: Nintendo's retro offerings are a nostalgic treasure trove Nintendo dangles a few game freebies for Switch Online subscribers, but far fewer than either PlayStation Plus (which recently added some new tiers for extra premium and retro games) or Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass Ultimate, which cycle games monthly. Nintendo leans on its NES and SNES classic games, both of which come in Switch apps that semi-regularly update their libraries with new titles. There are 62 NES games right now and 54 SNES games, so it's a lot to keep you busy. The NES and SNES apps mimic what Nintendo used to offer on those cute plug-in NES and SNES Classic retro consoles, or in "Virtual Console" games on the older Wii and the Nintendo DS and 3DS. One fun advantage of these games is that many of them are playable online.My favorite Online freebie game is Pac-Man 99, a battle royale competitive game like Tetris 99 where you play Pac-Man against 99 others to try to survive. I love it dearly.Games like Pokemon Snap are great to have, but are they worth the extra yearly price? Nintendo The step-up Expansion Pack: You don't need itNintendo has a step-up tier called the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack which adds Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis retro game collections (about 16 N64 games, and 25 Genesis games so far). Both of those compilations have some excellent games including Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Sonic 2, Phantasy Star IV. They also come with game save features built in, but they're not worth the added price of the step-up plan unless you're a die-hard N64 or Genesis fan. N64 games are hard to find otherwise, but there aren't many available yet. The Genesis games can be had in other ways; there's an excellent, separately sold Sega Genesis Classics compilation on the eShop, plus some standalone Sega Ages games. At an extra $50 a year for the Expansion Pack (or $80 for a Family subscription), it doesn't seem worth it.Nintendo's also started adding some other DLC content with the Expansion Pack to sweeten the deal: a Splatoon 2 expansion, extra Mario Kart 8 Deluxe courses and Animal Crossing extras. These can be bought separately at about $25 each.The best value among console subscriptions? Not entirelyIt could be said that, for $20, Nintendo's Switch Online fee is a better deal than Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus. It doesn't have the discounts or continuous flow of high-end freebie games that the others have, but it certainly costs less. I also appreciate there's also a family subscription for Switch Online, considering how many Switch players are in my house. I'm not wild about having to pay yearly fees for game consoles, but $20 for a Switch Online membership is acceptable. The Expansion Pack service, however, probably isn't worth it unless you have a serious love affair with N64 games.
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Gaming & VR
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Virtual Reality (VR) has introduced us to whole new world literally and its getting more immersive. Some may think that VR is already at its best but it lacks the feeling of realistically being in a real world. One of the basic aspect that it lacks is the sense of touch. Fortunately, companies like Meta and HaptX are working for years on gloves that stimulate sensation in VR, haptic gloves. We are now a step closer to touch sensation in VR as HaptX Gloves G1 is released. HaptX, a company based in Redmond Washington, has released their new HaptX Gloves G1. The Gloves uses an Airpack, a lightweight backpack with a 3-hour battery to channel air into the Gloves. The Gloves consist small motors (actuators) using air pressure to move the skin and restrict hand movements to simulate the sensation of touching an object via microfluidic technology. The gloves has a life expectancy of 18 months and comes in four sizes – small, medium, large and extra large. HaptX Gloves G1 is available for preorder as an enterprise device, priced at $5495 per pair but $4500 when bought in bundle. The Best Fit Bundle comes with a pair each of Small, Medium, Large and XL. The Gloves requires a non-refundable 10% deposit and a $495 monthly subscription that includes the Airpack, development kit (SDK) and a support / maintenance plan. Shipping is estimated to begin in the 3rd quarter of 2023. HaptX SDK enables developers to create applications for the Gloves. Developers can access the SDK using HaptX API or Unreal / Unity plugins to control actuators. The plugins will automatically render the feedbacks based on the interactions in game engines. Advance developers with C++ knowledge can integrate the Gloves with other softwares.
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Gaming & VR
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Our bodies’ molecular machinery breaks down with age.
DNA accumulates mutations. The protective ends of chromosomes erode away. Mitochondria, the cell’s energy factory, falter and break down. The immune system goes haywire. The reserve pool of stem cells dwindles, while some mature cells enter a zombie-like state, spewing toxic chemicals into their environment.
The picture sounds dire, but it’s not all bad news. Aging is a complicated puzzle. By finding individual pieces, scientists can assemble a full picture of how and why we age—and engineer new ways to stave off age-related symptoms.
There’s already been some success. Senolytics—drugs that kill off zombie cells—are already in clinical trials. Partial reprogramming, which erases a cell’s identity and reverts it back to a stem-cell-like state, is gaining steam as a promising alternative treatment, and it’s one of the hottest longevity investments in Silicon Valley.
A new study in Nature hunted down another piece to the aging puzzle. In five species across the evolutionary scale—worms, flies, mice, rats, and humans—the team honed in on a critical molecular process that powers every single cell inside the body and degrades with age.
The process, called transcription, is the first step in turning our genetic material into proteins. Here, DNA letters are reworked into a “messenger” called RNA, which then shuttles the information to other parts of the cell to make proteins.
Scientists have long suspected that transcription may go awry with aging, but the new study offers proof that it doesn’t—with a twist. In all five of the species tested, as the organism grew older the process surprisingly sped up. But like trying to type faster when blindfolded, error rates also shot up.
There’s a fix. Using two interventions known to extend lifespan, the team was able to slow down transcription in multiple species, including mice. Genetic mutations that reversed the sloppy transcription also extended lifespan in worms and fruit flies, and boosted human cells’ ability to divide and grow.
The new hallmark of aging is hardly ready for human testing. But “it opens up a really fundamental new area of understanding how and why we age,” said Dr. Lindsay Wu at UNSW Sydney, who was not involved in the study.
The Genetic Editor
Turning our genetic blueprint into proteins is a two-step process.
First, DNA’s four letters—A, T, C, and G—are transcribed into RNA. Also made up of four letters, RNA strands are basically molecular notes that can slip past DNA’s confined space to deliver messages to the cell’s protein-making factory. There, RNA is translated into the language of proteins.
The first step—turning DNA into RNA—is harder than it sounds. To conserve space, DNA is tightly wrapped around a group of proteins called histones, like bacon around eight stalks of asparagus. This effectively “hides” the genetic information, making it impossible for the cell to read.
It takes a whole village of protein helpers to unwind DNA and prepare it for transcription. But the star is Pol II (RNA polymerase II), a giant multicomplex that moves along a DNA strand helping it transform into an early version of RNA, aptly called pre-RNA.
Like a wordy sentence, pre-RNA strands are then copyedited into pithier sequences for building proteins, a process called splicing. Pol II oversees the entire process, making sure that hundreds of thousands of RNAs are perfectly made.
Yet as we age, the process degrades. No one has figured out why.
The new study asked: why not hone in on the star of the transcription show?
Spanning Species
Deciphering aging hallmarks comes with a stumbling block: a potential lead may only be relevant for one species.
The new study tackled the problem head-on by examining five species. Using a technique called RNA sequencing, they captured Pol II’s speed as it rolled down the DNA of worm, fruit fly, mouse, rat, and human cells at different ages. Human samples ranged from 21 to 70 years of age, along with two “immortal” cultured cell lines.
For an even more comprehensive view the team tested samples from multiple organs, including the brain, liver, kidneys, and blood.
The results came back as a surprise. Although every species had their own Pol II “speed signature,” the trend was the same: Poll II sped up across species with age in every tissue examined. The exact gene or tissue didn’t matter. The age-related change covered roughly 200 different genes in multiple species. Rather than a local change, the Pol II speed-up seemed to be a universal aging marker.
With speed, however, came errors. Splicing—which edits pre-RNAs—requires Pol II speed to be in a Goldilocks zone. Increasing the speed boosts the risk of bad translations, which in previous studies “has been associated with advanced age and shortened lifespan,” the authors explained.
“Increased speeds of Pol II can lead to more transcriptional errors because the proofreading capacity of Pol II is challenged,” they said.
Turning Back the Clock
If Pol II in overdrive contributes to aging, can we slow it down—and in turn combat aging?
In one test, the team tapped into two well-known treatments for delaying aging: inhibiting insulin signaling and caloric restriction. In worms, flies, and mice, genetically disrupting the insulin-sensing pathway slowed down the pace of Pol II. Putting mice on a diet in early adulthood and middle age—but not old age—also tapped the brakes on Pol II.
Another test honed in on the ultimate question: does Pol II acceleration drive aging? Here, the team tracked a horde of genetically engineered worms and fruit flies harboring mutations that reduce their Pol II speed. Compared to non-mutants, both engineered strains extended their lifespans by 10 to 20 percent.
When the team used CRISPR-Cas9 to reverse the Pol II mutations in worms, however, their lifespan shortened and matched the wild-type peers. It seems like Pol II is a cause for aging, explained the authors.
Why?
Digging deeper into the transcription machinery, the team found one answer. Remember: DNA is wrapped in bacon-asparagus bundles, known scientifically as nucleosomes. By comparing human umbilical vein cells and lung cells, the team found that as cells age, the bundles slowly unwind and fall apart. This makes it far easier for Pol II to slide across a DNA strand, in turn triggering a transcription speed boost.
Further testing their theory, the team genetically inserted two types of histone proteins—the asparagus part of the nucleosome bundle—to form more nucleosomes in human cells in Petri dishes. This in turn created additional speed bumps for Pol II and slowed it down.
It worked. Cells with additional histone proteins had less chance of becoming zombie senescent cells. In fruit flies, a popular model for longevity research, the genetic tweak gave them a notable lifespan bump.
Although it’s still very early, the results are great news for potentially pursuing a novel class of anti-aging drugs. Pol II has been extensively researched in cancer therapy, with multiple medications already tested and approved, providing the chance of repurposing the medications for longevity research.
“Together, the data presented here reveal a molecular mechanism contributing to aging and serve as a means for assessing the fidelity of the cellular machinery during aging and disease,” said the team.
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Longevity
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Last update: 17 augusti 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) carried out an innovative study that shows how appearance can hint at hidden health problems. They used an AI-powered system that analyzes chest X-rays to guess a person's age accurately. This new method doesn't just change how X-rays are analyzed but also provides a new way to spot health problems early on. The AI system could be vital in quickly identifying long-term illnesses, leading to better treatment.
Yasuhito Mitsuyama, a graduate student from OMU and author of the study, talked about the strong link between age and health. He said that chest X-rays contain a lot of useful information about a person's health. The AI was able to predict ages by looking at a large set of X-rays from both healthy and sick people, finding a connection between the AI's guessed age and the likelihood of having chronic health problems. This discovery could change healthcare by allowing doctors to intervene earlier.
The researchers who worked on the study think their AI model could have broader applications. They found that when the AI guessed a person's age as older than it really was, it often correlated with health issues like high blood pressure or chronic lung problems. The findings were published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity journal and could transform the early detection and management of chronic conditions. This marks a significant step forward in healthcare.
Source: Techtimes
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Longevity
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Summary: Researchers revealed a correlation between reduced oxygen intake, or ‘oxygen restriction,’ and extended lifespan in lab mice.
The study found that mice in an oxygen-restricted environment lived about 50% longer than those in normal oxygen levels. The oxygen-restricted mice also experienced delayed onset of aging-associated neurological deficits.
The study, however, did not establish the exact mechanism through which oxygen restriction prolongs lifespan.
Key Facts:
This is the first study to demonstrate that ‘oxygen restriction’ extends lifespan in a mammalian aging model.
Mice in an oxygen-restricted environment lived about 50% longer and had delayed onset of aging-associated neurological deficits.
The researchers found that oxygen restriction did not affect food intake, suggesting that other mechanisms extend the lifespan of the mice.
Source: PLOS
For the first time, researchers have shown that reduced oxygen intake, or “oxygen restriction,” is associated with longer lifespan in lab mice, highlighting its anti-aging potential. Robert Rogers of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, US, and colleagues present these findings in a study published May 23rd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.
Research efforts to extend healthy lifespan have identified a number of chemical compounds and other interventions that show promising effects in mammalian lab animals— for instance, the drug metformin or dietary restriction.
Oxygen restriction has also been linked to longer lifespan in yeast, nematodes, and fruit flies. However, its effects in mammals have been unknown.
To explore the anti-aging potential of oxygen restriction in mammals, Rogers and colleagues conducted lab experiments with mice bred to age more quickly than other mice while showing classic signs of mammalian aging throughout their bodies.
The researchers compared the lifespans of mice living at normal atmospheric oxygen levels (about 21%) to the lifespans of mice that, at 4 weeks of age, had been moved to a living environment with a lower proportion of oxygen (11%—similar to that experienced at an altitude of 5000 meters).
They found that the mice in the oxygen-restricted environment lived about 50% longer than the mice in normal oxygen levels, with a median lifespan of 23.6 weeks compared to 15.7 weeks. The oxygen-restricted mice also had delayed onset of aging-associated neurological deficits.
Prior research has shown that dietary restriction extends the lifespan of the same kind of fast-aging mice used in this new study. Therefore, the researchers wondered if oxygen restriction extended their lifespan simply by causing the mice to eat more. However, they found that oxygen restriction did not affect food intake, suggesting other mechanisms were at play.
These findings support the anti-aging potential of oxygen restriction in mammals, perhaps including humans. However, extensive additional research will be needed to clarify its potential benefits and illuminate the molecular mechanisms by which it operates.
Rogers adds, “We find that chronic continuous hypoxia (11% oxygen, equivalent to what would be experienced at Everest Base Camp) extends lifespan by 50% and delays the onset of neurologic debility in a mouse aging model.
“While caloric restriction is the most widely effective and well-studied intervention to increase lifespan and healthspan, this is the first time that ‘oxygen restriction’ has been demonstrated as beneficial in a mammalian aging model.”
About this longevity research news
Author: Robert Rogers Source: PLOS Contact: Robert Rogers – PLOS Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Hypoxia extends lifespan and neurological function in a mouse model of aging
There is widespread interest in identifying interventions that extend healthy lifespan. Chronic continuous hypoxia delays the onset of replicative senescence in cultured cells and extends lifespan in yeast, nematodes, and fruit flies.
Here, we asked whether chronic continuous hypoxia is beneficial in mammalian aging.
We utilized the Ercc1 Δ/- mouse model of accelerated aging given that these mice are born developmentally normal but exhibit anatomic, physiological, and biochemical features of aging across multiple organs.
Importantly, they exhibit a shortened lifespan that is extended by dietary restriction, the most potent aging intervention across many organisms.
We report that chronic continuous 11% oxygen commenced at 4 weeks of age extends lifespan by 50% and delays the onset of neurological debility in Ercc1 Δ/- mice.
Chronic continuous hypoxia did not impact food intake and did not significantly affect markers of DNA damage or senescence, suggesting that hypoxia did not simply alleviate the proximal effects of the Ercc1 mutation, but rather acted downstream via unknown mechanisms.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that “oxygen restriction” can extend lifespan in a mammalian model of aging.
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Longevity
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“‘Mark, I appreciate how candid you are in these Sunday With Sisson posts. I get several weekly emails; yours is the one I rush to read because you make great posts about real life stuff. Of course everything you write about nutrition and exercise is spot on. But I really like the window you open to your own life in these Sunday With Sisson posts. Thanks for doing this every week.“
Mark Sisson is the founder of Mark’s Daily Apple, godfather to the Primal food and lifestyle movement, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Keto Reset Diet. His latest book is Keto for Life, where he discusses how he combines the keto diet with a Primal lifestyle for optimal health and longevity. Mark is the author of numerous other books as well, including The Primal Blueprint, which was credited with turbocharging the growth of the primal/paleo movement back in 2009. After spending three decades researching and educating folks on why food is the key component to achieving and maintaining optimal wellness, Mark launched Primal Kitchen, a real-food company that creates Primal/paleo, keto, and Whole30-friendly kitchen staples.
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Longevity
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Sophia Antipolis, 11 May 2023: A healthy diet is associated with greater physical fitness in middle-aged adults, according to research published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1
“This study provides some of the strongest and most rigorous data thus far to support the connection that better diets may lead to higher fitness,” said study author Dr. Michael Mi of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, US. “The improvement in fitness we observed in participants with better diets was similar to the effect of taking 4,000 more steps each day.”
Cardiorespiratory fitness reflects the body’s ability to provide and use oxygen for exercise, and it integrates the health of multiple organ systems, such as the heart, lungs, blood vessels and muscles. It is one of the most powerful predictors of longevity and health.2 While exercise increases cardiorespiratory fitness, it is also the case that among people who exercise the same amount, there are differences in fitness, suggesting that additional factors contribute. A nutritious diet is associated with numerous health benefits, but it has been unclear whether it is also related to fitness.
This study examined whether a healthy diet is associated with physical fitness in community-dwelling adults. The study included 2,380 individuals in the Framingham Heart Study. The average age was 54 years and 54% were women. Participants underwent a maximum effort cardiopulmonary exercise test on a cycle ergometer to measure peak VO2. This is the gold standard assessment of fitness and indicates the amount of oxygen used during the highest possible intensity exercise.
Participants also completed the Harvard semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to assess intake of 126 dietary items during the last year ranging from never or less than once per month to six or more servings per day. The information was used to rate diet quality using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI; 0 to 110) and Mediterranean-style Diet Score (MDS; 0 to 25), which are both associated with heart health. Higher scores indicated a better quality diet emphasising vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, legumes, fish and healthy fats and limiting red meat and alcohol.
The researchers evaluated the association between diet quality and fitness after controlling for other factors that could influence the relationship, including age, sex, total daily energy intake, body mass index, smoking status, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, diabetes and routine physical activity level. The average AHEI and MDS were 66.7 and 12.4, respectively. Compared with the average score, an increase of 13 points on the AHEI and 4.7 on the MDS was associated with a 5.2% and 4.5% greater peak VO2, respectively.3
Dr. Mi said: “In middle-aged adults, healthy dietary patterns were strongly and favourably associated with fitness even after taking habitual activity levels into account. The relationship was similar in women and men, and more pronounced in those under 54 years of age compared to older adults.”
To discover the potential mechanism linking diet and fitness, the researchers performed further analyses. They examined the relationship between diet quality, fitness and metabolites, which are substances produced during digestion and released into the blood during exercise. A total of 201 metabolites (e.g. amino acids) were measured in blood samples collected in a subset of 1,154 study participants. Some 24 metabolites were associated with either poor diet and fitness, or with favourable diet and fitness, after adjusting for the same factors considered in the previous analyses. Dr. Mi said: “Our metabolite data suggest that eating healthily is associated with better metabolic health, which could be one possible way that it leads to improved fitness and ability to exercise.”
Regarding limitations, he noted: “This was an observational study and we cannot conclude that eating well causes better fitness, or exclude the possibility of a reverse relationship, i.e. that fit individuals choose to eat healthily.”
Dr. Mi concluded: “There are already many compelling health reasons to consume a high-quality diet, and we provide yet another one with its association with fitness. A Mediterranean-style diet with fresh, whole foods and minimal processed foods, red meat and alcohol is a great place to start.”
ENDS
Authors: ESC Press Office
Tel: +33 (0)489 872 075
Email: press@escardio.org
Follow us on Twitter @ESCardioNews
Funding: Please see the paper.
Disclosures: Please see the paper.
References
1Mi MY, Gajjar P, Walker ME, et al. Association of healthy dietary patterns and cardiorespiratory fitness in the community. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2023. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwad113.
