LongeCity Newsletter
June 2012
A topical reminder of things that are going on every day at LongeCity: the regular podcasted interview with a special guest from the community, lively discussions such as the current debate about research on the potential life-extending effects of 'buckyballs' which may well lead to a collaborative project such as the 'crowdsourced' multivitamin VIMMORTAL hopefully soon to be relaunched; a 'small grants' scheme' to support your ideas and projects... Can you see the a theme emerging? LongeCity is all about grass-roots community based approaches to life extension. That is also why we are looking for a designer to help us better convey a 'town' feel to the site - LongeCity is the place where individuals from very different places and perspectives come together with their shared interest in life extension. Make sure you stop by as well!
Caliban
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Small Grants
With the support of our Members and advertisers LongeCity is able to offer a limited number of small grants and financial prizes ($50-$500) during 2012. The following types of initiatives can be supported:
Science support: contribution to a scientific experiment that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources. The experiment should be distinguishable from the research that is already funded by other sources. This could be a side-experiment in an existing programme, a pilot experiment to establish feasibility, or resources for an undergrad or high-school student.
Chapters support: organising a local meeting with other LongeCity members or potential members. LongeCity could contribute to the room hire, the expenses of inviting a guest speaker or even the bar tab.
Travel support: attendance at conferences, science fairs etc where you are presenting on a topic relevant to LongeCity. Generally this will involve some promotion of the mission and/or a report on the then conference to be shared with out Members
Grant writing: Bring together a team of scientists and help them write a successful grant application to a public or private funding body. Depending on the project, the award will be a success premium or sometimes can cover the costs of grant preparation itself.
Micro matching fundraiser: If you manage to raise funds on a mission-relevant topic, LongeCity will match the funds raised. (In order to initiate one of these initiatives we usually also require that the fundraiser spends at least 500 ‘ThankYou points’ but this requirement can be waived in specific circumstances.)
Outreach: Support for a specific initiative raising public awareness of the mission or of a topic relevant to our mission. This could be a local event, a specific, organised direct marketing initiative or a media feature.
Articles: Write a featured article for the LongeCity website on a topic of interest to our members or visitors. We are mainly looking for articles on scientific and technical topics, but well-researched contributions on a relevant topic in policy, law or philosophy are also welcome.
Decisions as part of the small grants programme are usually pretty quick and straightforward. However, it is important for every small grant type that you contact us ahead of time and not after the fact! Proposals can be as short or elaborate as necessary, but normally should not be longer than a half a page. Remember to include your name and contact details, the type of grant/award you are applying for. You don’t have to be a Member to apply, but if we don’t know you please include bit abot yourself or a short CV.
Please email support@imminst.org with your proposal.
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Fullernes extend lifespan?
Earlier this month, a study by a French-Tusisian team lead by Fathi Moussa (Baati T, et al., The prolongation of the lifespan of rats by repeated oral administration of [60]fullerene, Biomaterials (2012), doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.03.036) has generated significant attention in the community. According to this study, rats fed with ‘buckyball‘ fullerenes lived almost twice as long as untreated controls. The discussion at LongeCity has unveiled some criticisms of the research but also a proposal to test the hypothesis further in a community project.
Share your thoughts!
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Crowdsourced mutivitamin update
Launched in 2010 VIMMORTAL was the first crowd sourced community-developed multivitamin on the market. Earlier this year, we launched an initiative to review the VIMMORTAL composition by the LongeCity community. This effort has now been completed and a draft new formula has been developed. We are hoping that the next generation of VIMMORTAL will be available later this year from our friends at revgenetics.
If you have any thought about how to ensure that the new and improved VIMMORTAL can be made available as soon as possible, please let us know!
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Designer search: deadline approaching
There is only one week left for designers to respond to our call for help with site design by developing the ‘city’ theme graphically. Please see the open call for freelancers here.
If you are interested, or know anyone who might be, please get in touch. We also welcome comments and suggestions on developing the scheme and choosing the best designer in this thread in the arts team forum.
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Recent Podcasts
Earlier this week, Mind has interviewed Dave Asprey a Silicon Valley investor, computer security expert, and entrepreneur “who spent 15 years and $250,000 to hack his own biology”. The interview has now been recorded, and should be ready for podcast in a few days in this thread.
Incidentally, if you would be able to assist Mind with the editing and curation of archived programmes of interviews with life-extension personalities so that we can make these available in a consolidated format, your help would be greatly appreciated! Please contact Mind.
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ABOUT
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