If young blood can really halt death, things are going to get weird

It’s fitting that the world’s oldest surviving work of literature is about a man who wanted to do just that: Live on. The Epic of Gilgamesh follows the eponymous hero, a king and mighty warrior, powerful enough to slay monsters, but nonetheless powerless to change his fate: Time will eventually wear him down, and he will die.

It is futile to try and evade death, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying. Advances in medicine and food production, as well as a recent trend away from international wars, have led to an increase in average life expectancy for people in many parts of the world.

However, while many populations today live longer than their ancestors did, death is only ever postponed, never vanquished. Even if someone survives infancy, avoids plagues and wars, and eats a diet optimally tuned to keep their body healthy, age will still wreak its havoc on the body, making flesh sag and organs fail. Time may spend decades drawing its bowstring, but its arrow never misses.

Recent studies suggest the human lifespan is approaching a limit, around 125 or so, past which bodies simply cannot function, no matter how healthy or careful a person may be. At the same time, there exists a school of thought that death is merely another disease — like polio or measles — and can therefore be eradicated.

There are a number of approaches to the problem of aging, but one that has gained a lot of attention lately is the study of blood, and how the blood of the young, injected into the veins of the old, can smooth over the rough work of time. The benefits — restoring functionality to muscles, organs, even mental faculties — are intriguing, but the method is disturbing to many.

“The first experiment, proving this worked was in 1954. It was a guy at Cornell, Professor McCay, and he did this,” says Jesse Karmazin, founder of a startup called Ambrosia, which studies the rejuvenative properties of blood.“He did this experiment in mice and it worked, and people did not like this idea. I think they just didn’t think this was appropriate, basically. It’s a tremendously old idea, and I think we’re just seeing the same thing happen again, where people disagree with the premise, and so they just say it shouldn’t happen.”

The research Ambrosia is doing could be a fatal blow to mankind’s oldest enemy, but it also occupies a precarious space in the public imagination — a space where concerns over ethics, classism, and common human decency intersect.

How does aging work?

A human lifespan, like a narrative, has an arc. A rising action, as one develops from frail infant to fully-formed adult, and an eventual decline, however long, on the way to a conclusion. Poets and philosophers alike have labored to express the pathos of — and find meaning in — the body’s inevitable decline. For researchers who would combat aging, settling on a definition of aging, and a cause, is essential; to treat a disease, you must understand it.

Professor Michael R. Rose, in Evolutionary Biology of Aging, defines aging as “a persistent decline in the age-specific fitness components of an organism due to internal physiological deterioration.” Put simply, parts of the body break down over time. It’s easy to identify what aging is, but rather difficult to explain why it happens.

Professor Michael R. Rose

The prevailing theory is that aging is a product of evolution: life’s engineer of happenstance. According to our understanding of evolution, organisms mate, and their traits are passed on to offspring through genes. Although pseudo-Darwinists often try to ascribe a narrative to evolution — such as that “survival of the fittest” attempts to weed out the “weak” — it’s a process governed by coincidence. Two organisms avoid predators and survive long enough to mate, and they pass on their genes, however admirable those genes may seem to a subjective, human observer. So it is that the lowly cockroach endures alongside the mighty lion.

From the view of many biologists, our bodies break down because evolution never granted us genes for extended life. As the New Yorker’s Tad Friend puts it, “The reigning view among longevity scientists is that aging is a product not of evolutionary intent, but of evolutionary neglect: we are designed to live long enough to pass on our genes, and what happens afterward doesn’t much matter.”

Time may spend decades drawing its bowstring, but its arrow never misses.

The physical mechanics of aging are complex, and researchers’ understanding of the process often shifts. One theory of aging focused on telomeres: repeated sequences of genetic data on the ends of chromosomes. When cells divide, the DNA within must be replicated, but the process results in chromosomes with small sections missing at the end. Telomeres, repeated sequences, sit at the end of a chromosome, so that when the cell divides, a complete chromosome is the end result.