Link will go live on publication:
2Blair SN, Kohl HW, Barlow CE, et al. Changes in physical fitness and all-cause mortality. A prospective study of healthy and unhealthy men. JAMA. 1995;273:1093–1098.
313 points on the AHEI and 4.7 on the MDS represent one standard deviation above the average score.
The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives.
About the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology
The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology is the world's leading preventive cardiology journal, playing a pivotal role in reducing the global burden of cardiovascular disease.
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European Journal of Preventive Cardiology
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Longevity
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The result is a widely anticipated landmark for rejuvenation technology.Martin Barraud/Getty A small biotech company claims it has used a technology called reprogramming to rejuvenate old mice and extend their lives, a result suggesting that one day older people could have their biological clocks turned back with an injection—literally becoming younger. The life-extension claim in rodents, made by Rejuvenate Bio, a San Francisco biotech company, appears in a preprint paper on the website BioRxiv and hasn’t been peer reviewed. The reprogramming technique, which involves resetting cells to a younger state, has been winning hundreds of millions in investment as a potential elixir of youth. Scientists had previously shown that it works on single cells in the laboratory, and they are now trying to determine if the rejuvenation effect also works in living animals. The paper by Rejuvenate Bio is represents a widely anticipated proof that this method can indeed extend animal lives. Noah Davidsohn, chief scientific officer of Rejuvenate, says the company used gene therapy to add three powerful reprogramming genes to the bodies of mice that were equivalent in age to human 77-year-olds. After the treatment, their remaining life span was doubled, the company says. Treated mice lived another 18 weeks, on average, while control mice died in nine weeks. Overall, the treated mice lived about 7% longer. Although the increase in lifespan was modest, the company says the research provides a demonstration of age reversal in an animal. “This is a powerful technology, and here is the proof of concept,” says Davidsohn. “I wanted to show that it’s actually something we can do in our elderly population.” Scientists not connected to the company called the study an exciting landmark but cautioned that whole-body rejuvenation using gene therapy remains a poorly understood concept with huge risks. “It’s a beautiful intellectual exercise, but I would shy away from doing anything remotely similar to a person,” says Vittorio Sebastiano, a professor at Stanford University. One risk is that the powerful programming process can cause cancer. Such an effect is often seen in mice. Even so, the chance that reprogramming could be an elixir of youth has led to a research and investment boom. One company, Altos Labs, says it has raised over $3 billion. In the lab, reprogramming works by exposing individual cells to a set of three or four proteins that are typically active in early-stage embryos. After several days of this treatment, even old cells will transform into youthful-acting stem cells. Reprogramming science The discovery of the reprogramming recipe earned a Nobel Prize for Japanese biologist Shinya Yamanaka in 2012. Four years later, scientists at the Salk Institute decided to try the technique on living mice suffering from a premature aging condition, similar to a human disease called progeria. They exposed entire mice to the factors for brief periods of time and found that some survived longer. The obvious next step, and one necessary to call reprogramming a true anti-aging intervention, was to show that it could extend the life of healthy mice, too. “Everyone in the research community knows the killer experiment is to treat normal mice and see if there’s extended life span or overall better health,” says Martin Borch Jensen, creator of Impetus Grants, an organization that provides funding for aging research. When several years passed without such a report, doubts began to increase if it would work. Hopes that scientists could create super long-lived mice began to fade. “Different groups have tried this experiment ,and the data have not been positive so far,” says Alejandro Ocampo, a biologist at the University of Lausanne, in Switzerland, who carried out the original experiments at Salk. Last year, however, a first report emerged from a team working with mice that were genetically engineered from birth to produce Yamanaka’s special factors in their bodies. That team, at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, found a trend towards longer life span, but the report was considered preliminary. In the case of the Rejuvenate research, the treatment was instead delivered using gene therapy—viruses specially designed to shuttle genes into cells. Davidsohn says that makes it similar to actual medical treatments people could get.Mice live only months in the wild but can survive two to three years in the lab. Those in the latest experiment were already 124 weeks old when they got the drug—close to the end of their lives. Not only did the treated mice survive noticeably longer, according to Davidsohn, but they also scored better on measures of general health. The amount of life extension observed is not in itself unprecedented. A US government program that tests drugs for their longevity effects has shown that several compounds, including the drug rapamycin, can prolong mouse lives by 5 to 15%. But the mice have to take those drugs for much of their lives, whereas reprogramming has immediate effects. “This is like you can do nothing for your whole life and still get the benefit,” says Davidsohn. What's next? Rejuvenate is currently developing gene-therapy drugs for pet dogs and humans, including one designed to treat heart failure. But Davidsohn says that in the long term he believes it will be possible to rejuvenate human beings. “I wouldn’t be working on it if I didn’t believe that,” he says. Far more information will be needed to learn exactly what changes the reprogramming genes cause in the mice, and researchers say other groups will need to repeat the experiment before they are convinced. “I’d like to see a separate group do something similar and go deeper onto what is actually happening,” says Borch Jensen. Sebastiano says the life-extension effect reported by Rejuvenate could be due to changes in a single organ or group of cells, rather than a general mouse-wide rejuvenation effect. Among other shortfalls in its research, Rejuvenate did not carefully document which and how many cells were changed by the genetic treatment. Several companies are now pressing forward with plans for reprogramming drugs, but they are picking recognized medical conditions and narrowing their efforts to specific organs. Turn Bio, a company cofounded by Sebastiano, for instance, hopes to inject reprogramming factors into people’s skin to fight wrinkles or restart hair growth. Another company, Life Biosciences, is preparing to test whether reprogramming cells in the eye can treat blindness. Stay connectedIllustration by Rose WongGet the latest updates fromMIT Technology ReviewDiscover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.
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Longevity
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On March 4, María Branyas Morera turned 116. In January, the great-grandmother, who was born in San Francisco in 1907 and now lives in a nursing home in Catalonia, Spain, became the world's oldest person following the death of Sister André (née Lucile Randon), a French nun who lived to be 118.
Branyas Morera, who goes by the nickname "super grandmother," has lived through the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, both World Wars and the Spanish Civil War. She also survived a bout of COVID-19 just weeks after turning 113, according to Guinness World Records (opens in new tab).
Branyas Morera attributes her long life to a number of things, from enjoying nature and good company to "staying away from toxic people," but she ultimately credits her extreme longevity to "luck and good genetics," she told Guinness World Records.
Branyas Morera is part of a super-exclusive club: She is a supercentenarian, meaning a person who is 110 years or older. Only about 30 people around the world can claim this title, meaning only 1 in 871,600 people reaches this milestone, according to the New England Centenarian Study (opens in new tab). In comparison, approximately 573,400 centenarians (people who are at least 100 years old) are alive today worldwide, according to the United Nations (opens in new tab).
People like Branyas Morera could help scientists better understand what allows some people to live so long. Is their longevity just luck, or is it due to good genes and other factors? And which genes are the most critical to defying the aging process?
Studying centenarians and supercentenarians also could reveal insight into the maximum life span for humans — and potentially ways to extend it. Supercentenarians tend to have certain lifestyle factors in common, which may help people overall lead longer, healthier lives. But to dramatically extend the human life span, scientists may have to venture beyond Homo sapiens and look to our long-lived animal counterparts.
Are good genes the key to extreme longevity?
Genes clearly play a role in longevity. Children and siblings of centenarians tend to live longer than average, according to Medline (opens in new tab), a service of the National Library of Medicine. And a 2016 study in the journal Aging (opens in new tab) found that genes tied to immune function and cell repair were more active in these extremely old people.
In general, scientists estimate that about 25% of life span is determined by genetics (opens in new tab). But which specific genes, if any, play the largest roles in aging?
For decades, Dr. Annibale Puca (opens in new tab), a professor of genetics at the University of Salerno in Italy, has been trying to answer that question.
In 2011, Puca discovered a human gene called BPIFB4 that halts cardiovascular aging and even reverses some aspects of aging when inserted into mice. In a 2015 paper in the journal Circulation Research (opens in new tab), Puca and his colleagues showed that a certain version of BPIFB4 was associated with exceptional longevity and was overrepresented in centenarians. Those with two copies of the gene variant had less cardiovascular illness, lower blood pressure and less arteriosclerosis, compared with people without two copies of the gene variant. Puca estimates that about 10% of humans have this gene variant.
Could BPIFB4 partly explain why certain people are predisposed to living longer than others? Puca thinks so. "You don't live to 110 unless you have good genes," he told Live Science.
In follow-up research, Puca's team not only halted heart damage in middle-age and elderly mice but also reversed the biological age of the mice's hearts by the human equivalent of 10 years, according to the study.
"In the lab, we were able to regenerate their blood vessels and vascular (circulatory) systems, which converted inflammatory cells into anti-inflammatory cells," Puca said. "We found that cardiovascular function was corrected in the mice."
In a paper published Jan. 13 in the journal Cardiovascular Research (opens in new tab), Puca and his team introduced the gene into heart cells collected from organ donors who had died of heart failure. As with the lab mice, the mutated gene rewound the clock and reversed cardiac aging by increasing cardiovascular function by 20% to 60%. Inflammatory cells also morphed into healthy cells.
"We now know that it works in human tissue," Puca said.
Puca's colleague Paolo Madeddu (opens in new tab), a professor of experimental cardiovascular medicine at the University of Bristol in England, said that if more research backs up the effect, BPIFB4 could be inserted via gene therapy into the cells of people who don't carry the gene. However, the application of this treatment is still many years away.
"You would need to repeat the therapy over and over again," Madeddu told Live Science. "It doesn't last forever."
The researchers are currently testing whether the protein the gene codes for, rather than the anti-aging gene itself, can have similar effects in cardiac cells.
BPIFB4 isn't the only gene tied to a longer life span. In 2019, researchers described a so-called "ongevity gene (opens in new tab)," Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6), in the journal Cell (opens in new tab). SIRT6 helps repair DNA, which aging cells can't repair efficiently, leading to gene mutations that can drive cancer and other illnesses.
The researchers analyzed the activity of SIRT6 in a range of rodent species, from mice to beavers, and found that the animals with the longest life spans also had the most efficient DNA repair capabilities due to their SIRT6 proteins being "more potent," according to the study.
Last year, a follow-up study in The Embo Journal (opens in new tab) looked at a cohort of 450 Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians and 550 Ashkenazi Jewish individuals who didn't have a family history of extreme longevity. The researchers discovered that a "novel rare variant," which they dubbed "centSIRT6," was twice as prevalent in the centenarians than in the latter group.
In lab dishes, they also found that centSIRT6 not only helped repair broken DNA but also "more robustly kill[ed] cancer cells" when compared with the more common version of SIRT6, according to the study.
Environmental factors tied to extreme longevity
While variations in human genes affect longevity, environmental factors also play a role. Numerous studies have shown that things like being optimistic (opens in new tab), having a healthy diet (opens in new tab) and not smoking (opens in new tab) are tied to living a longer life.
But can supercentenarians tell us about other factors that may extend life span? Some researchers say they've uncovered hints in a surprising place: convents.
Before Branyas Morera held the title of the world's oldest person, a French nun, Sister André, was the oldest living person. That may not be a coincidence. Many Catholic nuns live to become centenarians — and even supercentenarians. But why is this?
Several years ago, anthropologist Anna Corwin (opens in new tab), author of "Embracing Age: How Catholic Nuns Became Models of Living Well (opens in new tab)" (Rutgers University Press, 2021), spent time at a convent in the Midwest, interviewing the nuns who lived there. Corwin noticed similar patterns in the women's lives that may be tied to longevity.
"It's not specifically because they're nuns that they're able to live for so long, but rather the types of cultural practices they engaged in," Corwin, an associate professor of women's spirituality and anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, told Live Science.
In general, nuns were living lives full of meaning. It also helped that they were part of a tight-knit, supportive community.
The nuns also tended to reject the stigma around aging. Corwin said they participated in day-to-day activities, such as prayer and socializing, well into old age. And they didn't necessarily view themselves as elderly.
"One of my first months at the convent, I met this 95-year-old woman who was in a wheelchair totally hunched over, who you would imagine couldn't participate in anything," Corwin said. "I asked her what she does with her days, and she said, 'I serve the infirm and visit the elderly.' Sure enough, as I watched her, she would wheel slowly down the hallway and check in on her neighbors in the infirmary to make sure they were doing well."
Corwin concluded that the nun found fulfillment and meaning in life by helping others. She also viewed herself as having autonomy and agency, Corwin said.
While this evidence may be anecdotal, a study conducted by epidemiologist and leading Alzheimer's expert David Snowdon backed up these observations. In 2003, Snowdon conducted a longitudinal study of 678 nuns from the School Sisters of Notre Dame, an international organization recognized by the Catholic Church.
Snowdon found that nuns had "lower all-cause mortality rates than did the general population and this mortality advantage increased over time." In fact, these nuns were "27% more likely to live into their 70s than their lay peers, and their likelihood of living longer increased with time," Corwin wrote in her book. In addition, the nuns were less likely to smoke, and they ate healthily and lived peaceful and communal lives.
The study also found differences among the nuns. Those who lived cloistered in convents, with strong internal communities and schedules packed with prayer, tended to live longer than those who interacted more with the outside world, Corwin told Live Science.
It's not clear how some of the most obvious differences between nuns and the general population — namely, that they make vows of celibacy and don't have children — affect longevity. Some research has found that each child a woman gives birth to shaved off years of a woman's life (opens in new tab), while other studies have shown that people with children live longer (opens in new tab) than the child-free.
What animals reveal about extreme longevity
While human genes and environmental influences may lead to incremental improvements in longevity, to make leaps and bounds, it may help to look to the animal kingdom.
That's what Steven Austad (opens in new tab), a distinguished professor in the department of biology at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, is doing.
Last year, Austad, who is also senior scientific director interim chair with the American Federation for Aging Research, wrote a book titled "Methuselah's Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Healthier Lives (opens in new tab)" (MIT Press, 2022). (The title is a nod to Methuselah, a biblical patriarch who supposedly lived to be 969 years old.) Austad's book focuses on the longest-living animals on Earth, from bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), which can live 200-plus years, to Escarpia laminata, a species of tube worm found in the Gulf of Mexico that has an average life span of about 300 years.
However, the creature that captured Austad's attention was the world's oldest animal, a 507-year-old ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) dubbed "Ming the Mollusk."
One factor in Ming's longevity is clearly its underwater environment: It's "cold, safe and deficient of any real predators," Austad wrote in 2022 in an article for The Atlantic (opens in new tab).
"Mollusks like Ming spend most of their lives living in really cold water burrowed in the mud and covered by a thick shell," Austad told Live Science. "Living at the bottom of the ocean is very stable, and being in the mud probably adds a layer of safety as well as having a shell."
Austad suspects that when animals aren't prone to predation or to the vagaries of a harsh or chaotic environment, evolution favors physiology that lasts a long time.
Bivalves also draw heat from their surroundings rather than generating it themselves the way humans and other mammals do. This may lead to creatures like Ming that are better protected from oxidative stress, Austad hypothesized. (Oxidative stress, or damage to tissue by chemically reactive oxygen compounds, has long been linked to aging.)
To test his theory, Austad and his students brought a variety of mollusk species into their lab, including bay scallops (Argopecten irradians), which live an average of two years; table clams, which can live up to a century; and a handful of super-aging ocean quahogs like Ming, and introduced oxygen-radical generating chemicals to their tanks. The scallops succumbed within two days, while the table clams held on for 11.
Two weeks into the experiment, the quahogs remained "happy as a clam" despite living in tainted water, Austad said. This suggested that the quahogs were recovering from or preventing oxidative stress.
"As humans, we can't replicate their living conditions, but we can figure out how they do it," Austad said. "[There are] no doubt some genetic tricks, but it could also be something that we could replicate pharmacologically if we understood it well enough."
Currently, there's only one animal species that could theoretically live forever: the immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii). No bigger than a pinky nail, these translucent blobs can turn back their biological clocks when injured and revert into plant-like polyps sprouting from the ocean floor. If enough of these polyps colonize, they can eventually begin to bud and "release medusae that are genetically identical to the injured adult," according to the American Museum of Natural History (opens in new tab).
This shape-shifting is possible thanks to a process known as transdifferentiation, which restarts cell generation and essentially gives these amorphous blobs a second lease on life. For the past three decades, scientists have been studying this mechanism and different ways to apply it to humans.
So far, no one has pinpointed the reason cells can transdifferentiate. But a 2022 paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (opens in new tab) found that T. dohrnii had double the DNA repair genes of other jellyfish species. They also had gene mutations that protect telomeres, the caps on the ends of chromosomes, which typically shorten with age, according to the study.
However, that doesn't mean humankind could borrow these genes and seemingly live forever — or become supercentenarians like Branyas Morera, for that matter. Only time will tell.
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Longevity
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Dr. David Sinclair is a tenured Professor of Genetics at Harvard University. He is an expert and pioneer in the field of aging. He is also the author of the best-selling book Lifespan: Why We Age & Why We Don’t Have To, and is the host of the Lifespan Podcast.
Dr. Sinclair has published groundbreaking studies regarding the benefits of NMN and resveratrol when it comes to anti-aging. David believes that not only can we extend our lifespan, but we can actually reverse it. He himself supplements with resveratrol and NMN, so let’s take a look at his protocol.
Dr. David Sinclair’s NMN & Resveratrol Supplement Dosage & Brands
NMN and resveratrol are the highlights of Dr. Sinclair’s anti-aging routine, and one of the reasons he looks so young at 50 years old. David discovered the anti-aging benefits of these supplements in his research lab at Harvard. So here is his daily NMN and resveratrol stack.
- NMN – 1 gram daily in the morning (Buy here)
- Resveratrol – 1 gram daily in the morning mixed with yogurt because taking it with a fat source increases its bio-availability (Buy here)
Benefits of NMN
NMN, also known as nicotinamide mononucleotide, is a groundbreaking molecule because it is one of the first longevity “substances” to be proven by science to extend lifespan. As we age, our DNA becomes damaged, and our body’s ability to repair that DNA decreases as well.
Here’s where NMN is the star – it actually maintains our DNA and helps to repair damaged DNA. Sirtuins are proteins that maintain the epigenome and are responsible for repairing DNA damage. When NMN is consumed it is converted to NAD+, and Sirtuins can only function in the presence of NAD+.
According to this 2014 study: “NAD+ becomes limiting during aging, affecting sirtuins’ activities…NAD+ decline is likely to be due to a NAD+ biosynthesis defect and increased depletion..Supplementing key NAD+ intermediates can restore NAD+levels and ameliorate age-associated pathophysiologies”
So by supplementing with NMN, we can maintain healthy DNA, maintain the epigenome, and repair DNA damage. Dr. Sinclair has not only said he believes we can live longer, but we can actually REVERSE aging. David supplements 1 gram of NMN daily in capsule form with his daily coffee in the morning. Do NOT buy NMN off Amazon, as they are extremely low-quality and have been proven to be flukes. While David doesn’t mention his brand, we recommend the same one Andrew Huberman takes, which is Renue by Science (code ‘brainflow’ for 15% off).
RELATED READING: Dr. David Sinclair’s Complete Supplement Stack
Benefits of Resveratrol
You’ve likely heard of resveratrol. It’s found in red wine, and one of the reasons drinking a glass at night has health benefits. Resveratrol is in a class of plant micronutrients known as polyphenols. Polyphenols are what plants make to fight disease or survive a drought.
