| No matter what the economic or political situations | | | | Alert website... |
| are, there are always going to be ample opportunities | | | | Keep in mind, health issues, such as weight loss, |
| to add some gains to your portfolio. And one of | | | | exercise and DNA are not the only ways |
| those reasons has to do with breakthrough | | | | breakthrough technology is making noise in our world. |
| technologies. You see, people are always at work, | | | | In fact, some technologies are making it out of this |
| developing the latest and greatest ways to improve | | | | world...literally. |
| humanity's quality of life. | | | | Remember what I said earlier, about how people are |
| I have visited and interviewed many of these | | | | developing new technologies even during |
| people... Scientists, businessmen and everyday people | | | | down-turned economies? Well, there's a space-related |
| from all walks of life... They're all working on ideas not | | | | technology out there now partly because of what's |
| only from their own imaginations, but improving on | | | | happened in America in recent years. And while it |
| ideas and inventions built generations ago. | | | | might be some time before most people see it on |
| The thing is, most of them work for companies not | | | | the market, so to speak, but once it's out there you |
| heard of by anyone else. Some of these companies | | | | could stand to ride this technology across the stars |
| are on the map and have been established for a few | | | | (provided you've invested some of your income in it, |
| years, whereas many of their companies are still | | | | of course)... |
| startups. In any case, Wall Street hasn't noticed them | | | | Investing in a Real-World Space Cannon |
| or their work...yet. But when it does, these companies | | | | Space is indeed the final frontier for mankind - and |
| and their investors are sure to take off sky-high. And | | | | for your investments. Here's a sneak peek at why a |
| you want to be invested in them while they're still on | | | | nascent space cannon investment could change the |
| the ground, before they make it into the upper | | | | world in the very near term... |
| stratosphere. | | | | Due in part to the ballooning U.S. deficit, America's |
| Today, I wanted to talk to you about two of these | | | | replacement for the shuttle program, Constellation, is |
| opportunities to go sky high. I've shared the names | | | | being canceled. Once the last shuttle mission is |
| of these companies with my Breakthrough | | | | completed, Americans will be riding on Russian |
| Technology Alert readers, but I at least wanted to | | | | rockets to get to the International Space Station. |
| share with you some information about what they're | | | | America will, however, return to space exploration. |
| working on right now... | | | | The reason is simply that space, as my old friend |
| What the Telomerase Breakthrough Means for | | | | Robert Heinlein pointed out, is the high ground |
| Weight Loss Companies | | | | militarily. Americans may be willing to share the high |
| There's about to be a shake-up in the $55 billion | | | | ground. They won't cede it. |
| weight loss industry - and it's one that could make a | | | | Using conventional technology, the costs involved in |
| big upside move in your portfolio... | | | | extending space exploration to the moon and Mars |
| I'm finishing this month's Breakthrough Technology | | | | are prohibitive. Alternatives to conventional rocket |
| Alert issue right now. Nevertheless, there are big | | | | launch must be found if costs are to be significantly |
| things happening, and I have to tell you about some | | | | reduced to allow real exploration and |
| of them. I'm also excited about the company I'm | | | | commercialization. |
| covering this month. It is a leader in search for the | | | | For this reason, the cancellation of the Constellation |
| next generation of weight loss drugs and poised to | | | | program may be a blessing in disguise. |
| take off, probably this year. | | | | NASA-developed technology has not only served as |
| Weight loss is an area we've been looking at for a | | | | a vehicle for getting astronauts into space, it has also |
| long time now. The economics are compelling. Obesity | | | | been an excellent vehicle for delivering pork to |
| is a major risk factor in various diseases, from | | | | congressional districts. In place of rockets designed |
| arthritis and cancer to diabetes, hypertension and | | | | and built by bureaucratic committee, much of the |
| heart disease. Any drug that can help people lose | | | | Constellation funding will now go instead to |
| weight safely is, therefore, going to offer true value. | | | | commercial space companies that will serve up a |
| Moreover, obesity increases with age. As the baby | | | | "space taxi" role. |
| boom, the wealthiest generation in history, rolls into | | | | This is great news for commercial space enterprises |