The telomeres themselves suffer the shortening, however, and in most cells they do not replenish themselves. Eventually they wear away, and the cells follow after, turning senescent and ceasing to function. Some research indicates that telomeres correlate to aging, though whether the shortening causes aging is a matter of debate.

Another proposed cause of aging, and one which has become a popular topic of late, is pumping through your veins as you read this: Blood.

The rise of parabiosis

Blood has always been a potent symbol of life — a passage from the Bible remarks that “the life of a creature is in the blood” — and there has been a persistent fascination the possibility that it might grant life. The Germanic hero Siegfried, having bathed in the blood of a dragon, became invincible in every spot the blood touched. In the wake of a series of a murders orchestrated by the Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory, folklore portrayed her as bathing in the blood of her victims in an attempt to stay young.

Belief in the rejuvenative power of blood may seem like the stuff of folklore, but researchers have found a remarkable amount of truth in the idea. These findings grew from the concept of parabiosis, in which two subjects are joined together physically, to study the effects on their bodies.

Getty

One of the earliest known examples of parabiosis came from a scientist named Paul Bert, who surgically joined rats in such a way that they shared a single circulatory system. Though his experiments may seem grotesque today, they won Bert an award for Experimental Physiology, and paved the way for modern research into the anti-aging properties of blood.

For over a decade now, studies about the role of blood in the aging process have become frequent, and increasingly high profile. Harvard scientist Amy Wagers experimented on mice, and observed that when the circulatory systems of young mice and old mice were joined together, the hearts of the older mice — grown swollen as a result of aging — shrank to a healthier size like that of the younger mice. In trying to determine the precise cause of the rejuvenation, Wagers’ team eliminated factors like blood pressure and behavioral changes, eventually zeroing in on a blood-borne cause, a particular protein known as GDF-11.

Another study, conducted by Stanford researchers including Tony Wyss-Coray, studied the effects of young blood on cognition. As Wyss-Coray explained in a TED Talk: “Could we potentially understand more about the brain at the molecular level if we see the brain as part of the entire body. So if the body ages or gets sick, does that affect the brain? And vice versa, as the brain gets older, does that influence the rest of the body? And what connects all the different tissues in the body is blood.”

The fascination among the rich and powerful with living forever, and the imagery…has given parabiosis research a bad reputation

As the body gets older, factors that help develop and maintain tissues decrease, while factors that cause inflammation increase. The researchers connected biologically aged mice to young ones. The older mice showed increased levels of neural stem cells. Curiously, no blood cells entered the brains, and so the researchers deduced that it must be plasma that carries the factors into the brain.

The mice performed better in in memory tests. The mice were trained in a Barnes maze, a flat surface with various holes in it, one of which conceals an escape tube. The mice are exposed to bright light, driving them to seek a dark place, and are trained to locate the escape hole by memorizing landmarks. Old mice injected with saline struggled to memorize the location of the escape tube, wandering from hole to hole, aimlessly. Meanwhile mice of the same age, treated with plasma from young humans, were able to remember and seek out the proper hole.

Ambrosia

Research into the effects of young blood on old creatures has been inspiring, and it has sparked a particular fascination among the rich and powerful. Earlier this year, The New Yorker detailed a meeting of Silicon Valley investors, celebrities, and scientists who gathered in Los Angeles to discuss technologies that might extend the human lifespan. In episode of the popular TV show Silicon Valley, creator Mike Judge took a jab at parabiosis specifically with a scene that depicted a wealthy entrepreneur who paid a young man to function as his “blood boy.”

The fascination among the rich and powerful with living forever, and the imagery of blood flowing from young bodies to old — a sort of techno-vampirism — has given parabiosis research a bad reputation, and Karmazin is well aware of it.

“…there’s lots of people who don’t think blood should be used in this way,” he said. “Coming from a medical background, it’s such a ubiquitous [criticism].” The problem, according to Karmazin, is a lack of understanding among the public. While parabiosis experiments in mice often involve stitching two specimens together, treatment in humans is far less gruesome, and can be performed through a simple blood transfusion.