One thing researchers like David have concluded is that inflammation is enemy number one when it comes to aging. Resveratrol has both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, protecting you from some of the leading causes of death such as cancer, diabetes, and even Alzheimer’s disease.
Resveratrol protects the body from free radical cell damage. In addition, resveratrol promotes the activity of Sirtuins (those proteins we mentioned above), as well as promoting NMN.
Dr. Sinclair takes 1 gram of resveratrol in the morning mixed in yogurt. By taking resveratrol with a fat source, it improves its bioavailability. As with NMN, we don’t recommend buying resveratrol from Amazon. Do your research on a quality resveratrol source. We also recommend resveratrol in powder form by Renue by Science so you can mix it with a fat source.
RELATED READING: Joe Rogan’s Insane Daily Supplement Stack
Where to Buy
David has never mentioned what brand he uses because he uses his lab supply. As mentioned above, avoid Amazon at all costs. Check out this report below that tested 21 brands of NMN on Amazon. Astonishingly, 14 brands were found to contain LESS THAN 1% of the NMN they claimed to have.
That’s why we recommend going with Renue by Science. They were the first company to report third-party testing of the purity of its product and were the first company to engineer a sublingual NMN powder – making the product even more bioavailable. You can read more about the company here.
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Longevity
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In 1990, internal medicine specialist Dr. Dean Ornish did what no other doctor had been able to do: He published results of a randomized clinical trial that used advanced imagery scans to show coronary artery disease could be reversed with nothing more than diet, exercise, stress reduction and social support.
“I think our unique contribution has been to use these very high-tech, expensive, state-of-the-art scientific measures to prove how powerful these very low-tech and low-cost interventions can be,” said Ornish, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Today, Ornish is trying to do for the brain what he did for the heart. At his nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in California, he’s using the same four lifestyle interventions to see if early-stage Alzheimer’s can be “slowed, stopped or even reversed” without the use of drugs, devices or surgeries.
“What’s good for your heart is good for your brain and vice versa,” Ornish said. “Prior studies have shown moderate changes in lifestyle can slow the rate of progression of dementia and Alzheimer’s. So, my hypothesis is that more intense lifestyle changes could stop or even reverse the decline.” Aggressive lifestyle changes
The original study on heart disease was small — 28 people were in the experimental group Ornish then followed for five years. Some skeptics criticized the program for its small sample size and said there was no way people could remain on the program’s stringent plant-based diet without supervision.
In the Ornish meal plan, no more than 10% of one’s daily calories can come from fat. To accomplish that, all animal products besides egg whites and one cup of nonfat milk or yogurt each day are banned. (This doesn’t apply to the Alzheimer’s study.) Whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes are the basis of the diet, along with a few nuts and seeds. Refined carbohydrates, oils and excessive caffeine are avoided, but up to two cups a day of green tea are allowed.
“It’s low-fat, but that’s just a small part of the overall diet,” Ornish said. “It’s essentially a vegan diet, low in fat and sugar, eating foods as close as possible to nature.”
The program also includes an hour a day of yoga-based stress management using stretching, breathing, meditation and relaxation techniques. Strength training and walking or other aerobic exercise are required for 30 minutes a day or an hour three times a week. Smoking is not allowed.
“There are also support groups,” Ornish told CNN, “not just helping people stay on the diet but creating a safe environment where people can let down their emotional defenses and talk openly and authentically about what’s really going on in their lives, warts and all. “That was the part that surprised me the most — these support groups are really intimate,” he added. “Sharing things like ‘I may look like the perfect father, but my kids are on heroin,’ or whatever. Even by Zoom, they’re getting to the same level of intimacy within one or two sessions because there’s such a hunger for that.”
Ornish calls that part of his program “Love More.” He answers skeptics who wonder why intimacy is such an integral part of a plan to reverse disease by pointing to studies on people who are lonely, depressed or isolated.
Those people are “three to 10 times more likely to get sick and die prematurely from pretty much everything” when compared with people who say they have a sense of love, connection and community, Ornish maintained.
“Why? In part because you’re more likely to smoke, overeat, stop exercising and other unhealthy things when you’re feeling lonely and depressed,” Ornish said.
Impact on other chronic diseases
By 1993, insurance giant Mutual of Omaha began reimbursing policyholders for the cost of Ornish’s program, making it the first alternative therapy besides chiropractic to win insurance reimbursement. Medicare began covering lifestyle interventions for heart disease in 2006.
“And in October 2021 Medicare agreed to cover my reversing heart disease program when it’s done via Zoom, which is really a game changer,” Ornish said. “Now we can reach people at home, in rural areas and food deserts wherever they live, which will help reduce health inequities and health disparities.”
In the last two decades, Ornish’s research has shown the same four-part program can lower blood sugars and heart disease risk for patients with diabetes, reduce prostate cancer cell growth, improve depression within 12 weeks, reduce “bad cholesterol” by an average of 40%, and more.
“With all this interest in personalized medicine, just how is it that these same lifestyle changes stop, and often reverse, the progression of such a wide spectrum of the most common and costly chronic diseases?” Ornish asked.
“Because they all share the same underlying biological mechanisms: chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, changes in the microbiome, changes in gene expression, overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, changes in immune function and so on,” he said.
“And in turn, each one of these is directly influenced by what we eat, how we respond to stress, how much exercise we get and how much love and support we have,” Ornish said.
Those lifestyle improvements likely change the body at a cellular level, he said. A 2008 study found the Ornish program affected some 500 genes in the body via epigenetics, chemical reactions that can activate or dismantle how a gene is expressed.
“After just three months on the Ornish lifestyle program, the research found a number of genes that regulate or prevent disease are turned on, and genes that cause many of the mechanisms that cause all these different conditions are turned off,” Ornish said.
“You’re not technically changing your genes, but you’re changing the expression of those genes with chemical switches, turning them on or off,” he said. “So, that means it’s no longer all in our genes, making us victims of our genetic fate. We’re not victims. There’s a lot we can do.”
Ornish lifestyle interventions have also been shown to lengthen telomeres, the tips of chromosomes that control longevity and shorten as we age. Ornish did a 2013 pilot study with UC San Francisco biochemist Elizabeth Blackburn, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for her work on telomeres.
“We found that telomerase, the enzyme that repairs and lengthens telomeres, increased by 30% after just three months on the program,” Ornish said. “Then we found that people who had been on the program for five years had telomeres that were about 10% longer, a sign that aging is being reversed on the cellular level.”
Will these same lifestyle interventions be enough to slow or even reverse cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s and other dementias? Time will tell. Ornish’s study is still underway and all the data must be gathered, analyzed and peer-reviewed before an outcome can be reported.
“But I believe that it’s not one diet and lifestyle intervention for heart disease, another for diabetes or prostate cancer, and yet a different one for Alzheimer’s. It’s really the same for all these different conditions,” Ornish told CNN.
“To reverse the disease, you need to follow the interventions nearly 100%. If you’re just trying to prevent disease, then the more you change, the more you improve. But what matters most is your overall way of eating, living and loving so that we can all die young as old as possible.”
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Longevity
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“Aging is a fact of life,” Steven Kotler told The Post — but “old is all a mindset.”
The 55-year-old author looks at ways to improve longevity and maintain peak performance in his new book “Gnar Country: Growing Old Staying Rad.”
“You got to shift your mindset, that’s where you want to go first,” Kotler — who has been studying human performance for 30 years — told The Post.
“Ageism is the most socially acceptable stereotype in the world,” he said. “It has radical consequences.”
Here he shares his top tips for defying your age.
Maintain your physical health — in various ways
Kotler identifies five categories of functional fitness that need to be trained and maintained: strength, stamina, agility, balance and flexibility.
“These are all use it or lose it skills, if we want to retain our physical abilities late in life,'” he said.
You can hit the gym, he said, but better yet, opt for activities such as badminton, soccer and tennis that challenge you in myriad ways. They “tend to be one stop shops [because] they’re challenging, creative, and a lot of it’s a dynamic activity.”
Another big tip: Work out those quads, calves and hammies.
“Leg strength is the single best predictor of cognitive health and physical health over time,” Kotler said, referencing a study published in Risk Management and Healthcare Safety in 2020 that hypothesized this was due to thigh mass reflecting body muscle mass and peripheral subcutaneous fat. “So thigh muscle mass directly inversely correlates with mortality,” he said.
Increase your risk tolerance
According to Kotler, being overly cautious and not taking risks can negatively impact the way we age. To combat this, he suggests building up “risk tolerances.”
He took up park skiing — doing tricky maneuvers on rough terrain — just a couple years ago to stay sharp. It’s hardly what most people think of as an appropriate hobby to start after 50, but it was actually a healthy move.
“[Training] up our risk tolerances is really important, as risk aversion increases over time and if we don’t train around it, it has really bad sort of effects around aging,” he said. “Do something every day that scares you.”
But, you can and should be cautious in how you approach risk. “Build up slowly.”
Be social
“There is 40 years of science that says maintaining social connection into later years is one of the single most important things you can do,” Kotler said.
Whether you’re playing on a sports team or meeting friends for coffee or cards, having a robust social network is beneficial in the long term in helping achieve peak performance.
“As a general rule, longevity tends to very associated with less depression and loneliness, better resilience and coping,” the bestselling author explained. “[As well as] decreased risk of cognitive decline and more access to resources — which is really important.”
Kotler noted that strong social ties to protecting the brain.
“They stave off cognitive decline and increases neurogenesis — the birth of new neurons,” he said.
Kotler also referenced a study published in 2002 that found an individual could gain an extra 7.5 years of life through thinking positively about aging.
“Those with more positive self-perceptions of aging in 1975 reported better functional health from 1977 to 1995,” the study published by Oxford Academic read. “Our study suggests that the way in which individuals view their own aging affects their functional health.”
Staying creative
Keeping things exciting and keeping your mind stimulated is also key, according to Kotler.
“I always tell people [that] creativity is always about just making interesting choices and you can practice it all day long,” the human performance expert shared.
Kotler said action sports and writing are his creative outlets, but others might find creativity in cooking at home or painting.
“Creative thinking unlocks ‘developmental intelligence,'” he said. It can also help us get into the state of optimal performance known as “flow.”
“Creativity, or more specifically the pattern recognition beneath creativity, also works as a flow trigger,” he added.
Setting challenges
Goal setting isn’t just for the young — it’s vital to have aspirations in every stage of life.
“Challenging activities are so important over time, and understanding how motivation works and goals work in the brain is really important,” Kotler said.
Starting off small and working your way to bigger and larger commitments is key. Maybe you want to complete a triathlon or have your own art show, but first you have to tackle smaller goals such as completing a 5k, swimming laps three times a week of painting daily.
Positive thinking
It may seem obvious, but happy thoughts are a surefire way to keep youthful.
“Notice that life is constantly changing, and that’s okay,” Kotler said.
He noted a study about aging conducted by Yale professor Becca Levy that proved there was a significant correlation in how people thought about aging and viewed themselves when exposed to negative stereotypes.
“This could be people saying, ‘you’re too old for this s–t,’ or you telling yourself ‘you’re too old for this s–t,” he explained. “By the time they were 60, we see a 30% greater memory decline in people who have been exposed to negative stereotypes around aging. Literally, we’re killing each other with these ideas.”
Actively combatting such negativity is most important.
“A positive mindset towards aging, is, ‘[I’m] really excited about the second half of my life and I think the best my best days are ahead of me,'” he said.
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Longevity
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Illustration: KATERYNA KON/Getty ImagesThe ovaries age faster than any other organ in the body. Figuring out how to slow down that process could have health benefits for women—and men.Who Wants to Live Forever?Research is underway to answer one of humankind’s oldest questions: how to transcend the limits of aging.The Mysterious Shrinking BrainThe ovary is a time machine. It travels to the future, reaching old age ahead of the rest of the body. At birth, each ovary contains around a million follicles—tiny, fluid-filled sacs that hold immature eggs. But the decline of these follicles is immediate and unceasing. By puberty, only about 300,000 remain. By age 40, the vast majority are gone. And by 51, the average age of menopause in the United States, virtually none are left. Humans are an oddity in this regard. Most mammals remain fertile up to the end of their lives; the only species known to experience menopause naturally are humans and some whales. In humans, the loss of hormones during menopause sets off a cascade of negative health effects: Bones get brittle; metabolism slows; and the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and dementia increases. Paradoxically, women live longer than men on average but spend more of their older years in poor health. Jennifer Garrison has a hunch that the ovaries are the culprit. “That cocktail, that orchestra of chemicals that the ovaries make, is really important to overall health,” says Garrison, an assistant professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California. “When it goes away at menopause, it has a dramatic effect.” On the other hand, having working ovaries for longer seems to carry longevity benefits. One study of 16,000 women found that later menopause made it more likely someone would live to age 90. Despite the fact that half the world’s population experiences ovarian aging—including cisgender women and trans and nonbinary people—longstanding gender bias in science means it has remained an understudied field. But that’s starting to change. Garrison leads the Buck Institute’s Center for Reproductive Longevity and Equality, a first-of-its-kind facility established in 2018 with a $6 million gift from attorney and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan. In 2019, the institute launched a related effort, the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality, to fund outside researchers. An initial 22 researchers received inaugural grants totaling $7.4 million. Their goal is to understand why the ovaries seem intricately connected to health and longevity. Unraveling these mysteries could mean extending a person’s reproductive years—and potentially lifespan—by delaying menopause. In 2018, the field of reproductive longevity was so nascent that Garrison had a hard time finding faculty to interview, let alone hire, to staff the center. Few people were actively researching it, partly because the only other mammals that experience it are whales—which can’t exactly be studied in a lab. It’s also hard to study ovarian aging in such long-lived species—killer whales, for example, can live up to 90 years in the wild. Instead, researchers have often tried to crack menopause and its link to aging by proxy: by observing chemotherapy’s effects on fertility, by studying a common menopause treatment that mimics female hormones, or by experimenting on mice, which are imperfect stand-ins for humans. Five years later, the Buck Institute’s efforts are starting to deliver results. Researchers might not have figured out how to slow reproductive aging yet, but they’ve spurred interest in a long-overlooked organ and opened a new avenue of inquiry that could have implications for how everyone ages—not just people with ovaries. “If we can understand what’s happening in the ovary,” Garrison says, “that will probably tell us something about aging in the rest of the body, and could also give us a handle on how to intervene.”To work out how fast ovaries age, you need to look at a lot of cells. At Columbia University in New York, geneticist Yousin Suh and her colleagues have been collecting and analyzing cells taken from the ovaries of women in their twenties and those in their late forties and early fifties who haven’t yet gone through menopause. What they found shocked them. Cells from the ovaries of middle-aged women often resembled cells in other tissues from people in their seventies and older. In cell type after cell type, Suh’s team found unmistakable signatures of aging. They saw damaged DNA and dysfunctional mitochondria—the energy powerhouses within cells. Communication between cells broke down. They stopped dividing. A key regulator of cell growth and metabolism, called mTOR, was also overactive. Too much mTOR is associated with cancer and aging, and drugs that suppress it are used to slow tumor growth. For Suh, it was “crystal clear” evidence that the ovary is aging faster than the rest of the body at the molecular and cellular levels. Suh and her team posted their findings online last year, and the paper is currently undergoing peer review.The mTOR discovery was particularly intriguing. Blocking the protein has already been shown to increase lifespan in flies, worms, and mice. Now Suh wonders if the same benefits could extend to human ovaries.Over at Northwestern University in Illinois, Kara Goldman, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, has also been exploring the link between mTOR and ovarian aging. She was interested in whether mTOR inhibitors could protect the ovaries against fertility loss caused by chemotherapy.In a 2017 study, she gave the drugs to otherwise healthy female mice that were also treated with chemotherapy. The hope was that the mTOR mice would be better protected against ovarian damage compared to mice that only received chemotherapy. And it worked. Both groups lost follicles because of the chemo, but the mice that received mTOR inhibitors had more of them left. Those mice went on to have more than twice as many offspring. In other words, the drugs seemed to preserve the ovaries, says Goldman, who serves as director of the clinical advisory board for the Buck’s consortium. Then Goldman took the research a step further. She wanted to see if these drugs could boost fertility in healthy mice. She gave daily oral doses of mTOR inhibitors to female mice for four weeks, beginning in young adulthood. When these mice mated, they produced twice as many pups over a seven-month period as a control group that didn’t receive the drugs, suggesting they were better at reproducing than untreated mice.Goldman and her team also wanted to make sure the drugs didn’t have negative side effects—a drug to be used in otherwise healthy people to extend the lifespan of their ovaries would need to be extremely safe, she says. Her team monitored the health and fertility of the treated mice, as well as their first- and second-generation offspring, and thus far have found no ill effects. The researchers presented preliminary findings in 2021 and are still analyzing their data. But will the same be true for humans? To find that out, Suh and her collaborator Zev Williams launched a trial to test whether the drug rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, can slow aging in the ovaries. They plan to enroll 50 women in their mid-thirties to early forties who don’t plan on having any more children. For a year, half will take daily rapamycin pills and the other a placebo. Researchers will then test the number of healthy eggs the participants have left. Their hope is that the group taking rapamycin will have more eggs. That would mean their ovaries are aging less rapidly than normal. “What we’re trying to do is slow down the rate at which eggs get lost,” says Williams, director of the Columbia University Fertility Center.The fact that the ovaries age so much faster than other body tissues also makes them a valuable way to test anti-aging drugs. Studies like these could yield insights on a much shorter timescale than than those done on other tissues in the body—which could have implications for aging in both women and men. Ultimately, Goldman sees a future in which women would take these drugs at an even younger age. “The moonshot idea is to not only protect fertility but prolong ovarian health span,” she says. No one knows for sure if it’s possible to keep the ovaries functioning longer, or whether that will lead to a longer, healthier life. Mice, at least, seem to benefit when their ovaries stay healthy for longer. When researchers at Utah State University transplanted the ovaries of young mice into older ones, the recipients lived about 40 percent longer than their peers and also had healthier-looking hearts. But there’s one problem with relying on mice as a stand-in for people: Like most other animals, mice don’t go through menopause.Bérénice Benayoun, an assistant professor of gerontology at the University of Southern California, is trying to genetically engineer menopause into mice so scientists can study the biological mechanisms behind it and figure out how to offset it. “Menopause is basically the single most consequential event in a woman’s life in terms of health,” says Benayoun, who’s funded by the Buck Institute.Researchers elsewhere have tried inducing a menopause-like state in two- to three-month-old mice by removing their ovaries or injecting them with a chemical to stop the ovaries from working. But Benayoun says that’s like trying to suddenly make young adults menopausal. The animals don’t show a gradual loss of ovarian function over time like humans do.Benayoun and her team have knocked out a gene in mice that, in humans, leads to early menopause. In mice, it led to a more gradual loss of hormones. The research has not been published yet, but Benayoun thinks it may offer a closer approximation of what happens in humans: “We can get hormonal states that are very similar to what’s described in human women,” she says. Even if researchers figure out how to delay a fake menopause in mice, that doesn’t mean it would be safe to do so with people. “That’s the big question,” says Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the North American Menopause Society and the director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health. “Would there be any harms associated with it? We have no idea.” A common treatment for menopause may offer some clues. Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, provides the body with estrogen and progesterone that stop getting made during menopause. While generally considered safe for most women, it can slightly increase the risk of blood clots and stroke, as well as some types of breast and ovarian cancers. But the ovaries produce many more chemicals and signaling molecules than these two hormones. To Garrison, the issue with HRT is that it doesn’t fully replicate the work of the ovary. While she calls HRT “the best Band-Aid treatment we have,” she considers it “deeply imperfect” because it doesn’t mimic every chemical the ovary makes. “We don’t even know what they are, much less how to replace them,” she says.Perhaps the biggest mystery about menopause is why humans experience it at all. The “grandmother hypothesis,” a concept proposed in the 1960s, suggests an evolutionary benefit. It argues that menopause allows older women to care for their grandchildren, thus boosting their kin’s chances of survival and ensuring the continuation of their own lineage. By studying killer whales—which also experience menopause—researchers have found that the presence of a living grandmother increases the chances of survival for a calf. If the theory is right, this evolutionary mechanism could still be helpful to human families—but less so to the individual. Humans are living longer and starting families later than ever before. People born today may live as much of their lives after menopause as they do before it. Why shouldn’t those postmenopausal years start later and be healthier? “The reality is, the age of menopause is at odds with modern life,” Goldman says. Menopause may be inevitable, but Garrison thinks it’s possible to at least stall it to help people remain healthier in older age. With her initiative at the Buck Institute, she’s trying to fill in the huge gaps created by sexism in science and chronic underfunding of women’s health research. Historically, investigators have relied too much on male lab animals and often excluded women from medical and toxicology studies, generalizing to women from data collected from men. Today, clinical trials are more gender-balanced, and in 2014 the US National Institutes of Health announced an initiative to balance sex in cell and animal studies. Still, there’s catching up to do. “We don’t have a lot of basic knowledge because this area has been ignored by the biomedical research community for a very long time,” Garrison says. Now, the field of female reproductive aging is finally getting the attention it deserves. “These are solvable problems,” she adds. “We just need to do the work.”What’s AGI, and why are AI experts skeptical?Emily Mullin is a staff writer at WIRED, covering biotechnology. Previously, she was an MIT Knight Science Journalism project fellow and a staff writer covering biotechnology at Medium's OneZero. Before that, she served as an associate editor at MIT Technology Review, where she wrote about biomedicine. Her stories have also... Read more
