Imagine you could pause your life and wake up in the future.

A new groundbreaking facility could allow humans to freeze their bodies and potentially wake up in the future.

The company behind the project, TimeShift, describes itself as the world’s first AI-powered cryopreservation facility. It combines advanced AI technology with novel cryopreservation techniques.

If this idea becomes a reality, cryopreservation could let those with terminal illnesses ‘freeze’ themselves until medical breakthroughs come along.

For example, it could mitigate the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and aggressive cancers and buy time for experts to develop a cure.

Heck, it could even help people outlive an apocalypse just like in Futurama!

TimeShift

Beyond freezing, AI could allow a digital ‘avatar’ of the frozen person to interact with their family and friends while their physical body remains in cryopreservation.

The facility is the brainchild of Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, a generative AI scientist and anti-ageing researcher, and Hashem Al-Ghaili, a molecular biologist.

“The project is still in the R&D phase. The primary focus right now is to continue optimising the cryopreservation process developed by Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov,” Al-Ghaili said.

“Once fully optimised, we plan to test it on animal models and proceed from there.”

Cryopreservation isn’t new, but traditional methods have struggled with issues like cell damage and ‘cell death,’ according to Al-Ghaili.

“The new method is designed to avoid this problem. After optimising the process, the next step will involve testing its efficacy and safety.”

Whilst the scientist mentioned there is ‘no specific timeframe,’ he and his team believe they could have a ‘functional prototype’ ready to go within 5 to 8 years.

VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty

TimeShift’s approach aims to create a faster, safer freezing and rewarming process with ‘pre-hibernation enhancements’ – and could even allow those frozen to wake up healthier. Bodies will be stored within pressurised cryopods and maintained at a temperature of -196°C.

Dr. Zhavoronkov said: “Over the past 10 years, multiple technologies have advanced in different laboratories around the world, and it is now a matter of multi-parameter optimisation for rapid cryogenic freezing and rewarming protocol.

“Getting to the dream of gaining the ability to see more life is now a matter of time.”

Hashem Al-Ghaili added: “By combining AI and cryopreservation, we’re making it possible for families to remain close, even across decades.”

With technology and resources like this, TimeShift has the potential to reshape industries and protect humanity’s future. It may only be in the early stages at the moment but the project is inching close to making a pause in life possible. 

One man ‘accidentally’ discovered that his blood held life-saving properties, and it eventually led to a treatment that prevented the death of over 2,400,000 babies in half a century.

Blood is obviously one of the most vital components of the human body, and having reserves for various surgeries and medical procedures helps keep millions of people alive every single year.

Some have even experimented with ‘biohacking‘ techniques that use blood transfusions to ‘reverse’ the aging process, but one Australian man’s blood has proven to be the ‘most valuable’ in the entire world due to it’s life saving properties.

As detailed by Lifeblood, James Harrison underwent significant chest surgery at just 14 years old in 1951, in which blood sourced from donations was used and effectively saved his life.

After the surgery was successful, James made it his life mission to donate as soon as he possibly could, and continued regular donations after reaching the age of 18 despite an initial fear of needles.

What he didn’t know, however, was that his unique blood would be a vital ingredient in a treatment that would save the lives of over 2.4 million unborn children.

Harrison has been responsible for saving the lives of over 2 million babies due to his countless donations (Simon Alekna/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)

This is due to the reaction that occurs when Rh(D) negative blood comes in contact with a Rh(D) positive counterpart, as harmful antibodies are produced in order to fight off the ‘invading’ blood.

While this is largely avoided in any scenarios where blood transfusions are used, it does involuntarily occur when an Rh(D) negative woman becomes pregnant with an Rh(D) positive baby.

It isn’t typically an issue with a first child as the body is capable of circumventing the issue, but if a second child also happens to be Rh(D) negative then the baby could be at risk of Haemolytic Disease of the Fetus and Newborn (HDFN), which is commonly fatal.

Where James Harrison comes into the situation is that his blood holds a previous antibody that can be used to prevent this attack from happening, and it was only discovered through the fact that he’d already given so much blood.

These antibodies were then converted into a medication called ‘Anti-D’, and this has been administered to over 2,000,000 Australian women, saving their child from a life-threatening disease.

YouTuber Doctor Mike also revealed that Anti-D was actually used by Harrison’s own daughter for the birth of her second child, meaning that his donation efforts and unique blood directly saved the life of his grandchild.

Harrison’s record-breaking blood donation efforts have earned him the title of ‘man with the golden arm’ (David Gray/Reuters/Landov)

While James has now retired from blood donations, he does hold the world record with 1,173 total donations across 60 years. This works out at around one donation for every two and a half weeks, which has provided an invaluable resource to Australian mothers over the last half century.

Many have expressed their gratitude to James and other individuals who donate blood, with one YouTube comment detailing: “As a person with sickle cell disease, I have a special place in my heart for blood donors. Thank you to everyone who donates. You are literally changing and saving lives.”