Getty

“There’s like ten million transfusions each year in the U.S. It actually is an extremely common and extremely safe procedure,” Karmazin adds.

One could argue that even though Ambrosia’s research is safe, it might constitute a waste of resources, given that “Approximately 36,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day in the U.S.,” according to the Red Cross.

Karmazin emphasizes, however, that Ambrosia’s treatment doesn’t actually use blood, but rather, like Stanford’s experiment, plasma — the solution in which red and white blood cells are suspended. As he explains, “when people donate blood, the red blood cells, they spin them out of the plasma, and then they discard the plasma, essentially. Sometimes it gets sold, and people make drugs out of it, but a lot of times it just expires, there’s no use for it. We’ve essentially been throwing away all this young plasma since blood banks were invented.” From Ambrosia’s perspective, the research utilizes a resource that often would not help people anyway.

If parabiosis lives up to its promise, concerns about resource allocation may fall by the wayside. Although society may look at the reversal of aging — or at least its effects on the body — as a frivolous indulgence for the rich and powerful, the health benefits appear tremendous. Aging’s effects are more than skin-deep; the aging process grinds away at organs, leading to disease. As researchers like Wagers and Wyss-Coray have demonstrated through their work, reversing the effects of aging can restore mental faculties and organ functions.

Among Ambrosia’s targets are diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s, which afflict millions of Americans. “We’ve treated Alzheimer’s patients and had remarkable improvements,” Karmazin says.

The possibilities are exciting, and Karmazin drifts into speculation. “It looks like there’s no theoretical limit,” he speculates. “You could simply march back someone’s appearance and health as far as you want, to the point of being a teenager, although I would expect it to be diminishing returns. The biggest differences probably happen at the beginning, and then it probably gets slower and slower, but maybe not.”

Next steps

Ambrosia’s study is not without flaws. The most noteworthy is that the study lacks a control group. An essential part of many experiments, control groups help researchers to identify intervening variables. In the case of a medical study like this, for example, scientists might give one group the actual treatment while giving another group a placebo, to test if the young blood is actually what causes changes in subjects.

Karmazin admits the design is not perfect, but argues that it’s a necessary compromise. “If we had a control group, most people wouldn’t be signing up. It would take even longer, or maybe it wouldn’t even happen at all, that we would learn about how this treatment helps people,” he explains. “And it doesn’t make the study of zero value, it just means it’s less informative than a placebo-controlled study.” Ambrosia was able to secure FDA approval for the study, despite its flaws., a point Karmazin emphasizes. However insidious the research may appear to mainstream observers, it has the government’s seal of approval.

Just how effective has Ambrosia’s treatment been? It’s too early for the company to make any definitive claims, Karmazin tells us. At the time we spoke, the study included 100 or so people; Karmazin hopes to expand to at least two or three hundred (still small, for a medical study) before he considers publishing results. He was, however, able to offer at least a hint as to what he had seen so far: “I think the results from even a single dose are long lasting. That’s essentially what I’m allowed to say at this point.”

For now, parabiosis remains a fringe topic, largely brought up for its controversial aspects. The research will continue, however; if the results are positive, humanity could see a future without aging, although it remains in question who would be able to reap those benefits.

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The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Before your weekend begins it’s time to make sure you have the latest iPhone and macOS updates, then check out what Elon Musk is sending to Mars next month.

It couldn’t wait.Apple released iOS 11.2 last night to fix an iPhone date bug

If your iPhone won’t stop resetting, there’s a reason. Many iPhones running the latest version of Apple’s software started having issues where local notifications (like reminders) would peg the CPU at 100 percent usage and cause a soft reset. To fix the glitch, Apple moved up its planned release of the iOS 11.2 update to… now. Along with the fix, there’s also support for the Venmo-like Apple Pay Cash system and other tweaks.

Flex.Elon Musk is sending his Tesla Roadster to Mars

While confirming that SpaceX will launch its first Falcon Heavy next month, Elon Musk announced this Mars-targeted rocket will have a special payload on board: his “midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity.”