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Longevity
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(CNN) In molecular biologist David Sinclair's lab at Harvard Medical School, old mice are growing young again. Using proteins that can turn an adult cell into a stem cell, Sinclair and his team have reset aging cells in mice to earlier versions of themselves. In his team's first breakthrough, published in late 2020, old mice with poor eyesight and damaged retinas could suddenly see again, with vision that at times rivaled their offspring's. David Sinclair has reversed aging in mice and believes the same can be done for people. "It's a permanent reset, as far as we can tell, and we think it may be a universal process that could be applied across the body to reset our age," said Sinclair, who has spent the last 20 years studying ways to reverse the ravages of time. "If we reverse aging, these diseases should not happen. We have the technology today to be able to go into your hundreds without worrying about getting cancer in your 70s, heart disease in your 80s and Alzheimer's in your 90s." Sinclair told an audience at Life Itself, a health and wellness event presented in partnership with CNN. "This is the world that is coming. It's literally a question of when and for most of us, it's going to happen in our lifetimes," Sinclair told the audience. "His research shows you can change aging to make lives younger for longer. Now he wants to change the world and make aging a disease," said Whitney Casey, an investor who is partnering with Sinclair to create a do-it-yourself biological age test. While modern medicine addresses sickness, it doesn't address the underlying cause, "which for most diseases, is aging itself," Sinclair said. "We know that when we reverse the age of an organ like the brain in a mouse, the diseases of aging then go away. Memory comes back; there is no more dementia. "I believe that in the future, delaying and reversing aging will be the best way to treat the diseases that plague most of us." A reset button In Sinclair's lab, two mice sit side by side. One is the picture of youth, the other gray and feeble. Yet they are brother and sister, born from the same litter -- only one has been genetically altered to age faster. If that could be done, Sinclair asked his team, could the reverse be accomplished as well? Japanese biomedical researcher Dr. Shinya Yamanaka had already reprogrammed human adult skin cells to behave like embryonic or pluripotent stem cells, capable of developing into any cell in the body. The 2007 discovery won the scientist a Nobel Prize, and his "induced pluripotent stem cells," soon became known as "Yamanaka factors." However, adult cells fully switched back to stem cells via Yamanaka factors lose their identity. They forget they are blood, heart and skin cells, making them perfect for rebirth as "cell du jour," but lousy at rejuvenation. You don't want Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" to become a baby all at once; you want him to age backward while still remembering who he is. Labs around the world jumped on the problem. A study published in 2016 by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, showed signs of aging could be expunged in genetically aged mice, exposed for a short time to four main Yamanaka factors, without erasing the cells' identity. But there was a downside in all this research: In certain situations, the altered mice developed cancerous tumors. Looking for a safer alternative, Sinclair lab geneticist Yuancheng Lu chose three of the four factors and genetically added them to a harmless virus. The virus was designed to deliver the rejuvenating Yamanaka factors to damaged retinal ganglion cells at the back of an aged mouse's eye. After injecting the virus into the eye, the pluripotent genes were then switched on by feeding the mouse an antibiotic. "The antibiotic is just a tool. It could be any chemical really, just a way to be sure the three genes are switched on," Sinclair said. "Normally they are only on in very young developing embryos and then turn off as we age." Amazingly, damaged neurons in the eyes of mice injected with the three cells rejuvenated, even growing new axons, or projections from the eye into the brain. Since that original study, Sinclair said his lab has reversed aging in the muscles and brains of mice and is now working on rejuvenating a mouse's entire body. "Somehow the cells know the body can reset itself, and they still know which genes should be on when they were young," Sinclair said. "We think we're tapping into an ancient regeneration system that some animals use -- when you cut the limb off a salamander, it regrows the limb. The tail of a fish will grow back; a finger of a mouse will grow back." That discovery indicates there is a "backup copy" of youthfulness information stored in the body, he added. "I call it the information theory of aging," he said. "It's a loss of information that drives aging cells to forget how to function, to forget what type of cell they are. And now we can tap into a reset switch that restores the cell's ability to read the genome correctly again, as if it was young." While the changes have lasted for months in mice, renewed cells don't freeze in time and never age (like, say, vampires or superheroes), Sinclair said. "It's as permanent as aging is. It's a reset, and then we see the mice age out again, so then we just repeat the process. "We believe we have found the master control switch, a way to rewind the clock," he added. "The body will then wake up, remember how to behave, remember how to regenerate and will be young again, even if you're already old and have an illness." Science already knows how to slow human aging Studies on whether the genetic intervention that revitalized mice will do the same for people are in early stages, Sinclair said. It will be years before human trials are finished, analyzed and, if safe and successful, scaled to the mass needed for a federal stamp of approval. While we wait for science to determine if we too can reset our genes, there are many other ways to slow the aging process and reset our biological clocks, Sinclair said. "The top tips are simply: Focus on plants for food, eat less often, get sufficient sleep, lose your breath for 10 minutes three times a week by exercising to maintain your muscle mass, don't sweat the small stuff and have a good social group," Sinclair said. All these behaviors affect our epigenome, proteins and chemicals that sit like freckles on each gene, waiting to tell the gene "what to do, where to do it, and when to do it," according to the National Human Genome Research Institute. The epigenome literally turns genes on and off. What controls the epigenome? Human behavior and one's environment play a key role. Let's say you were born with a genetic predisposition for heart disease and diabetes. But because you exercised, ate a plant-focused diet, slept well and managed your stress during most of your life, it's possible those genes would never be activated. That, experts say, is how we can take some of our genetic fate into our own hands. The positive impact on our health from eating a plant-based diet, having close, loving relationships and getting adequate exercise and sleep are well documented. Calorie restriction, however, is a more controversial way of adding years to life, experts say. Cutting back on food -- without inducing malnutrition -- has been a scientifically known way to lengthen life for nearly a century. Studies on worms, crabs, snails, fruit flies and rodents have found restricting calories "delay the onset of age-related disorders" such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, according to the National Institute on Aging. Some studies have also found extensions in life span: In a 1986 study, mice fed only a third of a typical day's calories lived to 53 months -- a mouse kept as a pet may live to about 24 months. Studies in people, however, have been less enlightening, partly because many have focused on weight loss instead of longevity. For Sinclair, however, cutting back on meals was a significant factor in resetting his personal clock: Recent tests show he has a biological age of 42 in a body born 53 years ago. "I've been doing a biological test for 10 years now, and I've been getting steadily younger for the last decade," Sinclair said. "The biggest change in my biological clock occurred when I ate less often -- I only eat one meal a day now. That made the biggest difference to my biochemistry." Additional ways to turn back the clock Sinclair incorporates other tools into his life, based on research from his lab and others. In his book "Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To," he writes that little of what he does has undergone the sort of "rigorous long-term clinical testing" needed to have a "complete understanding of the wide range of potential outcomes." In fact, he added, "I have no idea if this is even the right thing for me to be doing." With that caveat, Sinclair is willing to share his tips: He keeps his starches and sugars to a minimum and gave up desserts at age 40 (although he does admit to stealing a taste on occasion). He eats a good amount of plants, avoids eating other mammals and keeps his body weight at the low end of optimal. He exercises by taking a lot of steps each day, walks upstairs instead of taking an elevator and visits the gym with his son to lift weights and jog before taking a sauna and a dip in an ice-cold pool. "I've got my 20-year-old body back," he said with a smile. Speaking of cold, science has long thought lower temperatures increased longevity in many species, but whether it is true or not may come down to one's genome, according to a 2018 study. Regardless, it appears cold can increase brown fat in humans, which is the type of fat bears use to stay warm during hibernation. Brown fat has been shown to improve metabolism and combat obesity. Sinclair takes vitamins D and K2 and baby aspirin daily, along with supplements that have shown promise in extending longevity in yeast, mice and human cells in test tubes. One supplement he takes after discovering its benefits is 1 gram of resveratrol, the antioxidant-like substance found in the skin of grapes, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries and peanuts. He also takes 1 gram of metformin, a staple in the arsenal of drugs used to lower blood sugars in people with diabetes. He added it after studies showed it might reduce inflammation, oxidative damage and cellular senescence, in which cells are damaged but refuse to die, remaining in the body as a type of malfunctioning "zombie cell." However, some scientists quibble about the use of metformin, pointing to rare cases of lactic acid buildup and a lack of knowledge on how it functions in the body. Sinclair also takes 1 gram of NMN, or nicotinamide mononucleotide, which in the body turns into NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. A coenzyme that exists in all living cells, NAD+ plays a central role in the body's biological processes, such as regulating cellular energy, increasing insulin sensitivity and reversing mitochondrial dysfunction. When the body ages, NAD+ levels significantly decrease, dropping by middle age to about half the levels of youth, contributing to age-related metabolic diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. Numerous studies have shown restoring NAD+ levels safely improves overall health and increases life span in yeast, mice and dogs. Clinical trials testing the molecule in humans have been underway for three years, Sinclair said. "These supplements, and the lifestyle that I am doing, is designed to turn on our defenses against aging," he said. "Now, if you do that, you don't necessarily turn back the clock. These are just things that slow down epigenetic damage and these other horrible hallmarks of aging. "But the real advance, in my view, was the ability to just tell the body, 'Forget all that. Just be young again,' by just flipping a switch. Now I'm not saying that we're going to all be 20 years old again," Sinclair said. "But I'm optimistic that we can duplicate this very fundamental process that exists in everything from a bat to a sheep to a whale to a human. We've done it in a mouse. There's no reason I can think of why it shouldn't work in a person, too."
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Longevity
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Do you want to live a better, healthier and longer life? Me too. Lets go back to 1937, when Albert Szent-Györgyi won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of ascorbic acid—vitamin C—that enables the body to efficiently use carbohydrates, fats, and protein (I use it a lot during cold and flu season, you?). It was a massively consequential discovery, as it not only saved and extended countless lives, but it also contributed to the foundations of modern nutrition. Szent-Györgyi, himself, was blessed with a long life; he died in 1986 at the age of 93. But he might just as well be known for what he said on his 90th birthday: “I wish I could be 75 again!” No doubt, that comment elicits more than a few eyerolls today. Especially since the CDC has recently downgraded American life expectancy to just 77 years. But could 75 someday be the new 40—an age by which, like Szent-Györgyi, we’re only hitting our stride? Well, if the burgeoning activity of the life extension industry is any indication, we may actually be on the cusp of making it so—and enjoying life to the fullest right up to the extended end. Which brings us to the morbid thought of mortality—that end state most of us seek to delay, if not dodge. It may strike many as common sense that most causes of death are what we have come to understand as “age-related”: The longer we live, the more likely we are to develop, for example, heart disease, cancer, or Alzheimer’s. Therefore, a reasonable thing one can do to prevent the development of age-related diseases, is to, well, not age. It turns out that’s actually not as flippant as it sounds. So, is that possible and how do we get there? In short, all strategies for life extension revolve around a combination of three factors, all working together to fortify health and wellness for a longer haul: 1) things you should stop doing (I have a list which I mostly ignore, you?), 2) things you should start doing (honestly part of my same list), and 3) adopting the contributions of new health and wellness technologies and scientific discoveries that are helping to curb aging. All three comprise parts of a budding ecosystem that is growing into a multibillion-dollar industry on an exponential trajectory to displace everything we have come to understand as modern medicine. If just what we know today were fully embraced and actualized, the global economy could also be transformed—and with it, a renaissance of human flourishing. And we could use it. When ranking countries for life expectancy, the United States often doesn’t make the top 50—despite having the highest healthcare costs per capita in the world, by far. In other words, maybe we’re doing it wrong. Clearly, something’s got to give. Right?
None of this is lost on the investment community, which is set to plow billions into a nascent industry that is fast approaching its inflection point. Driving that inflection is a fundamental pivot from treating symptoms—the bread and butter of the rapidly collapsing medical-industrial complex—to addressing the root causes of aging and disease. It’s a shift that is ushering in a new and immensely disruptive paradigm that some analysts envision creating a global market approaching $300B by 2030. It’s likely bigger when you add in personalized skin health and beauty—not to mention food. Again, like many such watershed moments, this is a story of convergences. It’s a perfect storm comprising new and surprising discoveries about the workings of the human body, myriad innovative technologies, coupled with an ever-increasing geriatric population. Now add to this mix an explosion in chronic diseases and a growing demand for more Personalized, Precise, Preventive, and Participatory aging therapeutics (the so-called “4 Ps”) and we have a movement. Beyond its potential for profitability, though, the longevity movement benefits from a certain intrinsic appeal: it could be a tremendous positive impact for humanity. Startups and leading global organizations are diligently at work developing the next level of health, beauty and wellness products, services and treatments—from delivering mass-personalization AI technology to help consumers choose at Revieve, to science-driven wellness at Throne Health, to curing Alzheimer’s at Genentech—all with investments beginning to show promise.
Another leading catalyst in shifting the world away from the traditional disease-focused regime in favor of targeting root causes of age-advancing chronic illnesses, is Viome—a life sciences company that has pioneered the field of human gut microbiome diagnostics and treatment. I took a look under the hood to learn what’s behind this longevity science and how are they rebooting an industry.
The big idea behind Viome’s science is simultaneously cutting edge and ancient (stay with me here as we unpack this). It was actually first articulated in the 4th century BC—by Hippocrates of Kos. “Let food be thy medicine,” he proclaimed, “and medicine be thy food.” As investors in next-gen food companies, like Manna Tree, will tell you—he was onto something. You can think of the gut microbiome as the “Chief Architect” of your health. The trillions of microbes that reside in your gut help you digest food, absorb nutrients, maintain a healthy weight, neutralize toxins, fight off bad bacteria, and many other functions that are responsible for keeping you alive and healthy. How the microbes in your gut respond to the food you eat creates a chain reaction that can be beneficial to you or, if you're eating the wrong foods, can promote inflammatory activity and microbial imbalance, or, dysbiosis. In other words, the very conditions that work to curtail lifespan. It turns out that illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, Parkinson’s, Crohn’s, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, depression, and many other debilitating conditions share a common denominators—chronic inflammation for one. In fact, chronic inflammation is both a precursor and prerequisite to the onset and development of today’s deadliest diseases—and aging. And all these conditions are pointing to the gut. It’s to these ends that Viome’s 50+ health scores reveal one’s underlying contributors to poor health—and more importantly, to identifying the microbiome-based correctives that can extend both lifespan and healthspan. Affirming both Hippocrates and Viome, Dr. Sherry A. Rogers astutely quipped, “The road to health is paved with good intestines!” In a free-market, innovation-economy, Viome is certainly not alone in this endeavor. Life Biosciences and many others are also targeting the biology of aging. The emerging sector operates on the premise that aging is in fact modifiable, being caused by biological mechanisms that can be targeted therapeutically. Elysium is another. It is working to make practical the myriad scientific advancements in aging research that in turn are leading to compelling new developments that will, “fundamentally redefine every aspect of how we think about healthcare”. Sampo Parkkinen, Revieve's Founder and CEO agrees and believes that the world's leading brands and retailers can help consumers personalize their health, beauty, and wellness through relationship-driven commerce: "Bringing personalized solutions to worlds consumers must go beyond healthcare, into the daily products, services, and treatments people use, from skincare and beauty products to supplements and food, it should all be on the table where consumers shop, he comments."
The key to moving life expectancy forward is turning back the biological clock. The old cliché goes, “If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself!” Or, as one of my Mom’s favorites, actress Mae West, said, “You’re never too old to become younger.” The good news is that there’s no time like the present to reboot and begin preparing for a healthy future. And lifestyle—marked by a nutritionally-rich diet (most tell us to ditch the fast food, but not everyone can), proper exercise (yes, there is an inverse relationship between physical activity and mortality), adequate sleep (I don’t get enough, you?), good stress management (how are you doing?)—is also central to any life extension regime. We have been told all of this before, yet we still struggle.
That said, a central goal of lifestyle modification is not only to reduce the incidence of disease but promote healthy, successful aging. It’s true that one’s biological age need not match chronological age. Consider Viome founder Naveen Jain. “I am 63 years old,” he says, “but my biological age is now 10 years younger. I have achieved this in the last two years, simply by understanding how my body works, using Viome’s tools, which tell me what to eat and why and what to avoid and why. It then details the specific nutrients my body needs to live a disease-free life.”
In addition to its AI-driven gut microbiome tests, the company is beginning to produce personalized supplements and formulas that combine the necessary nutrients into daily capsules, thus eliminating the need to stock dozens of products. Consequently, Naveen actually does anticipate reaching 75 but registering a biological age of just 40. Not that he expects to age in reverse, a la “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Nor is this about achieving immortality. Rather, longevity science is really more about enabling people to be as healthy as possible for as long as they are alive. It's about having the strength, energy, and vitality to do what they want to do, even possibly at 100.
I know what you’re thinking, Naveen is the CEO and didn’t actor George Burns live to be 100 while famously smoking cigars every day? Yes, however, I’ve watched his positive transformation over the years, along with Viome customer data, the results are remarkably noticeable (but alas, I’m not a healthcare professional). The early industry data now has supplement manufacturers, and companies like Amway, taking note and working determine how to globally scale and deliver personalized nutrition through mass-customization. As I have said at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, look for a variety of co-created innovation and delivery partnerships—between upstarts and global 1000’s—in this space starting next year.
