Bryan Johnson wants Congress to sleep

Politico

2 days ago

WASHINGTON WATCH
Bryan Johnson, a centimillionaire in pursuit of immortality and the subject of a new Netflix documentary, just wants lawmakers to get some rest.
'Everyone is sleep deprived,' the venture capitalist told Ruth during an interview Thursday night at Union Station in Washington.
As Congressional lawmakers and their staff pull many late nights — struggling to stitch together a spending bill that would extend tax cuts enacted in President Donald Trump's first term, bolster border security and immigration enforcement and adopt work requirements for Medicaid — he wants them to know they can do better.
'They're actually legitimately impaired,' he said of Congress' sleepless staffers.
Spreading the word: He was inside the Beltway this week to spread the 'don't die' gospel, his movement to get people thinking about their long-term health. He gave lawmakers and regulators a bevy of tests to determine their 'biological age' — a measurement of how their cells have aged over time.
'Don't Die' is also the name of a Netflix documentary, released in January, that follows Johnson as he takes extreme measures in an attempt to extend his life and reach ultimate health.
He met with Republican representatives from Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas as well as HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neil and Michael Kratsios, the White House director of the Office of Science and Technology.
Getting more zzz's: Johnson was not the only one visiting Washington this week to talk about health care. Capitol Hill was awash with posters and T-shirts saying 'Medicaid Saves,' a call for Congress to maintain access to basic health care for the poorest citizens.
Johnson insists he was not here to talk policy, though he supports health savings accounts, which people can use to buy dietary supplements and tests from his longevity brand Blueprint.
He's here to convince lawmakers to get more sleep and prioritize their own health and well-being.
It sounds similar to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to Make America Healthy Again with health and fitness wearables, telehealth and artificial intelligence help. Johnson has invested heavily in the types of devices and tests that Kennedy and his followers think will give Americans the information they need to improve their health.
The cost of better health: Johnson demurred on who should pay for Americans to have the tools, noting instead that investing in people's health is the highest-yield investment for productivity, social stability and economic output.
'You don't need money; you need to just choose life habits,' he said, adding that getting better sleep is as simple as no meals, no screens and no exercise in the hour before sleep.
But those choices may be privileges that lawmakers and their staff don't have.
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France will ban smoking on beaches, parks, outside schools and other areas next month, Reuters reported. 'Where there are children, tobacco must disappear,' France's Health and Families Minister Catherine Vautrin told local media. 'From July 1, beaches, public parks and gardens, school areas, bus shelters and sports facilities will be smoke free throughout France. Smoking will therefore be limited there, to protect our children.'
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TECH MAZE
Google has developed an artificial intelligence tool that could help scientists in deciphering the human genome.
How it works: Scientists trained the model, called AlphaGenome, to analyze patterns in genetic sequences using massive public databases on genomic information, including DNA structure and gene expression. As a result, users can plug a sequence into the model and receive a report explaining the function of that part of the DNA coil.
Why it matters: Much of the human genome remains a mystery even after scientists worldwide mapped and sequenced all 3.2 million base pairs from 1990 to 2003 as part of the Human Genome Project. But AlphaGenome, developed by Google's DeepMind, could illuminate the DNA's functions and its impacts — or lack thereof — on gene activity and human health.
This tool comes five years after Google introduced AlphaFold, a similar AI tool scientists use to predict the shape of proteins. This line of work, which won the company a Nobel Prize in chemistry last year, underscores the growing power of AI to accelerate science innovation by helping scientists execute analytical tasks at rates faster than ever.
But, but, but … AlphaGenome's capabilities are still limited. It could have difficulty accurately predicting the influence of faraway genomic sequences, and has limited ability to capture 'cell- and tissue-specific patterns,' Google said in a statement.
The tool also isn't personalized. You can't input your DNA sequence into the model to forecast your disease risk or how you might respond to certain drugs.
And the model 'doesn't give the full picture of how genetic variations lead to complex traits or diseases,' Google researchers Ziga Avsec and Natasha Latysheva said in a statement. 'These often involve broader biological processes, like developmental and environmental factors, that are beyond the direct scope of our model.'