FYIApple’s macOS ‘root’ bug can reopen

The other big Apple glitch this week just won’t go away. While the company did patch a High Sierra bug that could allow anyone to get admin access to your PC, there’s one small problem. If you installed the patch first, then updated to the newest version of macOS (13.1), it reintroduces the vulnerability. To resolve that, just install the patch again, and make sure to reboot (it won’t happen automatically).

Study up.What you need to know about net neutrality

Don’t know the difference between Tier I and Tier II? Don’t worry — we’re here to help.

Great for gaming, not so much for photos.Razer Phone review

Razer’s first phone has long battery life and buttery smooth gaming performance. On the other hand, it also has an unimpressive camera and the screen can get washed out in sunny conditions. Check out Nicole Lee’s review before you shell out $700.

Choose wisely.Which gaming console is right for you?

Here we break down the best and worst bits of the PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro, Xbox One S, Xbox One X and the Switch for anyone looking to buy into the video game universe this fall.

But wait, there’s more…

• Bad Password: Uber, but for toxic techbro culture
• HDMI 2.1 is here with 10K and Dynamic HDR support
• Netflix picks up a ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ spin-off based on CW’s ‘Riverdale’ series
• Spotify’s special offer: A year of Premium streaming for $99
• The best wireless router (for most people)
• Thieves tell cops ‘Mr. Tesla’ said it was okay to swipe Teslas
• Volvo wants to sell cars like Verizon sells phones

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t Subscribe.

Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Attend China’s World Internet Conference Next Week

Apple CEO Tim Cook will attend China’s state-run internet conference next week, reports the Wall Street Journal. The annual World Internet Conference starts on Sunday in Wuzhen and is organized by the central government’s Cyberspace Administration.

According to the conference’s website, other foreign executives and officials set to attend include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook VP Vaughan Smith, LinkedIn co-founder and VP Allan Blue, and Microsoft executive VP Harry Shum.

The event will host a range of discussions including the future of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and methods of combating criminal activity and terrorism online, all of which feed into the summit’s main aim of advancing the digital economy “for openness and shared benefits”. What the press material doesn’t mention is the Cyberspace Administration’s role in online censorship and its history of blocking access to unapproved sites.

Skype became the latest victim of its strict internet filters when it was removed from the App Store last month. Earlier this year, Apple was forced to remove many VPN apps from the App Store in China due to the administration’s regulations, while other apps affected in the past or present include WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and the New York Times app.

During a Q3 earnings call in August, Cook said Apple believes in engaging with governments around the world even when it disagrees with rules or restrictions. Regarding the removal of VPN apps from China’s App Store, Cook said that over time Apple hoped to see the restriction loosened, because “innovation requires freedom to collaborate and communicate”.

Some folks have tried to link it to the [Apple-FBI dispute] last year — they’re very different. In the case of the US, the law in the US supported us. It was very clear. In the case of China, the law is also very clear there, and like we would if the US changed the law here, we would have to abide by it in both cases. That doesn’t mean we don’t state our point of view, in the appropriate way — we always do that.

To what extent Cook will voice concerns about Chinese law at the summit is unclear, however his attendance reflects the country’s growing importance to Apple’s business as it seeks to boost revenue in the region. Apple shipped an estimated 11 million iPhones in China last quarter, up 40 percent from the year-ago quarter, according to research firm Canalys. The strong growth put an end to six consecutive quarters of declining iPhone sales in the region. However, that growth could be short lived.

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus sales have quickly “run out of steam” in mainland China, despite being heavily discounted by online retailers, according to the South China Morning Post. And while the iPhone X could help Apple in the fourth quarter, its high price and supply constraints might inhibit the company’s growth in China in the short term, according to Canalys.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: China
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Signal Encrypted Messenger 2.19 Update Finally Available Following App Store Hiccup

Encrypted messaging app Signal pushed out its v2.19 update late on Friday after a post-release 48-hour delay, owing to an App Store issue that Apple has now resolved. The update includes a number of new features and improvements, including full UI display support for iPhone X.

After the update is applied, users will no longer see the “Load Earlier Messages” link within chat threads, because additional messages now appear automatically upon scrolling to the top of a conversation.