Want another view on potential impacts? Longer lifespans are an effect of the measures anyone can take to improve their health—and it seems to also be an emerging societal and economic imperative. Consider, for example, if everyone in the world were to lower their biological age by even a few years, the global disease burden would be reduced dramatically. Today, according to the CDC, six in 10 U.S. adults suffer chronic health conditions; four in 10 have two or more of these diseases. Some of these diseases are both debilitating and expensive. According to estimates by the World Economic Forum, between 2010 and 2030, the total cost to the world’s health systems will approach $50T (yes trillions). Could we cut that in half? The leaders in the life extension space—both startups and the big-dogs—believe so. And supporting data is mounting. Looking for a bottom line? Me too, how’s this: if you can maintain good gut health, then that good gut health will keep the rest of you healthy. If, on the other hand, the gut microbiota are in dysbiosis, then you’re up for diseases caused by the chronic inflammation that inevitably results—the very conditions that are know to slash human life expectancy by half.
When the experts declare the upper limits of life expectancy, we believe it like some law of the universe. When someone dies at, say, 80, we accept that they’ve lived a good long life. We’ve become conditioned to believe it, and like so many other things connected to one’s mindset, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Normal” cholesterol in a society where it’s “normal” to drop dead of a heart attack really should not be considered a good thing. Right? We don’t achieve more than we expect. But if we do expect more, it must begin with an understanding of what’s really going on in the body. We are starting to do that now, thanks to the biological, cellular, and genetic ground truths established by the sciences and technologies advanced by the likes of Viome, Life BioSciences, Elysium, and many other emerging players the world will soon hear about. “But what about genes?” you might ask. “Surely, one’s genetic makeup affects lifespan, right?” Interestingly, we are learning that genetics may be responsible for only a very small percentage of human diseases—the vast majority are triggered by environmental and lifestyle factors. And both are of tremendous consequence to the makeup of one’s gut microbiome, which, we are now understanding, can be the chief driver of genetic expression (or epigenetics), turning genes on and off depending upon which microbes are present in the gut. So, while some people do hit the genetic lottery, like George Burns, the rest of us can improve our luck through lifestyle choices. But the difference—now those choices need to be informed. This is where Viome’s Human Gene Expression test comes in. With its origins in biodefense science developed at Los Alamos National Lab, it reveals a true state of one’s overall health, the measurable potential for developing disease, and the nutritional corrective actions one can take to restore the homeostasis that is essential to healthy longevity. Again, it seems if you can improve the health of your gut microbiome, you could also take some of your genetic fate into your own hands. In the end, though, when all is said and done, given the events of the past few years, many have learned that there is more to life than increasing its length. To this end, we would all do well to heed the words of the 14th century holy man who wrote, “It is vanity to wish for length of life, and to care little that the life should be well spent.” Indeed, if we’re to be older, we’ll also need to be wiser.
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Longevity
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Doctor explains how to do a simple physical test that can predict your longevity
People who fail are more likely to die in six years.
Everyone wants to know how long they will live and there are many indicators that can show whether someone is thriving or on the decline. But people have yet to develop a magic formula to determine exactly how long someone should expect to live.
However, a doctor recently featured on the "Today" show says a straightforward test can reveal the likelihood that someone aged 51 to 80 will die in the near future.
NBC News medical contributor Dr. Natalie Azar was on the "Today" show on March 8 and demonstrated how to perform the simple “sit to stand test” (aka sit-rising test or SRT) that can help determine the longevity of someone between 51 to 80.
The test is pretty simple. Go from standing to sitting cross-legged, and then go back to standing without using any parts of your body besides your legs and core to help you get up and down. The test measures multiple longevity factors, including heart health, balance, agility, core and leg strength and flexibility.
You begin the test with a score of 10 and subtract points on your way up and down for doing the following:
Hand used for support: -1 point
Knee used for support: -1 point
Forearm used for support: -1 point
One hand on knee or thigh: -1 point
Side of leg used for support: -1 point
A 2012 study published by the European Society of Cardiology found a correlation between the SRT score and how long people live. The study was conducted on 2002 people, 68% of whom were men, who performed the SRT test and were followed by researchers in the coming years. The study found that “Musculoskeletal fitness, as assessed by SRT, was a significant predictor of mortality in 51–80-year-old subjects.”
Those who scored in the lowest range, 0 to 3, had up to a 6 times greater chance of dying than those in the highest scores (8 to 10). About 40% of those in the 0 to 3 range died within 11 years of the study.
Azar distilled the study on "Today," saying: "The study found that the lower the score, you were seven times more likely to die in the next six years.”
"Eight points or higher is what you want," Azar said. "As we get older, we spend time talking cardiovascular health and aerobic fitness, but balance, flexibility and agility are also really important," she stressed.
One should note that the people who scored lowest on the test were the oldest, giving them an elevated risk of death.
Dr. Greg Hartley, Board Certified Geriatric Clinical Specialist and associate professor at the University of Miami, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that we should take the study with a grain of salt. “Frailty, strength, muscle mass, physical performance—those things are all correlated to mortality, but I would caution everybody that correlation doesn’t mean causation,” he said.
And of course, the test doesn't take into account injuries or disabilities that may make doing the test impossible. But one of the study's authors says that the study is a call to take our mobility seriously.
“The more active we are the better we can accommodate stressors, the more likely we are to handle something bad that happens down the road,” Dr. Claudio Gil Araujo, told USA Today.
This article originally appeared on 3.10.23
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Longevity
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Everyone ages at a different pace. That’s why two 50-year-olds, despite living the same number of years, may have different biological ages – meaning that a host of intrinsic and extrinsic factors have caused them to age at varying paces with different levels of risk for disease and early death. Lifestyle choices, such as diet and smoking, and illness all contribute to accelerating biological age beyond one’s chronological age. In other words, your body is aging faster than expected. And for the first time, researchers have found that muscle weakness marked by grip strength, a proxy for overall strength capacity, is associated with accelerated biological age. Specifically, the weaker your grip strength, the older your biological age, according to results published in The Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle. Researchers at Michigan Medicine modeled the relationship between biological age and grip strength of 1,274 middle aged and older adults using three “age acceleration clocks” based on DNA methylation, a process that provides a molecular biomarker and estimator of the pace of aging. The clocks were originally modeled from various studies examining diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, physical disability, Alzheimer’s disease, inflammation and early mortality. Results reveal that both older men and women showed an association between lower grip strength and biological age acceleration across the DNA methylation clocks. “We’ve known that muscular strength is a predictor of longevity, and that weakness is a powerful indicator of disease and mortality, but, for the first time, we have found strong evidence of a biological link between muscle weakness and actual acceleration in biological age,” said Mark Peterson, Ph.D., M.S., lead author of the study and associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at University of Michigan. “This suggests that if you maintain your muscle strength across the lifespan, you may be able to protect against many common age-related diseases. We know that smoking, for example, can be a powerful predictor of disease and mortality, but now we know that muscle weakness could be the new smoking.” The real strength of this study was in the eight to 10 years of observation, in which lower grip strength predicted faster biological aging measured up to a decade later, said Jessica Faul, Ph.D., M.P.H., a co-author of the study and research associate professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research. Past studies have shown that low grip strength is an extremely strong predictor of adverse health events. One study even found that it is a better predictor of cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction, than systolic blood pressure – the clinical hallmark for detecting heart disorders. Peterson and his team have previously shown a robust association between weakness and chronic disease and mortality across populations. This evidence coupled with their study’s recent findings, Peterson says, shows potential for clinicians to adopt the use of grip strength as a way to screen individuals for future risk of functional decline, chronic disease and even early mortality. “Screening for grip strength would allow for the opportunity to design interventions to delay or prevent the onset or progression of these adverse ‘age-related’ health events,” he said. “We have been pushing for clinicians to start using grip strength in their clinics and only in geriatrics has this sort of been incorporated. However, not many people are using this, even though we’ve seen hundreds of publications showing that grip strength is a really good measure of health.” Investigators say future research is needed to understand the connection between grip strength and age acceleration, including how inflammatory conditions contribute to age-related weakness and mortality. Previous studies have shown that chronic inflammation in aging – known as “inflammaging” – is a significant risk factor for mortality among older adults. This inflammation is also associated with lower grip strength and may be a significant predictor on the pathway between lower grip strength and both disability and chronic disease multimorbidity. Additionally, Peterson says, studies must focus on how lifestyle and behavioral factors, such as physical activity and diet, can affect grip strength and age acceleration. “Healthy dietary habits are very important, but I think regular exercise is the most critical thing that somebody can do to preserve health across the lifespan,” he said. “We can show it with a biomarker like DNA methylation age, and we can also test it with a clinical feature like grip strength.” Additional authors include Stacey Collins, M.A., Helen C.S. Meier, Ph.D., M.P.H., Alexander Brahmsteadt, M.D., all of University of Michigan. This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant (R01 AG060110 to J.F.).
Paper cited: “Grip strength is inversely associated with DNA methylation age acceleration,” The Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle. DOI: 10.1002/jcsm.13110 Journal Journal of Cachexia Sarcopenia and Muscle Method of Research Observational study Subject of Research People Article Title Grip strength is inversely associated with DNA methylation age acceleration Article Publication Date 10-Nov-2022 COI Statement The authors declare that no conflict of interest relevant to this article exists. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
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Longevity
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Medical research, new technologies. What awaits us in the…
Longevity, the ability to live a long and healthy life, has always been a topic of fascination for humanity. For centuries, people have sought ways to prolong their lives, but it is only in recent times that significant progress has been made in this area, thanks to the advancements in medicine, medical research, and technology. In this article, we will explore the reasons behind the increase in human longevity, and what the future holds in store for us.
Medicine
Advances in medicine have played a crucial role in increasing human longevity. In the past, many diseases were considered fatal, and people died at a much younger age than they do today. However, with the development of modern medicine, doctors can now treat and cure many of these diseases. Antibiotics, for instance, have revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections, which were once considered deadly. The discovery of insulin has enabled people with diabetes to manage their condition and live longer, healthier lives. Similarly, the development of chemotherapy has transformed the treatment of cancer, leading to improved survival rates.
Medical Research
Medical research has also contributed significantly to the increase in human longevity. Researchers have been able to identify the underlying causes of many diseases, leading to the development of new treatments and cures. For example, the Human Genome Project has led to a better understanding of the genetic factors that contribute to diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. This knowledge has enabled researchers to develop new drugs that target the specific genes involved, leading to better treatment outcomes. Similarly, stem cell research has opened up new possibilities for regenerative medicine, which may one day enable us to replace damaged or diseased tissues and organs.
Technology
Advances in technology have also played a critical role in the increase in human longevity. Wearable technology, such as fitness trackers and smartwatches, has made it easier for people to monitor their health and fitness levels. Telemedicine, which enables patients to consult with doctors remotely, has made healthcare more accessible, especially for people living in remote areas. Medical imaging, such as MRI and CT scans, has enabled doctors to diagnose diseases more accurately and at an earlier stage, leading to better treatment outcomes.
The Future of Longevity
As we continue to make progress in medicine, medical research, and technology, it is likely that we will see even greater gains in human longevity in the future. One area of research that is particularly promising is aging research. Scientists are studying the aging process to identify ways to slow or even reverse it, with the goal of enabling people to live longer, healthier lives. For example, researchers are investigating the potential of senolytics, drugs that target and eliminate senescent cells, which are thought to contribute to the aging process.
Another area of research that is likely to lead to significant advancements in longevity is personalized medicine. This approach tailors treatments to a person's individual genetic makeup, enabling doctors to develop more targeted and effective treatments for diseases. This personalized approach is likely to become more widespread in the future, leading to better treatment outcomes and improved longevity.
There are several modern medical technologies that have contributed significantly to prolonging life. Here are a few examples:
● Ventilators: These machines assist patients in breathing, and they are particularly crucial for people with respiratory failure. Patients who are unable to breathe on their own can be kept alive for weeks or even months with the help of a ventilator.
● Pacemakers: These small electronic devices are implanted in the chest and regulate the heartbeat. They are commonly used to treat people with arrhythmias, which can lead to heart failure or sudden cardiac arrest. Pacemakers have been credited with saving countless lives.
● Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs): These devices are similar to pacemakers but have the added capability of detecting and correcting dangerous heart rhythms that can cause sudden cardiac arrest. ICDs have been shown to reduce mortality rates in people with certain types of heart disease.
● Artificial organs: In some cases, damaged or diseased organs can be replaced with artificial organs, such as artificial hearts or artificial kidneys. These devices can keep patients alive until a suitable donor organ can be found for transplantation.
● Robotic surgery: Robotic surgery involves the use of a robotic system to assist a surgeon in performing complex procedures with greater precision and control. This technology has been used in a variety of surgeries, including cardiac, urologic, and gynecologic procedures, and has been credited with reducing complications and improving outcomes.
These are just a few examples of the many modern medical technologies that have contributed to prolonging life. As medical technology continues to advance, we can expect to see even more innovative devices and treatments that will further improve our ability to extend and enhance human life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the increase in human longevity is the result of the collective efforts of medicine, medical research, and technology. Advances in these areas have enabled us to treat and cure many diseases, identify the underlying causes of others, and develop new treatments and cures. As we continue to make progress, it is likely that we will see even greater gains in human longevity, enabling people to live longer, healthier lives.
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Longevity
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A common nutrient found in everyday foods might be the key to a long and healthy life, according to researchers from Columbia University.
The nutrient in question is taurine, a naturally occurring amino acid with a range of essential roles around the body.
Not only does the concentration of this nutrient in our bodies decrease as we age, but supplementation can increase lifespan by up to 12 percent in different species.
Our main dietary sources of taurine are animal proteins, such as meat, fish and dairy, although it can also be found in some seaweeds and artificially supplemented energy drinks. It can also be produced inside the body from other amino acids.
In a study published in the journal Science, a team of researchers from around the world looked at the effects of this nutrient on health and lifespan. "This study suggests that taurine could be an elixir of life within us that helps us live longer and healthier lives," Vijay Yadav, one of the leading authors of the study, said in a statement.
Top taurine-containing foods
- Shellfish
- Dark meat of turkey and chicken
- White fish
- Shrimp
- Squid and octopus
- Pork
- Beef
- Tuna
Data from Wójcik OP et al., Atherosclerosis, 2010
Yadav, assistant professor of genetics and development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, first discovered the importance of taurine while researching osteoporosis, uncovering the nutrient's essential role in regulating bone growth. Similar studies have also shown that taurine can benefit immune function, obesity and the nervous system.
"We realized that if taurine is regulating all these processes that decline with age, maybe taurine levels in the bloodstream affect overall health and lifespan," Yadav said.
In the recent study, Yadav and his colleagues found that taurine concentrations decrease significantly as we age, with concentrations more than 80 percent lower in 60-year-olds compared to 5-year-olds.
From these results alone, it was still unclear whether declining taurine levels were a cause or a consequence of the aging process. So, to investigate the effects of taurine supplementation on health and lifespan, the researchers fed taurine to a group of middle-aged mice once a day for the remainder of their lifespan, comparing their health and longevity to mice that had not been given the treatment.
Remarkably, the average life span of these taurine-treated mice increased by 12 percent in females and 11 percent in males. At a cellular level, taurine supplementation also decreased numbers of "zombie cells" (old cells that can produce inflammation), increased stem cells in some tissues, reduced DNA damage, and improved performance of the cells' energy-generating powerhouses.
The team extended these experiments to a range of different species, including daily supplementation to a group of rhesus monkeys over the course of six months. Again, they found significant improvements in a range of different age-associated health markers, including bone density, blood sugar levels and signs of liver damage.
"We were particularly pleased to say the least when we got these results in different species," Yadav told Newsweek. "We were surprised by how conserved the effect of taurine was in evolutionarily divergent species. We saw the effect in worms, mice, zebrafish and monkeys."
In humans, higher taurine levels have been associated with better health outcomes, including fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, lower obesity, reduced hypertension and lower levels of inflammation. We do not know for sure whether these correlations are directly related to taurine levels, but they are consistent with the results from the animal studies.
The team also found that taurine levels increase as a result of exercise, particularly in those with an active lifestyle. "No matter the individual, all had increased taurine levels after exercise, which suggests that some of the health benefits of exercise may come from an increase in taurine," Yadav said.
Exactly how much taurine is required to see significant health improvements is still unclear. "The human equivalent doses for what we have used in mice would be 6 grams or 3 grams per day," Yadav said. "Shell fishes have the highest levels of taurine and even there the levels are roughly 1mg per gram weight, so if one eats 500 grams of shellfish you get 500mg.
"We also need to remember that after ingestion there will be loss of taurine in the digestive tract during digestion and absorption."
While this study provides exciting insights into the potential roles of taurine in aging, more work is needed to determine how and if taurine supplementation could be used to improve human health and lifespan in the future.
"The next stage of this research is a randomized placebo-controlled taurine trial in multiple populations to find out whether a taurine intervention will work in humans as well as it does in animal models," Yadav said.
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Longevity
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Marine mammal longevity study reveals remarkable advances in animal welfare
A new study provides compelling evidence that animal care and management practices at zoos and aquariums have significantly improved over time. The study, led by Species360 and University of Southern Denmark Research Scientist Dr. Morgane Tidière in collaboration with 41 co-authors from academic, governmental, and zoological institutions around the world, is the first to examine life expectancy and lifespan equality together as a proxy of population welfare in marine mammal species.
The study also found that marine mammal species live longer in zoological institutions than in the wild as a result of advances in animal care practices centered on animal welfare. The results have been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Study authors used the same statistical methods used to assess improvements in human population welfare to analyze data from the world's largest database of information on wildlife in human care—the Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS).
The study examined 200 years' worth of data from ZIMS, dating as far back as the early 1800s up until 2020, to look at whether four marine mammal species—the harbor seal, California sea lion, polar bear, and common bottlenose dolphin—have seen improved conditions of life in human care, and whether that can be observed through a progressive concentration of individuals reaching old age.
Applying the same methodology using additional data sources for wild populations, the authors examine whether these four marine mammal species are living longer lives in zoos and aquariums, compared to their counterparts in the wild.
The study authors found that the life expectancy of the four marine mammal species has increased by over three times, and that the rate of deaths in the first year of life has declined by up to 31% over the last century in zoos and aquariums included in the study. Additionally, the life expectancy of these species in zoos and aquariums is currently two to three times longer than their counterparts in the wild.
In addition to looking at how long these four species are living, researchers looked at how many of them are living well by examining lifespan equality, which can show if a population is consistently living longer lives and avoiding less predictable, earlier causes of death.
Researchers found conclusively that the four species have a progressively increasing lifespan equality across time in zoological institutions. They also highlight that current populations of the four species living in zoological institutions included in the study have a higher lifespan equality than their counterparts in the wild.
The researchers found a significant improvement in longevity and lifespan equality for the four species from the 1990s onwards, which is believed to be a result of advancements in zoological practices, such as implementing advanced veterinary, environmental, nutritional and enrichment measures, as well as the voluntary cooperation of animals in routine examinations through positive reinforcement training.
These improvements in how progressive zoos and aquariums care for animals are a result of the establishment of regional and national zoo associations, accreditation standards, coordinated breeding programs, shared databases and professional networks which foster knowledge sharing—thereby collectively improving animal welfare.
Lead study author, Dr. Morgane Tidière, Species360, commented on the significance of the study, saying, "Our findings indicate that significant progress has been made in enhancing the welfare of marine mammals in zoological institutions, as a result of improvements in management practices in progressive zoos and aquariums. Professional zoos and aquariums of today cannot be compared to zoos 30 years ago."