While many blood donors might not quite have the same widescale impact as someone like James, it is still a contribution that could be vital to even one persons life, and there’s a high chance that we’ll all need the blood of another at some point in our lives.

Studies conducted involving twin siblings have revealed that consuming higher amounts of fruit and vegetables can have a specific effect on decreasing depressive symptoms, which could be incredibly useful for treating mental health worldwide.

Eating more fruit and veg – and in turn, eating healthier as a result – isn’t exactly the biggest hidden trick in the world, yet it’s surprising how far reaching its positive effects can be in the grand scheme of things.

One such area that recent studies have shown it to be particularly effective is in dealing with mental health struggles, with depression seemingly the focal point.

Arguably the toughest aspect of mental health ailments is how challenging they are to deal with from a medical perspective, as while there are life-changing medications they can be hit and miss for some and not every illness has a corresponding treatment.

Increased fruit and veg consumption appears to be linked to lower depressive symptoms, studies show (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

What if there was an easier way to deal with these symptoms though? Well, according to a recent study in Scientific Reports, there might just be.

The research, as reported by InSight, “highlights the potential protective role of fruit and vegetable consumption against depression,” in particular utilizing data sources from twin cohorts.

The reason why twin studies are so effective in the medical context is that they’re able to eliminate a lot of uncontrollable variables that help you gain a better conclusion.

For example, twins not only share many of the same environmental circumstances but they also obviously have similar genetic makeups too, so if you’re able to conduct research on one and directly compare it to the other it can be far more illuminating than putting it next to another random participant.

With a pool of 3,483 participants, the research revealed that high fruit intake did cause a moderate reduction in depressive symptoms compared to low intake, but both high and moderate vegetable consumption made a difference.

The tricky aspect is that the difference made is only around a 1.6% reduction in depressive symptoms, although there are still two caveats that hamper the study.

The studies results are skewed by participants who aren’t suffering from extreme depression, and relatively low vegetable consumption compared to official guidance (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Firstly, participants in the study were understood to have a low baseline level of depressive symptoms, so the relatively lower reduction might be reflect of a lack of symptoms in the first place.

On top of this, it’s understood that the ‘high’ consumption levels of both fruit and vegetables were still well below the recommended level for most countries, and it’s unclear how much of an effect reaching this mark would make on prospective symptoms of affected individuals.

While the study remains somewhat limited in its execution right now, it does indicate signs that link higher fruit and veg consumption to lower depressive symptoms, and the use of twin studies was a vital factor in unveiling that.

A ‘loophole’ could potentially allow Elon Musk to run for United States president following Donald Trump’s upcoming term, despite the fact that the billionaire tech mogul was born in South Africa.

Elon Musk has become keenly involved in politics in the last six months especially, having played a key role in president-elect Donald Trump’s November election victory.

His own mother has revealed that the pair are near inseparable since Musk donated over $118,000,000 to Trump’s campaign, and that has left him rewarded with a shared position as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.

This private advisory board will aim to cut federal spending and, as the name suggests, make America more ‘efficient’ as a result.

Musk himself has pledged to achieve over $2,000,000,000 in cuts to the government’s $6.75 trillion budget, despite then claiming afterwards that this figure was unsustainable, and he also won’t take a wage during the department’s two-year tenure.

Musk has been able to influence politics through his close ties to president-elect Donald Trump (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

On top of this, Musk has already shown his political influence before Trump has even entered office, having led the charge for amendments to a key bipartisan US budget that would have seen the government shut down and funding for key children’s cancer initiatives removed.

Musk has also shown how keen he is to engage in foreign policy too, having orchestrated a social media tirade against the UK government over grooming gang cases that resulted in an alleged threat of invasion, and has also previously hinted at financial support for the Reform UK political party.

This has then led many to consider not only whether Elon Musk would be drawn to the prospect of running for US president, but also whether he’d actually be eligible in the first place.

Official ruling states that you need to be born in the United States in order to run for president, yet a loophole that has previously been exploited by the Republican Party could potentially assist Musk if he did wish to push for the position.

John McCain famously defied this rule in his 2008 Republican campaign against Barack Obama, as reported by the Independent, as he was born in Panama not America.

What allowed him to run then was a legal review that outlined McCain’s two American parents, and the fact that he was born in the Panama Canal Zone which was under the control of the United States at the time.

The loophole that allowed John McCain to run might just come in handy for Musk if he has the presidency in his sights (Robert Spencer/Getty Images)

While there might be some lawyer that could potentially twist this exemption to favor Musk – and you never know what Trump is capable of during his presidency – the fact that Musk was born in South Africa but neither of his parents are Americans does appear to make the prospect impossible.

He might not even be interested if previous comments are to go by, as per the Economic Times Musk has previously said: “But I actually don’t want to be president. I want to build rockets and cars. I believe we want to be a spacefaring civilization, and that’s where my focus will remain.”

It’s unclear whether the SpaceX CEO has changed his tune since becoming close to Trump. However, some argue that his wealth has managed to buy him enough power to influence politics, indicating that it wouldn’t matter if he was officially named president or not.