In other improvements, a new simplified interface has been introduced to the Signal mobile app that aims to make sending photos, files, and GIFs easier and quicker. For example, attachment previews are now displayed directly in the message bar instead of on a separate confirmation screen.

Adopting a design concept popularized by Facebook Messenger known as “Jumbomoji”, emoji characters are now also visibly larger in Signal chat bubbles that don’t contain any other text. Elsewhere, messages that fail to send have been made easier to spot and re-send, while a new “Tap for More” option should make navigating extremely long messages a more pleasant experience.

The list of supported languages has also been expanded to include Burmese, Hebrew, and Persian, while users with an external keyboard linked to their device can now make use of new key combination shortcuts for sending messages (Shift + Enter, and Command + Enter).

Apart from the above changes, Open Whisper Systems has revamped the layout code to improve performance and flexibility, so everything should feel smoother and more refined, according to the developers. Lastly, a number of bugs have been fixed, including one where recently sent messages sometimes reappeared after being deleted.

Signal Private Messenger is a free download [Direct Link] for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store.

Tags: security, Encryption, Signal
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December 2nd is making some iPhones soft reset (update)

Apple software had a rough November, and December isn’t off to a good start as there’s an apparent date bug causing problems for iPhone owners running the latest versions of iOS (11.1.1 or 11.1.2). Around the world, users are reporting that after 12:15 AM, incoming notifications from apps that use daily or repeat settings can cause their devices to suddenly use 100 percent of the CPU and then soft reset. According to iMore, the problem seems to be tied to locally generated notifications, as opposed to notifications internet services send to your phone.

If you’re affected by this issue, the best fix appears to be disabling notifications from any apps that use the local settings (turning all notifications off also works). You can try resetting your date to December 1st, but that may cause other problems. So far Apple has not publicly commented on the issue, but posters on the company’s support forums and Reddit say that phone reps have informed them iOS 11.2 includes a fix for this issue.

Of course, it’s worth noting that this issue is coming on the heels of a nasty security flaw in macOS that allowed anyone to gain admin access. Apple quickly delivered a patch to fix that, although that process has not been without issues. This isn’t the first date bug for iOS either, as the most notable circumstance we can remember is the 2013 NYD event that kept Do Not Disturb from turning itself off. iOS 11.1.2 arrived a couple of weeks ago to fix cold weather problems on the iPhone X, and closely followed an update to fix the autocorrect bug that had everyone’s letter “i” looking strange.

Update: iOS 11.2 is now available to all, and Apple confirms that updating should fix this problem, as well as add a few new features.

I can predicate that tomorrow, Apple Store will be hell… and probably some team will be on-call at Apple and need to be in office… 🤔

— Yoshimasa Niwa (@niw) December 2, 2017

PSA: iPhone Reboot/Respring Issues Megathread from iphone

Source: Apple Support forum, r/iPhone, iOS 11 release notes, Apple Support

Apple releases iOS 11.2 with Apple Pay Cash and a bug fix

Apple doesn’t usually release its major iOS updates in the middle of the night, but it appears to have pushed the 11.2 schedule forward thanks to a date bug that just started making iPhones reset. iOS 11.2 is a pretty major update and it also brings new features, including a Venmo or Square Cash-like person-to-person money transfer system, Apple Pay Cash (available only in the US, for now — and according to reports, it’s not actually live yet). If you have the new iPhone 8, 8 Plus or X, it also adds support for faster 7.5W wireless charging when used with a compatible Wireless Qi pad, and it updates the control center to let you know what’s really happening when you try to turn Bluetooth or WiFi on and off.

The most recent beta version of iOS 11.2 was just released yesterday, and a little more than twelve hours later it’s rolling out to everyone. Apple has had a bad month in terms of software issues, but at least we can let you know that there is a fix. Go ahead and look for the latest software update on compatible iPhones (5s and later), iPads (Air or mini 2 and later) and the sixth generation iPod touch.