Dr. Tidière added, "This kind of research is possible as a result of the standardized data collected and shared by Species360 member zoos and aquariums around the world."
The study authors note that these results reflect the average welfare of marine mammals in Species360 member facilities, rather than demonstrating a global minimum standard achieved by all zoos and aquariums worldwide. Nonetheless, these findings serve as evidence of positive progress in the management and care of animals within leading zoological facilities. The researchers hope the findings inspire other institutions, which are not part of professional zoo and aquarium bodies, to invest time and resources into enhancing their animal management practices.
The results of this study contribute to the ongoing dialogue surrounding the well-being of animals in zoos and aquariums and may help inform future policy decisions. It demonstrates the importance of scientific research in understanding and improving the lives of animals in zoological institutions. The preliminary results have already informed legislative decisions in France and Spain, guiding evidence-based choices regarding the care of marine mammals in these settings.
More information: Survival improvements of marine mammals in zoological institutions mirror historical advances in human longevity, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1895. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rspb.2023.1895
Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Provided by Species360
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Longevity
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The study, published Monday in the journal BMC Medicine, found that people who closely followed a Mediterranean diet had as much as a 23% reduced risk for dementia than people who followed the diet less closely.
Researchers studied more than 60,000 people across Europe and found that the risk of dementia when following a Mediterranean diet was reduced even for people with a genetic risk, or predisposition, for dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia among older adults. Dementia is a broad term that describes the impaired memory, thinking and decision-making, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC projects there will be as many as 14 million people with dementia in the United States by 2060. Though it mostly affects older adults, dementia is not a "part of normal aging," according to the CDC.
In addition to reducing the risk of dementia, the Mediterranean diet has previously been shown to reduce the risks of heart attacks, strokes and diabetes, according to ABC News medical contributor Dr. Darien Sutton, a board-certified emergency medicine physician.
"At the end of the day, it's really about leaning away from processed foods and leading toward plant-based diets," Sutton said Tuesday on "Good Morning America." "That's really what the epicenter, or the center, of the Mediterranean diet is."
Here is what to know about the Mediterranean diet.
What is the Mediterranean diet?
The Mediterranean diet is not one way of eating but a broad term used to describe the eating habits popularized in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, including Italy, Greece, Morocco, Spain and Lebanon.
The way of eating focuses on the quality of foods consumed rather than focusing on a single nutrient or food group, according to U.S. News and World Report, which for the past six years has ranked the Mediterranean diet as best overall diet in its annual ranking of best diets.
There are no specific serving size recommendations or calculations with the diet, meaning the amount of food a person eats on the diet depends on their own needs.
Nutrition experts say there's no one diet that will work for everyone. Certain diets may be more beneficial depending on your circumstances, and some may be harmful depending on your health conditions. Anyone considering changes to their diet should consult with their doctor.
What types of foods are eaten on the Mediterranean diet?
Overall, the diet is mostly plant-based and focuses on healthy fats.
Healthy fats emphasized in the Mediterranean way of eating include virgin olive oil, avocados, nuts, salmon and sardines, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Red meat consumption is limited to a few times a month.
All types of vegetables and fruits are encouraged on the diet, as are non-meat sources of protein like beans and other legumes.
Fish is encouraged twice weekly and other animal proteins like poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt are encouraged in smaller portions, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.
The main source of hydration should be water.
Mild to moderate wine consumption, often with meals, is typical of the Mediterranean diet but is considered optional. In this context, moderation in wine consumption is defined as one to two glasses per day for men and as one glass per day for women.
Are any foods prohibited?
No, the diet does not totally eliminate any foods or food groups.
Some foods though are encouraged sparingly on the diet, desserts, butter, heavily processed foods like frozen meals and candy and refined grains and oils.
U.S. News and World Report describes the diet as leaving "little room for the saturated fat, added sugars and sodium that inundate the standard American diet."
What are the health benefits?
According to U.S. News and World Report, "People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet have longer lifespans, report a higher quality of life and are less likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease."
The American Heart Association says the Mediterranean diet can "play a big role" in helping to prevent heart disease and stroke and reducing risk factors like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Consuming virgin olive oil, in particular, may help the body "remove excess cholesterol from arteries and keep blood vessels open," according to the AHA.
Citing research, the Cleveland Clinic touts the Mediterranean diet as a way to help maintain a healthy weight, slow the decline of brain function, increase longevity, support a healthy gut and lower the risk of certain cancers.
Is the diet adaptable and budget-friendly?
In U.S. News and World Report's 2023 ranking of best diets, the Mediterranean diet was not only best overall diet but also rated high in the categories of Best Family-Friendly Diets and Easiest Diets to Follow.
Gretel Schueller, managing editor of health at U.S. News and World Report, told "GMA" earlier this year the foods promoted in the Mediterranean way of eating are not only budget-friendly and easily accessible but also adaptable.
"Olive oil is one of the cores of the of the Mediterranean diet as a primary source of healthy fat, but you can replace that with a similar oil like grapeseed oil or sesame oil or another heart-healthy, fun saturated fat like nuts or avocado," she said. "And you can take those principles and adapt them to other cuisines by adding the vegetables and whole grains from that country or region, lowering the red meat [intake] and eating more efficient plant proteins."
She continued, "For example, if you prefer Asian cuisine, you can apply the Mediterranean diet principles and that might mean eating more brown or black rice instead of white rice, and seafood or tofu instead of meat."
What is a sample recipe?
Ingredients:
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp black pepper
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1/2 head cauliflower, roughly chopped
1/2 eggplant, roughly chopped
1 zucchini, roughly chopped
1 potato, roughly chopped
1, 15 oz box of low sodium chickpeas
2 pinches of saffron
1 cinnamon stick
Fresh mint and parsley, for garnish
Serve with couscous or flatbread of your choice
Directions:
1. Place olive oil, cumin, turmeric and black pepper in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add onion and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often.
2. Add carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini, potato and 3 cups of water or low sodium vegetable broth, reduce flame cover and cook for 20 minutes.
3. Add chickpeas, saffron, cinnamon stick and 15 oz of water and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile cook couscous according to package instructions.
5. Spoon vegetables into a shallow bowl over couscous and garnish with fresh mint and parsley.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Maya Feller.
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Longevity
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Published January 18, 2023 5:36AM article Sister Andre, Lucile Randon in the registry of birth, the eldest French and European citizen, prays in a wheelchair, on the eve of her 117th birthday. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images) A French nun who was believed to be the world’s oldest person has died a few weeks before her 119th birthday, the spokesperson for her nursing home in southern France said Wednesday. Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on Feb. 11, 1904. She was also one of the world’s oldest survivors of COVID-19. Spokesman David Tavella said she died at 2 a.m. on Tuesday at the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home in the town of Toulon. The Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, listed her as the oldest known person in the world after the death of Japan’s Kane Tanaka, aged 119, last year. Sister André tested positive for the coronavirus in January 2021, shortly before her 117th birthday, but she had so few symptoms that she didn’t even realize she was infected. Her survival made headlines both in France and beyond. French catholic nun Lucile Randon speaks to the press at the Saint-Catherine-Laboure nursing home where she lives in Toulon, southern France, on April 26, 2022, after becoming the world's oldest known person at 118 following the death announced the d In April last year, asked about her exceptional longevity through two world wars, she told French media that "working … makes you live. I worked until I was 108." She was known to enjoy a daily glass of wine and chocolate. Hester Ford, oldest living American, dies at 116 A look at the life and legacy of the country's oldest living America, Hester Ford. The oldest living known person in the world listed by the Gerontology Research Group is now American-born Maria Branyas Morera, who is living in Spain, and is 115.
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Longevity
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For older adults, being able to balance briefly on one foot may predict how long they'll live. People who failed a 10-second balance test of standing on one foot were nearly twice as likely to die in the next 10 years, according to a report published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Unlike aerobic fitness, flexibility and muscle strength, balance tends to be preserved until the sixth decade of life, after which it wanes precipitously, the Brazilian researchers noted. Exactly why a loss of balance can predict risk of death is not yet known, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Claudio Gil Soares de Araújo, a sports and exercise physician and director of research and education at the Exercise Medicine Clinic-CLINIMEX in Rio de Janeiro. But poor balance and musculoskeletal fitness can be linked with frailty in older adults, Araújo wrote in an email. “Aged people falling are in very high risk of major fractures and other related complications," Araújo wrote. "This may play a role in the higher risk of mortality.”Checking balance on one foot, even for those few seconds, can be valuable way to determine someone's risk of falling. A 2019 report found that the number of deaths from falls for people ages 75 or older was on the rise in the U.S. “Remember that we regularly need to stay in a one-legged posture, to move out of a car, to climb or descend a step or stair and so on," Araújo said. Araújo and his colleagues have previously researched the link between movement ability and longevity. A 2016 study found that people’s ability to sit on the floor and then stand up without using their hands or knees for support could predict their risk of death over the next six years. How does balance predict longevity?To explore whether a balance test might reveal insight into a person’s risk of death from any cause during the next decade, Araújo and his team reexamined data from the 1994 CLINIMEX Exercise cohort study, which assessed associations among physical fitness, cardiovascular risk factors, and the risk of developing poor health and dying. For the new report, the researchers focused on 1,702 participants from ages 51 to 75 — average age 61 — at their first study checkup, when weight, waist size and measures of body fat were collected. The researchers included only people who could walk steadily in their analysis. At the first checkup, participants were asked to stand on one leg for 10 seconds without holding onto anything to support themselves. The participants, who were allowed three tries, were asked to place the front of the uplifted food on the back of the weight bearing leg, while keeping their arms at their sides and their gaze fixed straight ahead. Overall, one in five failed the test. The researchers noted that the inability to pass the test rose with age. In general, people who failed the test tended to be in poorer health than those who passed, with a higher proportion being obese, having cardiovascular disease and unhealthy blood cholesterol levels. Type 2 diabetes was three times more common among people who failed the test as those who passed. After accounting for factors such as age, sex, BMI, history of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol, the researchers found that the risk of death within 10 years was 1.84-fold higher in participants who failed the balance test. The good news, Araújo said, is “it is never too late to improve balance by specific training. A couple of minutes a day — at home or in a gym could help a lot.”Studies like this provide a scientific basis for deciding on the types of measurements that will help evaluate how well a person is functioning physically, said Dr. John W. Rowe, a professor of health policy and aging at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. During a physical, doctors typically check people’s hearts, lungs, cholesterol and blood pressure. But for the most part, they aren’t measuring what shape people are in, Rowe said. If a doctor determines a patient has balance issues, a program can be prescribed to help improve fitness and balance.“And if the doctor asks the patient to do the one-leg stand and the patient says, ‘what good is that,’ the doctor can say there is an article showing that this can predict life expectancy,” said Rowe.Linda CarrollLinda Carroll is a regular health contributor to NBC News and Reuters Health. She is coauthor of "The Concussion Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic" and "Out of the Clouds: The Unlikely Horseman and the Unwanted Colt Who Conquered the Sport of Kings."
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Longevity
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Could Humans Live Up to 20,000 Years? One Scientist Thinks So
One aging expert believes cancer prevention drug Rapamycin could be key to longevity, but others express skepticism
An immunosuppressive substance could extend the human lifespan more than a millennia, some scientists believe.
João Pedro de Magalhães, Ph.D., a scientist at the University of Birmingham in the UK who has made it a goal to “cure” aging, told Scientific American that it is possible for someone to live over 20,000 years.
His theory centers on the substance rapamycin, a compound already approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent organ rejection for people who receive transplants. Prof. Magalhães says that studies show the substance can extend the life of animals for over a decade.
Previous research suggests rapamycin can extend the life of dogs and mice, linking it to better heart health and cancer prevention. Prof. Magalhães said it can slow down the metabolism of cells, which can stop the aging process.
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The aging expert believes a daily pill could be used to help extend people’s lives.
“I am optimistic that we will develop drugs akin to statins [taken daily to lessen risk of heart disease] that we take every day for longevity purpose,” he told the magazine. “If you could slow down human aging 10 or even 5% that would still be pretty amazing.”
Prof. Magalhães has studied the genetic code of mammals that live for a long time, such as bowhead whales, which live as long as 200 years, and naked mole rats, which live far longer than their rodent peers at up to 30 years.
He points to cancer, and more so preventing it, as the key to longevity. Cancer erupts when the DNA within cells becomes damaged, leading to errors in the replication process that cause a proliferation of growth in the body.
A person is slowly exposed to harmful material throughout their life that exposes them to this type of damage, whether its pollution, poor diet or other habits. This causes cells to age, and become more at risk of starting cancerous growth.
“Various long-lived animals, such as humans, whales and elephants, all have to cope with the same issues, such as cancer, but they use different molecular tricks to achieve their longevity. With bowhead whales, they seem to have much better DNA repair,” he said.
He says that treatments that change the genetic code to repair or prevent damage can stave off aging.
He added: “My dream experiment is to take a bowhead whale gene and implant it in a mouse to see if the mouse would then live longer.”
Not all scientists agree with Prof. Magalhães’ theory, however.
Stuart Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., and aging expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told The Messenger: “A 1,000-year lifespan is an untestable hypothesis — it cannot be proven. The reason should be obvious — we would have to wait a thousand years to know if it's true. I'm not a fan of embellishment and exaggeration in science.”
Dana Goldman, Ph.D., dean at the University of Southern California’s school of public policy noted to The Messenger that some research found mice exposed to rapamycin were more likely to get into fights than others. Meaning longer living humans could be more violent.
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Longevity
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The first global study to investigate how gender equality may be associated with life expectancy has found that both women and men live longer as it improves.
However, variations between countries grouped into regions according to socioeconomic development and geographic proximity suggest that while mainly benefitting women’s lives and health at first, progress in gender equality helps men to live longer too, eventually narrowing the gender gap in life expectancy.
Lead author Dr Cat Pinho-Gomes, Honorary Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, UK in partnership with Imperial College London, said the results - published in the lead up to International Women’s Day - suggest that addressing longstanding gender inequality and empowering women might help extend longevity for both women and men.
“Many of the factors that determine how long you will live - like working and living conditions, exposure to pollution, access to health care, education, income, and social support - are layered with gender differences around the world,” she said.
“As countries make greater progress towards gender equality and women are afforded the opportunity to participate more fully in in political, economic, and social life, the whole of society reaps the rewards.”
According to the latest report by the World Economic Forum, global events such as the rising cost of living, the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and large-scale conflict and displacement are stalling progress towards gender parity. This may, in turn, jeopardise socioeconomic development and improvement in living and working conditions, curbing the gains in life expectancy that have occurred over the past decades.
To investigate whether gender equality was associated with life expectancy (LE) for women and men and assess the gender gap in life expectancy across the globe, the researchers used a modified global gender gap index (mGGGI), based on the index developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and applied it across 156 countries between 2010 and 2021.
The WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). For this study, the health dimension was excluded because it includes healthy life expectancy, which was the subject of this study.
Among the three dimensions included in this study (i.e., political, economic, and educational), gender equality in education had the strongest association with longer LE for both women and men.
“This suggests investing in education is paramount, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where many girls are still denied access to education and resources are limited,” added Dr Pinho-Gomes.
“Even high-income countries – where substantial progress has been made to address gender inequalities in recent years - investing in gender equality may still benefit life expectancy, particularly for men. This study confirmed what we had already seen for countries in the EU using a different index, reinforcing the validity of our findings.”
“The weaker association between gender equality in the political domain and the gender gap in LE raises concerns about how gender equality is being implemented by political systems worldwide,” she said.
“As we’ve seen from the recent resignations of high-profile female politicians, women still experience significant challenges in this field, including discrimination, balancing private, family and political life, gaining support from political parties, and securing campaign funding.”
Overall, in 2021, each ten percent increase in the mGGGI was associated with a 4.3-month increase in women’s LE and a 3.5-month increase in men’s LE, leading to an 8-month wider gender gap, but there was considerable variation between geographical regions.
“Our study has important implications for policy makers across the globe, particularly as the world gradually recovers from the myriad shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a gendered impact across multiple domains of life,” added Dr Pinho-Gomes.
“This International Women’s Day, let’s not forget that the evidence demonstrates that enhancing women’s representation across multiple sectors contributes to wealthier and, hence, healthier societies for all.”
Journal
PLOS Global Public Health
Method of Research
Data/statistical analysis
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Gender equality related to gender differences in life expectancy across the globe
Article Publication Date
6-Mar-2023
COI Statement
MW is a consultant for Amgen, Kyowa Kirin and Freeline.
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Longevity
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A new study brings scientists closer to an elusive goal: figuring out how to outsmart humans’ biological clocks to slow the aging process and keep people healthier, longer.
For decades, researchers have studied calorie restriction as a potential method of extending lifespan. Numerous promising trials, some dating back almost a century, have been conducted in animals—but the new study, published Feb. 9 in Nature Aging, is significant because it demonstrates that calorie restriction may also slow aging in humans.
A group of researchers, led by scientists from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, used data from a trial called Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE), which tracked a group of more than 200 healthy adults ages 21 to 50 who did not have obesity. Some of the participants were directed to reduce their calorie intakes by 25% for two years, while the rest of the group stuck to their normal diets. Previous research on CALERIE trial participants found that those who ate less over those two years had signs of better health, including improved markers of cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar, compared to those who ate regularly.
For the new study, the researchers wanted to see if people who restricted calories also aged more slowly than those who ate normally. To find out, they used blood samples taken when the study started, at the one-year mark, and at the two-year mark to look for signs of aging in participants’ DNA.
They used three different methods of analyzing DNA. Two of the methods calculated participants’ biological ages, regardless of how old they were chronologically, based on the state of their DNA. Using those methods, the researchers didn’t observe any significant changes after two years of calorie restriction.
The third model was meant to find the rate at which someone is aging, rather than their current biological age. Under that framework, the researchers found that two years of calorie restriction led to a 2% to 3% slower pace of aging. That may not sound like much, but, according to the study’s authors, previous research suggests a similar slow-down in biological aging could reduce someone’s risk of death by up to 15%—roughly the same longevity benefit associated with quitting a smoking habit.
That’s only an estimate, though. Since people in the study were only tracked for two years, it’s impossible to say exactly how their diets affected their longevity and life-long health.
Plus, a 25% drop in calorie consumption is dramatic and, for many people, unsustainable. Even many of the CALERIE trial participants—who were given a month’s worth of prepared meals to get used to their new eating styles, as well as behavioral counseling—didn’t stick with the plan for a full two years. Those who were able to reduce their daily calories by at least 10% still saw some aging benefit, the researchers found, but not as much as those who ate even less.
Some researchers have raised concerns about the potential drawbacks of long-term calorie restriction among people, including mental-health consequences and declines in bone density and muscle mass. One 2018 study on non-human primates also found that calorie restriction can extend lifespan, but may also change the composition of the brain (albeit not in ways that affected cognitive function, according to that study).
Widespread calorie restriction is “not a practical strategy for slowing aging in the population,” the authors of the new study write. But the new data “suggest that slowing aging in humans is possible and provide benchmarks for effects of more scalable interventions, including intermittent fasting and drug therapies.”
Even if they don’t translate into practical advice yet, the study’s findings are a step forward in the effort to understand—and perhaps someday slow, or even reverse—the negative effects of human aging.
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Longevity
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Many people are carrying potentially harmful genes, research out this week has found. Scientists analyzed the genes of people living in Iceland and found that one in 25 people appear to have genetic variations linked to a shorter lifespan. The most dangerous variants were those tied to cancer.