| its senior years, the demand and the need for an | | | | and their investors. We've already seen the potential |
| obesity treatment is growing dramatically. | | | | of space-based businesses as wealthy tourists buy |
| Until now, we haven't chosen a company in this | | | | multimillion-dollar tickets on Russian ships. We've also |
| sector, for several reasons. One is simply that the | | | | seen the beginnings of private space access from |
| field is crowded. There were a lot of companies and | | | | Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites' collaboration with Sir |
| technologies to vet. Many people are working on fat | | | | Richard Branson's Virgin Group company, Virgin |
| drugs. Normally, this might have kept me out of the | | | | Galactic. |
| sector, but there's room in this market for more than | | | | I first interviewed Rutan, by the way, in 1986: before |
| one winner. Buyers of these products often use | | | | his Voyager craft made history by flying nonstop |
| them in combination. | | | | around the world without in-flight refueling. Today, he |
| Another reason we were particularly careful is that | | | | is more than able to put passengers safely into orbit. |
| we're going to see brand-new strategies for weight | | | | To make the space tourism business viable, |
| control in coming years. These new approaches, | | | | however, there has to be someplace nice to stay |
| which I expect from several new sciences, including | | | | once you've achieved orbit. Conventional rocketry, |
| RNA interference, will probably leapfrog anything that | | | | however, is too expensive for any cargo other than |
| comes out in the next year or so. Nevertheless, the | | | | human beings. Fortunately, there exists a vastly |
| demand is so great and the FDA is so resistant to | | | | less-expensive alternative to deliver payloads to orbit. |
| new technologies, I expect some serious profits | | | | Jules Verne once wrote anything a man can imagine, |
| from innovators over the next five years. More | | | | another can make real. In one of the earliest |
| importantly, this company has the potential and | | | | examples of the science fiction genre, Jules Verne |
| platform to evolve into a major biotech success | | | | wrote of a voyage to the moon enabled by a |
| story with many other targeted therapies. | | | | gigantic space gun. The fictional cannon, called |
| Speaking of health and weight, I hope you've studied | | | | Columbiad, fired a projectile holding three travelers to |
| the new research regarding vitamin D I've told you | | | | the moon. Verne was an extraordinary author and his |
| about. Your health, after all, is your biggest asset. | | | | fertile imagination has inspired generations of |
| The newly discovered importance of optimal serum D | | | | scientists and engineers. Even Verne, however, would |
| levels should be seen as an opportunity to garner | | | | be surprised, I think, to see how some of his more |
| significant yields in health at very low costs. | | | | fantastic ideas are moving toward practical application. |
| Personally, since I've gotten my serum D levels up, | | | | During the Space Race of the 1960s, the United |
| I've noticed a number of obvious changes and | | | | States investigated every possible method to gain an |
| benefits. One of the most welcome is that | | | | advantage. One was a collaboration between the U.S. |
| long-standing rotator cuff problems in my shoulders | | | | and Canadian defense departments. Unlike more |
| have nearly disappeared. I didn't expect those results, | | | | conventional (and expensive) rocket-based |
| but I've been able to increase the intensity of my | | | | technology that would become the standard method |
| workouts. For the first time in years, I'm adding | | | | of access to orbit, this project was based on the use |
| pounds and reps to my weight training routine. | | | | of large guns. |
| (You don't need to do Navy SEAL levels of exercise | | | | In fact, the gun itself was based on a recycled |
| to get real benefits, by the way. The benefits of | | | | 16-inch naval gun. Called HARP, the acronym for High |
| exercise kick in quickly at relatively low levels. Just 20 | | | | Altitude Research Project, the project achieved |
| minutes of walking or time on a treadmill or climber | | | | several speed and altitude records. The final versions |
| three times a week produces remarkable benefits, as | | | | of the projectile/vehicle, called Martlet, blasted 180 kg |
| I'm sure you know.) | | | | payloads out of the barrel at speeds nearing 4 |
| Among the benefits that would interest investors are | | | | kilometers per second. These reached altitudes of |
| increased mental acuity. It seems like a new article on | | | | 180 kilometers, after being subjected to a brief and |
| this subject appears practically every week, but a | | | | brutal acceleration exceeding 14,000 Gs. |