Source: Apple Support

Apple Releases iOS 11.2 With Apple Pay Cash, Faster 7.5W Wireless Charging, Date Bug Fix and More [Updated]

Apple today released iOS 11.2, the second major update to the iOS 11 operating system available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 11.2 comes a month after iOS 11.1, the first major update to iOS 11, and it follows several other smaller bug fix updates.

The iOS 11.2 update is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings –> General –> Software Update. Eligible devices include the iPhone 5s and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, and the 6th-generation iPod touch.

iOS 11.2, as a major 11.x update, brings several new features and important bug fixes. It introduces Apple Pay Cash, Apple’s peer-to-peer payments service. Apple Pay Cash works through the Messages app and is designed to allow for quick person-to-person money transfers, like Square Cash or Venmo.

You can quickly and easily send and receive money through iMessage conversations with Apple Pay Cash. Cash is sent from a linked debit or credit card, while received cash is stored in an Apple Pay Cash card in the Wallet app and can be used for purchases or transferred to a bank account. For more on Apple Pay Cash, check out our how to.

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For the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus iOS 11.2 appears to introduce faster 7.5W wireless charging speeds through compatible Qi-based wireless charging accessories. At 7.5W charging speeds, the three new iPhones are able to charge faster wirelessly than with the standard 5W wired iPhone power adapter.

When it comes to the iPhone X interface, iOS 11.2 adds a small bar underneath the status bar icons located at the upper right side of the Lock screen, which is designed to make the location of the Control Center gesture more clear. On the iPhone X, Control Center is accessed by swiping down from the top of the device.

In Control Center on all devices, there are two new informational pop-ups that are displayed when using the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth toggles. These pop-ups explain that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are disabled temporarily rather than permanently when accessed from the Control Center.

iOS 11.2 introduces a new Sports section in the dedicated TV app, which offers up access to live sports games through integration with the ESPN app. The Sports app can be accessed through a new “Sports” tab at the bottom of the app, and it offers up custom content based on team preferences and current sports seasons.

There are multiple bug fixes in the update, including a fix for an animation bug in the Calculator app that caused some numbers and symbols to be ignored when entered in rapid succession. The update removes the animations from the calculator app so calculations can be done quickly with no need to pause between entering numbers to obtain the correct result.

The update also addresses a date bug that caused continual crashing in iOS 11.1.2 after December 2. The problem was linked to local notifications, and according to a support document, it is fixed in iOS 11.2.

Other new features in iOS 11.2 include redesigned camera emojis and other emoji tweaks, a new loading animation for Live Photos effects, and Live wallpapers for the iPhone X. For developers, the update introduces a new feature that allows them to offer new customers discounted introductory pricing for auto-renewable subscriptions in the App Store. Full release notes for the update are available below:

iOS 11.2 introduces Apple Pay Cash to send, request, and receive money from friends and family with Apple Pay. This update also includes bug fixes and improvements.

Apple Pay Cash (US Only)
Send, request, and receive money from friends and family with Apple Pay in Messages or by asking Siri

Other improvements and fixes
– Adds support for faster wireless charging on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X with compatible third-party accessories
– Introduces three new Live wallpapers for iPhone X
– Improves video camera stabilization
– Adds support in Podcasts to automatically advance to the next episode from the same show
– Adds support in HealthKit for downhill snow sports distance as a data type
– Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to appear to be checking for new messages even when a download is complete
– Fixes an issue that could cause cleared Mail notifications from Exchange accounts to reappear
– Improves stability in Calendar
– Resolves an issue where Settings could open to a blank screen
– Fixes an issue that could prevent swiping to Today View or Camera from the Lock Screen
– Addresses an issue that could prevent Music controls from displaying on the Lock Screen
– Fixes an issue that could cause app icons to be arranged incorrectly on the Home Screen
– Addresses an issue that could prevent users from deleting recent photos when iCloud storage is exceeded
– Addresses an issue where Find My iPhone sometimes wouldn’t display a map
– Fixes an issue in Messages where the keyboard could overlap the most recent message
– Fixes an issue in Calculator where typing numbers rapidly could lead to incorrect results
– Addressed an issue where the keyboard could respond slowly
– Adds support for real-time text (RTT) phone calls for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Improves VoiceOver stability in Messages, Settings, App Store, and Music
– Resolves an issue that prevented VoiceOver from announcing incoming Notifications

For more details on the iOS 11 operating system, make sure to check out our dedicated roundup.