In 2021, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) created a list of so-called actionable genes. Based on existing evidence, these genes—73 at the time—are believed to have variants tied to diseases that could be mitigated or even prevented with early knowledge of this genetic risk. One example would be certain variants of the BRCA2 gene that greatly raise the risk of breast and ovarian cancer; people who have these variants are often recommended to receive screenings at a much earlier age than the general public. The organization has continued to update this list, with the latest revision arriving in June 2023.
While these actionable genes and their variants are important to catalog, there’s still a lot that we don’t know about the practical implications of their existence, such as the overall impact that they have on population health. This new study, conducted by scientists from deCODE genetics, a pharmaceutical company under the larger umbrella of Amgen, tries to help answer that question.
Using the ACMG’s original 2021 list, the authors looked for harmful or potentially harmful variants in some 58,000 Icelanders who had their genomes completely sequenced as part of other studies conducted at deCODE. They also tracked the subjects’ longevity by analyzing data from the Icelandic Death Registry.
The researchers ultimately identified 235 actionable variants in 53 genes across the study population, with about 4% of people having at least one of these variants. The median lifespan of these carriers was 86 years, slightly lower than the 87 years median for non-carriers. But the differences were larger when only taking early deaths or certain types of variants into account.
About 10% of carriers died before reaching the age 69, for instance, compared to 10% of non-carriers who died before reaching the age of 73 years. Those with cancer-related variants also had a median lifespan three years shorter than those without them. One BRCA2 variant in particular was linked to seven years fewer of life, while another variant thought to raise the risk of high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease was linked to six years fewer.
The team’s findings are published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The results do have their caveats. The analysis was only conducted on people from Iceland, which is a less genetically diverse country than many others. That said, other studies of large genomic datasets have found a similar percentage of harmful variants within a population. A 2020 study conducted in the U.S. found that about 3% of participants carried them, for instance (for context, if extrapolated to the U.S. as a whole, that would roughly amount to 10 million Americans). The lower starting diversity in Iceland—a phenomenon known as the founder effect—might still explain the higher percentage seen in the current study, the researchers acknowledge, since lower diversity does increase the risk of harmful genetic mutations showing up in a population.
A big, ongoing debate in medicine is whether it’s worthwhile to implement or recommend widespread population screening for these actionable genes. The authors say that their findings should show the possible benefits of doing so.
“The identification and disclosure of actionable genotypes to participants can guide clinical decision-making, which may result in improved patient outcomes,” they wrote. “This knowledge therefore has significant potential to mitigate disease burden for individuals and society as a whole”
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Longevity
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A little appreciated (but important) fact: for most of human history, the average person would have been regularly exposed to ketosis. This was mostly light and transient, sometimes more protracted, but they were never far from a mildly ketogenic state. Food wasn’t always a sure thing, after all, and carbs weren’t necessarily readily available year-round. Ketosis was normal, it was frequent, and it was beneficial, even life-saving.
Today, few people achieve ketosis without intentionally fasting or following a ketogenic diet. The latter refers to any very low-carb diet—low enough that your liver churns out ketones that your cells can use for energy in place of glucose. It may feel like keto exploded into popularity out of nowhere, but doctors have actually been prescribing therapeutic keto diets to treat epilepsy for more than a century. Today, keto is popular mostly as a weight-loss diet, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits a keto diet has to offer.
That’s because keto diets have two things going for them: the carbohydrate restriction and the resulting ketones. Each profoundly affects health and longevity, beyond halting seizures and helping people fit into smaller jeans. I’ve been talking about keto since the early days of the Primal Blueprint because I firmly believe that everyone should spend time in a state of ketosis.
Here are some of the reasons why.
Why Go Keto? The Big Picture
The number one reason I recommend that everyone try keto is for metabolic flexibility. To put it bluntly, if you want to be metabolically healthy, you must be metabolically flexible. Metabolic flexibility, you may recall, is your cells’ ability to use any available substrate—glucose, fat, or ketones—for energy on an on-demand basis. It’s the opposite of carbohydrate dependency, the metabolic state that characterizes the vast majority of the population today.
Keto diets upregulate your cells’ ability to burn ketones, obviously, but they also make you more fat-adapted. And being able to metabolize fatty acids efficiently is important whether you’re keto or eating a “regular Primal” pattern.
There are other things that keto does uniquely well compared to other types of diets, namely lowering blood glucose, insulin, and inflammation. Hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and chronic inflammation are the triumvirate of doom when it comes to chronic disease. I can’t think of a single chronic disease of any kind—metabolic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative, cancer—that doesn’t have one, if not all three, as a contributing factor.
It’s obvious why seriously restricting carb intake would reduce blood sugar and insulin secretion, in turn reducing inflammatory markers.1 Keto diets also trigger more complex downstream biochemical processes that account for many of their beneficial effects. For example, keto modulates the action of a critical enzyme called AMPK that is involved in cellular energy regulation—improving glucose uptake by cells, improving insulin sensitivity, and decreasing inflammation.2 The ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate has direct anti-inflammatory effects.3
In short, with keto diets, you reap the benefits of NOT eating too many carbs plus a host of other benefits that are specifically due to being ketotic.
Benefits of the Keto Diet
The Keto Diet for Treatment of Major Disease States
The ketogenic diet remains the only thing with the consistent ability to prevent epileptic seizures. We have better medicines than doctors did a hundred years ago, but not everyone responds to them. Whether it’s Thai kids with intractable epilepsy,4 Scandinavian kids with therapy-resistant epilepsy,5 or adults with refractory epilepsy,6 ketogenic diets just work.
Ketosis improves epilepsy via several mechanisms.
It increases conversion of glutamate into glutamine into GABA, reducing neuronal excitability.7
It increases antioxidant status in the neuronal mitochondria, improving their function.
It reduces free radical formation in neurons, a likely cause of seizures.8
It provides an alternate fuel to brain neurons that may be dysfunctionally metabolizing glucose.9
These effects on neuronal function and health, along with the ability of aging or degenerating brains to accept and utilize ketone bodies, also have implications for other brain conditions, like Parkinson’s,10Alzheimer’s,11 and bipolar disorder.12Ketogenic diets aren’t just beneficial for brain disorders, though. People with mild cognitive impairment and even generally healthy folks can enjoy cognitive benefits like improved memory, mental clarity, increased focus, and positive mood, to name a few.
And the impact of keto extends well beyond the brain. For example…
A Spanish ketogenic diet (keto with wine, basically) reversed metabolic syndrome and improved health markers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Over 92 percent of subjects improved their liver health; 21 percent resolved liver disease entirely.13
Keto diets are poised to be the next big tool in preventing and treating cancer. Keto diets significantly reduce circulating glucose—the preferred fuel of most types of cancer—inhibiting the ability of cancer cells to proliferate. Although research results are still very preliminary, it is suggestive that keto diets can be used to augment (not replace) traditional cancer therapies in many cases. In cancer patients, a keto diet also preserves lean mass and causes fat loss.14
Ketogenic diets may improve symptoms of PCOS, which is strongly related to insulin resistance.15
The Keto Diet for Physical Performance
Being keto-adapted has several advantages for anyone interested in physical performance.
It increases energy efficiency. At any given intensity, a keto-adapted athlete burns more fat and less glycogen than a sugar-burning athlete. Long-term elite keto athletes can burn up to 2.3 times more fat at peak oxidation and 59 percent more fat overall than non-keto athletes, and they do it at higher intensities. They remain in the predominantly fat-burning zone at 70 percent (or higher!16) of VO2max, whereas non-keto athletes switch over from primarily fat burning to a spike in sugar-burning at 55 percent VO2max.17
It spares glycogen. Glycogen is high-octane fuel for intense efforts. We store it in the muscles and liver, but only about 2400 calories worth—enough for a couple hours of intense activity at most. Once it’s gone, we have to carb up to replenish it, lest we hit the dreaded wall. Keto-adaptation allows us to do more work using fat and ketones for fuel, thereby saving glycogen for when we really need it. Since even the leanest among us carry tens of thousands of calories of body fat, our energy stores become virtually limitless on a ketogenic diet.
It builds mitochondria. Mitochondria are the power plants of our cells, transforming incoming nutrients into ATP. The more mitochondria we have, the more energy we can utilize and extract from the food we eat—and the more performance we can wring out of our bodies. Ketosis places new demands on our mitochondria, who adapt to the new energy environment by increasing in number.
The Keto Diet for Fat Loss
Ketosis isn’t “magic”—it doesn’t melt body fat away. Instead, it works for many of the same reasons a standard low-carb Primal way of eating works: by reducing insulin, increasing mobilization of stored body fat, and decreasing appetite.
Ketosis suppressing appetite may be the most important feature. The overriding drive to eat more food is the biggest impediment to weight loss, and it’s the reason why most diets fail. When people attempt to eat less food despite wanting more, they butt up against their own physiology. Few win that battle. Ketogenic dieting avoids this issue altogether, suppressing the increase in hunger hormones that normally occurs after weight loss.18
Many diets work in the short term and fail in the long run. Weight loss isn’t worth anything if you can’t keep it off. Ketogenic diets appear to be good for long-term maintenance of weight loss, at least compared to low-fat diets.19
How to Go Keto the Right Way
The real benefits of keto come from doing keto the right way. Almost no one reading this needs to follow a strict therapeutic diet of the type usually prescribed to epileptic patients, typically involve exceedingly high fat and low protein.
For most of us, keto works best when we prioritize nutrient density, healthy fats, and a good amount of protein—a Primal way of eating but with fewer carbs. My books The Keto Reset Diet and Keto for Life go into detail about how to implement this way of eating, or start with my Definitive Guide to Keto.
The point I want to make clear is that keto diets are beneficial in ways that other diets aren’t by virtue of the ketones and the carb restriction, but you don’t need to be keto forever to reap the rewards. Dipping into ketosis for four to six weeks at a time, a few times a year, is sufficient. If you discover that you feel best in ketosis, then you can absolutely stay there. For everyone else, it can be a periodic thing.
Just don’t pass up the opportunity to achieve ultimate metabolic flexibility!
Mark Sisson is the founder of Mark’s Daily Apple, godfather to the Primal food and lifestyle movement, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Keto Reset Diet. His latest book is Keto for Life, where he discusses how he combines the keto diet with a Primal lifestyle for optimal health and longevity. Mark is the author of numerous other books as well, including The Primal Blueprint, which was credited with turbocharging the growth of the primal/paleo movement back in 2009. After spending three decades researching and educating folks on why food is the key component to achieving and maintaining optimal wellness, Mark launched Primal Kitchen, a real-food company that creates Primal/paleo, keto, and Whole30-friendly kitchen staples.
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Longevity
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Women who are more optimistic tend to live longer, though it’s not clear exactly why, according to new research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Researchers, who published their results earlier this month in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, also found that the trend “was generally evident across racial and ethnic groups, suggesting the association of optimism with longevity extends to diverse populations.”“A lot of previous work has focused on deficits or risk factors that increase the risks for diseases and premature death. Our findings suggest that there’s value to focusing on positive psychological factors, like optimism, as possible new ways of promoting longevity and healthy aging across diverse groups.”Hayami Koga, a doctoral candidate who is the lead author of the study, said in a statement from the university.The study noted that being optimistic is partly an inherited trait, but “experimental research has demonstrated that optimism is modifiable with accessible methods that actively target optimism such as writing exercises and cognitive-behavioral strategies.” And the study suggested that “optimism may be a novel target for intervention to improve health.”In a previous study, the researchers had looked at mostly white women and found similar results; they broadened the participant pool in the new study, the statement said.The researchers noted several other studies that have looked into the links between optimism and the health of both men and women.The study looked at data and survey responses from 159,255 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative, which included postmenopausal women in the United States. The women enrolled at ages 50 to 79 from 1993 to 1998 and were followed for up to 26 years, the statement said.The 25 percent of women who were most optimistic were likely to have a 5.4 percent longer lifespan - or an average of about 4.4 years more - and a 10 percent greater likelihood of living beyond 90 than the 25 percent who were the least optimistic, the study said.Lifestyle factors, such as regular exercise and healthy eating, accounted for less than a quarter of the optimism-lifespan association, the statement said.The study said there might be other ways that optimism leads to a longer life lifespan.“Other possible pathways include neurobiological processes and psychosocial resources that promote health or buffer the harmful health impact of stressful experiences,” the study said..“For example, studies have investigated how psychological stress and distress can trigger a host of physiological changes (including autonomic nervous system activation, immune system activation, neuroendocrine changes, platelet hypercoagulability, and oxidative stress) and positive psychological factors may buffer psychological stress as well as the physiologic reactions to this sense of stress,” the study said..The study also said “optimists appear to have greater social support, use problem-solving and planning strategies to minimize health risks, and are better able to regulate emotions and behavior.”Martin Finucane can be reached at martin.finucane@globe.com.
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Longevity
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Consuming nutritious food can improve metabolic health and delay aging. But what are the appropriate quantities of dietary macronutrients that can help achieve this? To answer this, researchers from Japan fed isocaloric diets with varying amounts of protein to young and middle-aged male mice. They found that the mice were metabolically healthier when fed moderate-protein diets. These findings could provide valuable insights into developing nutritional interventions and improving metabolic health in people.
As the proverb "You are what you eat" goes, the type of food we consume influences our health and longevity all through our lives. In fact, there is a direct association between age-related nutritional requirements and metabolic health. Optimal nutrition according to age can help maintain metabolic health, thereby improving the health span (period of life without diseases) and lifespan of an individual. Different nutritional interventions involving varied calorie and protein intake have been known to improve the health and lifespan of rodents and primates. Furthermore, recent studies have also reported the association of dietary macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) with cardio-metabolic health and aging in mice. However, the amount of protein that must be consumed to maintain metabolic health is not known.
In a new study published in GeroScience on April 28, 2023, a team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Yoshitaka Kondo from Waseda University, Japan, investigated the amount of dietary protein needed to improve metabolic health in mice approaching old age. The team, which also included Dr. Takuya Chiba, Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Dr. Akihito Ishigami, Molecular Regulation of Aging, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Dr. Hitoshi Aoki, Research and Development Division, Nichirei Foods Inc, and Dr. Shin-Ichiro Takahashi, Department of Animal Sciences and Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo. They recruited young (6 months old) and middle-aged (16 months old) male C57BL/6NCr mice who were fed isocaloric diets with varying protein content (5 to 45 %) for two months. After two months, the effect of varying protein diets was assessed based on measurements of skeletal muscle weight, liver and plasma lipid profiles, and self-organizing map (SOM) cluster analysis of plasma amino acid profiles.
When asked about the motivation behind their study, Kondo explains, "The optimal balance of macronutrients for ideal health outcomes may vary across different life stages. Previous studies show the possibility of minimizing age-specific mortality throughout life by changing the ratio of dietary protein to carbohydrates during approach to old age in mice. However, the amount of protein that should be consumed to maintain metabolic health while approaching old age is still unclear."
The team observed that the consumption of a low-protein diet led to the development of mild fatty liver, with increased levels of hepatic lipids in middle-aged mice as compared to young mice. In contrast, a moderate-protein diet led to reduced blood glucose concentrations and lipid levels in both liver and plasma. These findings indicate that a moderate-protein diet (25% and 35%) kept both young and middle-aged mice metabolically healthier.
On examining the effect of varying protein diets on plasma amino acid concentrations in mice of both age groups, the researchers observed that the plasma concentration of individual amino acids varied with age and varying dietary protein content. This was further validated using SOM analysis of the plasma amino acids. Furthermore, the plasma amino acid profiles revealed using SOM analysis showed the correlation between different protein intake and the varying amounts of hepatic triglycerides and cholesterol levels.
Discussing the impact of their study on public health, Kondo remarks, "Protein requirements change through the course of life, being higher in younger reproductive mice, reducing through middle age, and rising again in older mice as protein efficiency declines. The same pattern is likely to be observed in humans. Therefore, it could be assumed that increasing daily protein intake in meals could promote metabolic health of people. Moreover, ideal dietary macronutrient balance at each life stage could also extend health span."
In conclusion, a balanced diet with moderate amounts of protein could be the key to a long and healthy life.
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Longevity
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John Simon III was a hungry baby, a “chunky” toddler and a chubby little boy, his mother said. But by age 14, his weight had soared to 430 pounds and was a life-threatening medical condition.
Nine months after weight-loss surgery that removed a portion of his stomach, John has lost about 150 pounds, boosting his health — and his hopes for the future.
“It was like a whole new start,” said John, who will start high school in California this fall.
In Minnesota, Edward Kent was diagnosed with fatty liver disease. The 6-foot, 300-pound high school sophomore started using the obesity drug Wegovy in January — just a month after federal regulators approved it for children 12 and older — and has lost 40 pounds.
“It’s a huge deal and it will affect him for the rest of his life,” said his mother, Dr. Barbara Van Eeckhout, an obstetrician-gynecologist. “This is about his health.”
John and Edward are among a small but growing group of young teens turning to treatments like body-altering surgery and new drugs that rewire metabolism to lose large amounts of weight. Critics urge caution at intervening so early, but the kids and their parents say the aggressive — and often costly — measures are necessary options after years of ineffective diet and exercise programs.
“John has tried with all of his might,” said his mother, Karen Tillman, 46, an accountant. “It’s not because he couldn’t try. It was getting harder and harder.”
Eighty percent of adolescents with excess weight carry it into adulthood, with potentially dire consequences for their health and longevity. Obesity was first classified as a complex, chronic disease a decade ago by the American Medical Association, but meaningful treatments have lagged far behind, said Aaron Kelly, co-director of the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota.
“It's a biologically driven disease. It's not a behavioral disease,” Kelly said. “We need to get on it early. Don't wait until later in life because it's too late.”
In January, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued guidelines that call for considering obesity drugs for kids as young as 12 and surgery for those as young as 13. The recommendations were immediately controversial.
Mental Health America, an advocacy group, called them "dangerous” and “disheartening,” saying they would increase eating disorders and perpetuate harmful stigma regarding weight. Some on social media accused doctors and parents of taking the easy way out, blaming things like junk food or video games — or accusing parents of “child abuse.”
Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, warned that the “justified excitement” over new weight-loss medications shouldn’t eclipse non-drug options.
“Especially for children, diet and exercise must remain at the forefront of obesity prevention and treatment,” he wrote in JAMA.
But medical experts who treat kids with severe obesity say research is clear: Diet and exercise alone aren't enough. More than 240 diseases are associated with excess weight — including liver problems, diabetes and inflammation — and the signs show up early, said Dr. Janey Pratt, a Stanford University surgeon who performed surgery on John Simon.
“It’s already affecting major organs by the time they get to me,” Pratt said. “You’re dealing with a train that’s headed over a cliff.”
Starting in elementary school, John struggled with joint pain, shortness of breath and sleep apnea so severe that, at age 12, he needed coffee to stay awake. He developed anxiety triggered by daily bullying at school and was hospitalized as a sixth grader for two months with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“They call me names, hit me, push me, all of the above,” John said. “It was a lot of hardship I had to go through.”
He tried diets and exercise, losing up to 40 pounds. But intense food cravings meant the weight always came back — plus more. By the time John met Dr. Callum Rowe, a pediatrics resident in a public health clinic at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, John had a body mass index of 75. It was way off of the charts that measure body-mass index, or BMI, which is regarded as a flawed tool but widely used by doctors to screen for obesity.