| recent New York Times article is relatively | | | | Unfortunately, bureaucratic infighting between the |
| comprehensive. I find this line extremely interesting: | | | | different U.S. service branches, as well as |
| "Exercise causes the release of growth factors, | | | | anti-Vietnam War fallout, ended the U.S./Canadian |
| proteins that increase the number of connections | | | | collaboration. Funding was terminated by 1967. The |
| between neurons, and the birth of neurons in the | | | | brilliant but enigmatic Canadian mastermind behind it, |
| hippocampus, a brain region important for memory." | | | | Gerald Bull, went on to design advanced artillery for |
| Of even more importance both to your portfolio and | | | | Saddam Hussein. A super gun capable of firing a |
| to your health is a recent article published in the | | | | payload of more than a ton a thousand miles was |
| American Heart Association's journal, Circulation. It is | | | | nearly completed. He also improved Iraq's Scud |
| titled "Physical Exercise Prevents Cellular Senescence | | | | missiles, the sort fired into Saudi Arabia and Israel |
| in Circulating Leukocytes and in the Vessel Wall." | | | | during the first Gulf War. In 1990, he was murdered, |
| According to this research, the increased health and | | | | apparently assassinated, by unknown parties in his |
| life spans associated with exercise come from the | | | | Brussels apartment. The movie Doomsday Gun is |
| increased production of telomerase. | | | | about Bull. |
| Telomerase, as you may know, is the enzyme that | | | | In the 1980s, the U.S. government revisited the |
| triggers regeneration of telomeres. Telomeres are | | | | space gun concept, launching the Super High Altitude |
| the end caps that protect the double strands of | | | | Research Project (SHARP). Headed by Dr. John |
| DNA. As we age, our cells reproduce. Each time a | | | | Hunter from 1989-1995 and conducted at the |
| cell's DNA splits and reproduces, a telomere is used | | | | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, SHARP |
| up. When the supply of telomeres is exhausted, the | | | | used technology far advanced over the old HARP |
| cell's "Hayflick limit" is reached and it dies. | | | | project's. Instead of cordite explosive detonation, |
| Even before cell death, however, cell function begins | | | | SHARP used gas gun technology. SHARP set records |
| to suffer. We get "old." In the journal article, German | | | | for kinetic energy above Mach 9. It also successfully |
| scientists show that exercise provokes telomerase | | | | launched hypersonic scramjet test vehicles for the |
| production. Telomerase, the "immortalizing" enzyme, | | | | Air Force between Mach 5 and Mach 9. |
| protects and restores telomeres. This, in turn, | | | | Since then, Dr. Hunter has started a new company, |
| increases health and lengthens life spans. | | | | Quicklaunch Inc. Its goal is to commercialize the |
| The financial importance of the study is that it | | | | technology he helped develop at Lawrence |
| emphasizes the power of telomeres and telomerase. | | | | Livermore. The advantages of this technology over |
| This is what regenerative medicine is all about. Stem | | | | traditional rocketry are significant. |
| cells have full youthful telomeres. When those cells | | | | From a military defense standpoint, another |
| are adopted by a patient, that patient's new cells are | | | | advantage of the space gun is responsive launch. If |
| functionally youthful, with full human life spans ahead | | | | there is a critical need to surveil some point on the |
| of them. | | | | globe from space, the space gun could put an |
| Another exciting possibility is either to provoke | | | | observation platform in space on demand within |
| telomerase production or actually introduce | | | | minutes or hours. |
| telomerase into our cells. This would restore our | | | | Quicklaunch owns this technology. There is significant |
| telomeres to youthful levels. I'm talking to | | | | IP and expertise involved in the space gun |
| world-renowned scientists now, each working on a | | | | technology, and Hunter and Quicklaunch have a |
| different means of accomplishing this goal. There's no | | | | monopoly there. Obviously, the timeline to profitability |
| way to know who's going to solve the problem first. | | | | is filled with unknowns. We aren't ready yet to invest |
| I have no doubt, however, that it will be solved. | | | | in this sort of enterprise, but we will be someday. |
| In the meantime, practical steps like an exercise | | | | In the meantime, if you've got significant venture |
| regimen and vitamin D supplementation are a good | | | | funds and want to make the future happen faster, |
| option. And on the investing front, I'm excited about | | | | contact me. I'd be happy to introduce you to Dr. |
| the potential my new weight loss play has to offer. | | | | Hunter and the Quicklaunch team. |
| To learn more, visit the Breakthrough Technology | | | | |