John, who has a shy smile and a soft voice, asked for help. He said he wanted to go on a “journey to wellness,” Rowe recalled.
“I found that very profound for a 13-year-old. He’s an old soul to have that level of insight about what can I do to change my situation?” said Rowe, who referred John to the Stanford Medicine Children’s Health weight-loss program.
It meant traveling to Palo Alto, 350 miles north, but Karen Tillman said she was ready to do anything.
“His weight was just going up by the minute,” she said.
Sign-ups for the Stanford surgery program have doubled since the release of the AAP guidelines, Pratt said. It's is among the busiest sites in the U.S., performing more than 50 of the 2,000 pediatric weight-loss surgeries logged each year.
John was fortunate; fewer than 1% of children who qualify for metabolic surgery go through with the procedure. Doctors can be reluctant to refer, and families either don't know it's an option or it costs too much, experts said. Fees run upwards of $20,000 and can be as much as $100,000.
John’s surgery was covered by Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, which paid for 47 operations for kids ages 11 to 17 last year, according to state health records. Across the U.S., Medicaid coverage of weight-loss surgery for kids varies significantly by state.
On average, children who receive weight-loss surgery lose about a quarter to a third of their body weight, studies show. But about 25% of kids regain the pounds and need further treatment, Pratt said.
With Wegovy, adolescents lost about 16% of their body mass over nearly 16 months in a clinical trial. Those who take obesity drugs — requests for which have soared at Stanford and nationwide — regain weight once they stop, research shows. Some taking the drugs see potentially serious side effects like gallstones and inflammation of the pancreas.
Edward Kent has responded well to the obesity medication, which has turned off his ravenous appetite “like a light switch,” his mother said. At a recent exam, Edward’s liver function had returned to normal.
John Simon has lost about 35% of his body weight in less than a year. His liver function and insulin resistance have both improved, Pratt said. His arthritis is receding. He’s sleeping better and moving more easily.
John's struggle still extends past conquering cravings and improving his health. Attacks by bullies got so bad at his middle school, teachers were assigned to walk with him between classes.
“He's going to come out with some type of hurt," said John's pastor, Charles Griffin III of DaySpring Christian Church. "The prayer is that when he does come out of this, he will be stronger.”
John graduated this month from his middle school, where officials wouldn’t comment on steps they took to address the bullying. He'll go to a charter high school next year that will be smaller and, his mother hopes, more compassionate.
John, now 15, is focused on the future. He has learned to cook healthy meals, like a recent dinner of sauteed shrimp and chard. He works out at a local gym, puts 18,000 steps on his pedometer every day and hopes to study hard to land his dream job as an automotive engineer.
“I just want to live a happy, healthy life,” he said. “Without the pain. And just without the weight.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Longevity
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Tristen K Inagaki, PhD, Gabriella M Alvarez, MA, Edward Orehek, PhD, Rebecca A Ferrer, PhD, Stephen B Manuck, PhD, Nicole M Abaya, BS, Keely A Muscatell, PhD, Support-Giving Is Associated With Lower Systemic Inflammation, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2023;, kaac059, https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaac059
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Abstract
Support-giving has emerged as a health-relevant social behavior, such that giving more support is associated with better physical health. However, biological mechanisms by which support-giving and health are linked remain unclear. Whether support-giving uniquely relates to health relative to other psychosocial factors is also an open research question.
Two studies test the hypothesis that support-giving is uniquely (over-and-above other psychosocial factors) related to lower systemic inflammation, a biological correlate of health.
Cross-sectional associations of support-giving with markers of systemic inflammation (i.e., interleukin-6 [IL-6], C-reactive protein [CRP]) were examined in two independent samples of midlife adults (Study 1, n = 746; Study 2, n = 350).
Consistent with hypotheses, giving to more social targets (to family and friends, and also volunteering for various causes), but not receiving support from similar targets, was associated with lower IL-6. In conceptual replication and extension with a different measure of support-giving, higher frequency of support-giving behavior was associated with lower IL-6, even after adjusting for social network size and individual differences in social desirability. There were no associations between support-giving and CRP in either sample.
Future research needs to establish causality and directly test mechanistic pathways, but together, findings reaffirm the health-relevance of support-giving behavior and shed light on a promising biological mechanism by which such effects may occur.
Lay Summary
Support-giving behavior and health are linked such that more support-giving is related to better health and longevity for the person giving. How such a link occurs, however, is an open question for research. Two cross-sectional studies test the hypothesis that support-giving behavior relates to lower systemic inflammation, a potential biological pathway linking supportive behavior with health. Results of Study 1 show that giving to more social targets (to family and friends, and also volunteering) is associated with lower inflammation. Receiving support was not associated with inflammation. In a replication and extension, Study 2 shows that a greater frequency of giving is also related to lower systemic inflammation, over and above the size of one’s social network and individual differences in reporting socially desirable responses. Although more research is needed to establish whether support-giving causes systemic inflammation to change, the current findings highlight a promising pathway by which support-giving behavior benefits health.
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Longevity
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Recent research shows that dogs and humans have a lot in common when it comes to staying healthy. The study—a large survey of dog owners and their pups—found several key environmental factors linked to better health and longevity in dogs, such as a strong social network. The results are the latest to suggest that dogs can serve as an excellent model for studying aging in people, the authors say.
The research comes from the Dog Aging Project, an initiative billed as the most ambitious of its kind in the world. The project plans to track the health of dogs over a 10-year period and involves scientists from more than a dozen universities and research organizations. Owners are asked to fill out extensive annual surveys about their dogs and some are also invited to upload their dogs’ veterinary records and medical test samples for smaller studies.
This latest study was published last month in the journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. It focused on finding the aspects of a dog’s home environment that were most strongly associated with its overall health. To do this, researchers scoured through survey data from over 21,000 owners.
All in all, the researchers identified five factors that seemed to have the greatest impact on canine health after accounting for variables like a dog’s age and size. Collectively, they amounted to about 33% of the variation in a dog’s social environment. These factors were neighborhood stability, total household income, the owner’s age, social time spent with children, and social time spent with other animals. These animals were usually other dogs living in the same home, but sometimes they include other pets as well, including cats.
In particular, dogs living in less stable and financially secure homes were more likely to have poorer health than others, while more social companionship with other animals was associated with better health. But the impacts of these factors weren’t all equal. Social support was estimated to have an effect on health five times greater than financial factors, for instance.
“This does show that, like many social animals—including humans, having more social companions can be really important for the dog’s health,” said study author Bri McCoy, a graduate student at Arizona State University, in a statement released by the university.
There were some surprising results from the study as well. Dogs living in richer households tended to be diagnosed with more diseases than others, though that might only indicate that these dogs are more regularly taken to the vet. Social time spent with children was also negatively linked to dog health. The authors theorize that this link might be the result of owners having fewer resources—including time—available for their dogs once they start caring for their children.
“You can think of it as a resource allocation issue, rather than kids being bad for dogs,” said McCoy.
These findings are based on the subjective experiences of dog owners, which is an important limitation. But the authors say they plan to follow up on their research by looking at the subset of dogs that have their health directly measured through the collection of blood and bodily samples. In the meantime, the authors say their research demonstrates just how important social connection and stability are to both dogs and their humans.
“Having a good network, having a good social connectedness is good for the dogs that are living with us,” said McCoy. “But the structure and equities that are in our society also have a detrimental effect on our companion animals as well. And they are not the ones thinking about their next paycheck or their health care.”
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Longevity
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Maria Branyas, the oldest woman in the world at 116, has agreed to help Spanish scientists see if they can discover the secrets of her longevity.
Scientists are studying the world’s oldest person to try to unearth the secret to a long life, after being bewildered by the “super grandmother’s” great health at 116 years old. Maria Branyas doesn't live in a recognised Blue Zone and is still highly lucid, with no apparent neurodegenerative or cardiovascular diseases.
She was born in San Fransisco in 1907 but returned to Spain when she was eight and settled in Catalonia. She's known to her 14,000 X followers as Super Àvia Catalana, has lived in the region ever since and has resided in the same nursing home for the last two decades, according to the Guinness World Records.
Now, this super grandmother has agreed to undergo scientific testing - which researchers hope will further their understanding of certain illnesses associated with old age, such as neurodegenerative or cardiovascular diseases.
Despite her age, Ms Branyas has no health complications other than hearing (she lost her hearing in one ear in a childhood accident) and some mobility issues. “She has a completely lucid head,” scientist Manel Esteller told ABC, a Spanish media outlet. “She does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people.”
If you think that this remarkable woman must have had an easy life, think again. She survived an earthquake while she was in the US, a major fire, both world wars, the Spanish Flu pandemic (1918-1920), the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and, more recently, she also survived Covid-19.
“We know Maria’s chronological age, 116 years, but we must determine her biological age,” Mr Esteller - a highly regarded Spanish scientist focusing on genetics and how they apply to health conditions - told ABC, believing that “she is much younger” physically.
The scientist has taken biological samples of her saliva, blood and urine. These are thought to be the “longest-lived” biological samples and have great scientific value, Josep Carreras, the head of a leukaemia research institute, informed ABC.
Ms Branyas often has been asked what her secret is to her long life, and she uses her X account to post her advice for others. She attributed her longevity to “order, tranquillity, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people”.
However, she also credits a great amount of luck.
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Longevity
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It might sound counterintuitive, but scientists say one key to living beyond 100 is plenty of experience fighting off infections.
Researchers who studied the DNA of seven centenarians found they all shared one thing in common — they'd fought lots of bugs and viruses.
Their subjects had a high number of B cells, immune cells and antibodies needed to fight off old foes.
Scientists are trying to work out whether catching and beating infections is the key, or whether centenarians are just genetically stronger in the immune department.
Lead author of the study, Paola Sebastiani, a biostatistician at Tufts University in Boston, said the immune profiles of centenarians show 'a long history of exposure to infections and capacity to recover from them.'
'We believe that centenarians have protective factors that allow them to survive the Spanish Flu, survive Covid,' she told DailyMail.com
The study, which also included scientists from Boston University, looked at blood samples from seven centenarians between the ages of 100 and 119 years old.
The team isolated a critical part of the participants' immune systems: peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), a kind of immune cell that originates in bone marrow.
The researchers then subjected these immune cells to a battery of tests, comparing them to blood samples from two younger subjects, both with no extreme longevity themselves, nor any centenarians in their own family history.
The team noticed a dramatic shift in the centenarians' mix of immune cells: significantly more B cells than CD4+ T cells, indicating that their immune system had earned decades of hard-won experience fighting off natural and environmental infections.
All told, the study examined the proportion of 13 subtypes of B cells and T cells, noticing a major shift in the ratio away from the innate fighters to the more adapted, experienced cell types.
'Centenarians harbor unique, highly functional immune systems that have successfully adapted to a history of insults,' the study concludes, 'allowing for the achievement of exceptional longevity.'
But the scientists can't yet say definitively whether or not their results show a hereditary predisposition towards an extremely long life or whether it's all just evidence of their centenarians' seasoned immune systems.
'We know that there are many hereditary factors that are shared by centenarians,' Sebastiani told the Mail. 'We are not able—yet—to make the direct connection between these factors and what we see in their blood, in terms of their immune cell types.'
Sebastiani and her team did, however, identify 25 specific genes that were much more active in the centenarians, revealing a genetic pattern for extreme longevity.
Among these, they found a much greater use of the gene STK17A, known to be involved in repairing damaged DNA, and HLA-DPA1, a gene that creates the antigens needed to tag certain infections inside the body.
They also found one gene, S100A4, that was entirely unique to centenarians. S100A4, part of the S100 family studied in age-related disease, is connected both to longevity and regulating metabolism.
Ultimately, the team's analysis, published last Friday in The Lancet, admits that 'we cannot determine whether these EL [Extreme Longevity] specific patterns are the drivers to extreme human longevity or the effect of extreme old age.'
The trick, according to Sebastiani, will be to develop new studies in which future centenarians are measured and observed over time, a task that's already underway.
'We have more than one study in which we have enrolled offspring of centenarians,' Sebastiani said. 'Most of them will become centenarians themselves—and we are collecting their blood over time.'
'So, sometime hopefully soon we'll have a better answer about inheritability of these characteristics.'
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Longevity
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There are some daily practices that may increase your chances of living to 90 and beyond – and a healthy diet is one of the most important factors on the list.In his new book, "The Blue Zones American Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100," Dan Buettner "identified the world's longest-lived areas (blue zones) and studied the patterns and lifestyles that seem to explain their populations' longevity."Blue zones are defined by Buettner as populations with the highest rates of living to 100 – or becoming centenarians – and the highest middle-age life expectancies. Across the world, these groups include communities in Japan, Italy, Greece, Costa Rica and even a Seventh Day Adventist community in California."The people in the blue zones live up to a decade longer than average Americans and spend a fraction of what most [of] the rest of us do on health care," Buettner wrote.Of course, there are multiple factors to consider. Many of these communities have more opportunities to walk from place to place and tend to stress much less than most Americans. But, after analyzing over 150 dietary surveys that capture "the daily eating habits of people in the blue zones over the past 80 years," these were the most common foods included in their diets.'The five pillars of a longevity diet'Buettner found that 65% of dietary intake in blue zones came from complex carbohydrates, and these foods are "the five pillars of a longevity diet on four continents":Whole grains like corn, rice and oats (complex carb)GreensTubers, including potatoes and yams (complex carb)NutsBeans (complex carb)2 quick recipes that use the healthiest foodsHere are two recipes you can try that include a combination of the foods that the healthiest communities eat:SuccotashSuccotash is a staple dish in Native communities that dates back to the 1620s. Though commonly paired with fish and other meats, this version of the meal is completely plant-based.2 pounds of cooked, hulled corn8 ounces of dried cranberry beans (or Jacob's cattle beans or other similar beans), soaked and cooked until tenderSaltYou can add in turnips, carrots, squash, cabbage, onions and more.Hoppin' John With Carolina Gold Rice and Sapelo Red PeasThough Carolina Gold rice is a West African strain, this dish was first made by enslaved people in America. Carolina Gold rice was widely used for many years, "only to all but completely disappear after the Great Depression." Thankfully, it is now sold in grocery stores and online.1 cup of Sapelo red peas1 teaspoon of salt½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper1 teaspoon of smoked paprika3 cups of water2 cups of Carolina Gold riceWant to earn more and work less? Register for the free CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event on Dec. 13 at 12 p.m. ET to learn from money masters how you can increase your earning power.Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter
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Longevity
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Bindu Shree remembers her daughter Ivani had “such a nice plump face as a baby”, but now she sees gravity pulling down her four-year-old’s cheeks as the muscles in her face become weaker.
When Ivani was diagnosed with a genetic muscle disease at four months, Shree’s first response was to ask the doctors, “What’s the treatment? What can we do to help her?”
She wasn’t expecting the answer to be that she would witness her daughter’s condition get worse as she aged, with no treatment available.
The worst part of the condition, Shree said, was not knowing her daughter’s life expectancy.
However, Shree is hopeful that in the future the quality of life and the longevity of children like Ivani will improve thanks to an Australian-first biobank that aims to develop new treatments for muscular dystrophy.
The National Muscle Disease Bio-databank, housed at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, will store blood test and skin biopsy samples from children across Australia with genetic muscle diseases.
Dr Peter Houweling, from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, said the biobank would be a “precious resource” for researchers like him. Through studying the genes, cells and proteins in these patient samples, the project aims to develop new and better treatments and fast-track discoveries into clinical trials.
Each year, 30 babies are diagnosed in Australia with a genetic muscle disease, which occurs when there’s a mistake in their genes that goes on to cause problems with their muscles.
Prof Peter Currie, from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University, said genetic muscle disorders had one of the highest disease burdens – greater than that of cancer and multiple sclerosis and greater per case than any other disease. Disease burden measures the effect of living with illness and injury and dying prematurely.
“Congenital muscle diseases are also arguably the most individually impactful, with many patients having a poor prognosis, requiring lifelong supportive care including mobility and respiratory support and in severe cases are inevitably fatal.”
Currie said a lack of effective treatments meant the financial cost per year for genetic therapies and loss of productivity for those with muscular dystrophy was $435m.
Shree said when it came to caring for Ivani, “nothing is easy” and it is essentially a 24-hour task. Ivani cannot walk, and muscle weakness affects “everything in her body”, which means she requires help holding up a water bottle to drink, toileting and showering, and she needs to be turned over during the night.
There is also always the potential for more serious health risks. Because her swallowing is weak she is always a choke hazard and illnesses such as the common cold often require her to be admitted to hospital.
Prof Catriona McLean at Alfred Health said a major hurdle to advancing outcomes was understanding the underlying molecular basis of the diseases, coupled with a need for models to develop and test therapies for patients.
The biobank is a collaboration between clinicians at different hospitals around Australia, and includes paediatric neurologists, pathologists, scientists and patients.
“This biobank gives me hope for my daughter, and if not, hopefully for another family in the future,” Shree said.
“I wish one day that no other parent has to hear their child has muscular dystrophy and watch as their condition keeps getting worse as they age with no treatment available.”
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Longevity
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Injecting ageing monkeys with a ‘longevity factor’ protein can improve their cognitive function, a study reveals.
The findings, published on 3 July in Nature Aging1, could lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
It is the first time that restoring levels of klotho — a naturally occurring protein that declines in our bodies with age — has been shown to improve cognition in a primate. Previous research on mice had shown that injections of klotho can extend the animals’ lives and increases synaptic plasticity2 — the capacity to control communication between neurons, at junctions called synapses.
“Given the close genetic and physiological parallels between primates and humans, this could suggest potential applications for treating human cognitive disorders,” says Marc Busche, a neurologist at the UK Dementia Research Institute group at University College London.
The protein is named after the Greek goddess Clotho, one of the Fates, who spins the thread of life.
Monkey memory tests
The study involved testing the cognitive abilities of old rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), aged around 22 years on average, before and after a single injection of klotho. To do this, researchers used a behavioural experiment to test for spatial memory: the monkeys had to remember the location of an edible treat, placed in one of several wells by the investigator, after it was hidden from them.
Study co-author Dena Dubal, a physician-researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, compares the test to recalling where you left your car in a car park, or remembering a sequence of numbers a couple of minutes after hearing it. Such tasks become harder with age.
The monkeys performed significantly better in these tests after receiving klotho — before the injections they identified the correct wells around 45% of the time, compared with around 60% of the time after injection. The improvement was sustained for at least two weeks. Unlike in previous studies involving mice, relatively low doses of klotho were effective. This adds an element of complexity to the findings, which suggests a more nuanced mode of actions than was previously thought, Busche says.
Unclear mechanism
It is still unclear exactly how injecting klotho has this effect on cognition or why it lasts this long. Klotho itself cannot cross the barrier from blood to brain, and uncovering its mechanism is a matter of finding what intermediates are involved, explains Dubal. But this study “certainly gives us hope”, she says, “and there’s a very strong reason to jump into human clinical trials now”.
Gøril Rolfseng Grøntvedt, a neurologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, agrees that further work is needed to answer such questions. Grøntvedt and her team previously found that people with Alzheimer’s who have naturally higher klotho levels tend to experience less cognitive impairment than do those with lower levels3.
This raises the possibility that artificially increasing klotho might have beneficial effects. A better understanding of the protein’s mode of action will be “crucial” for realizing its clinical potential, Grøntvedt says.
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Longevity
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