Update: We’re seeing several reports that Apple Pay Cash is not available in the release version of iOS 11.2. Given that this update was released at an unusual time, it may not be activated as of yet. It’s likely we’ll see Apple Pay Cash become available early next week.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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iOS 11.2 Update Fixes ‘I.T’ Autocorrect Bug

iOS 11.2, which was released at midnight on Saturday, appears to fix an autocorrect bug that caused the word “it” to be autocorrected to “I.T” on earlier versions of iOS 11.

Not all users were affected, but those who were saw their keyboards offering up “I.T” as a predictive text suggestion and an automatic autocorrection when typing “it.” Some people also saw the word “is” autocorrect to “I.S.”

Image: Sean James via Twitter
The I.T. autocorrect problem has been around since iOS 11 first launched in September, but not every iPhone user experienced the issue. It appeared to be more limited in scope than a similar autocorrect bug that caused the letter “i” to autocorrect to “A[?].”

The “A[?]” bug was fixed in an iOS 11.1.1 update that was released to the public on November 9.

Reports on Twitter and reddit indicate that the iOS 11.2 update successfully fixes the I.T. autocorrect bug, so affected users should install it immediately.

iOS 11.2 also fixes several other bugs, including a major date-related bug causing crashing starting at 12:15 a.m. on December 2, and it introduces faster 7.5W wireless charging and Apple Pay Cash.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy will carry Musk’s Tesla Roadster to Mars

SpaceX chief Elon Musk has revealed the new schedule for Falcon Heavy’s maiden flight: the company is aiming to send it to the Martian orbit next month from the same launch pad where Apollo 11 took off. The business magnate has also divulged that Falcon 9’s more powerful sibling will carry his personal midnight cherry Tesla Roadster to space. While playing David Bowie’s Space Oddity, of course. Musk expects his Roadster to remain in deep space for a billion year — unless Falcon Heavy blows up on its way to the red planet.

Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape. Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

While it would be spectacular to see SpaceX’s heavy-lift rocket ferry a Tesla to Mars next month, it may be best to temper your expectations. The company pushed back Heavy’s maiden flight more than once: it was originally gunning for a summer launch but eventually moved it to November (and then again to December). On the last day of November, SpaceX announced that it had to push the launch back yet again to next year.

Company reps previously spoke of how difficult it is to build such a large rocket powered by three Falcon 9 cores. Musk said at a press conference earlier this year that Heavy might not even make it to orbit the first time it leaves the atmosphere. If that’s the case, we’ll bet he’s already made peace with the possibility of his Roadster blowing up into a million pieces.

Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)

Date Bug in iOS 11.1.2 Causing Crash Loop on iPhones as December 2 Hits

A date-related bug in iOS 11.1.2 appears to be causing iPhones to continually crash or respring when time-based local notifications are received after 12:15 a.m. on December 2, according to reports on Twitter and reddit.

The problem seems to be tied to local notifications received from apps that offer daily or repeat reminders. For example, meditation app Headspace, one of the affected apps, sends daily reminders to users to encourage them to take some time to meditate. Any app using local (as in not pushed from a remote server) notifications that repeat will cause a crash.

If you have an app that has local notification with repeating settings, it will crash iOS Springboard on Dec. 2 (Tomorrow!) Here is a reproducible app by @takayamahttps://t.co/ecEoxFN2hM

— Yoshimasa Niwa (@niw) December 2, 2017

On reddit, users have had some success fixing the issue by disabling notifications and turning off background app refresh, while Apple’s support staff appears to be recommending a manual date change to a time before the problem occurred as a temporarily solution. Reinstalling apps and restarting does not fix the issue. The problem looks like it’s limited to devices running iOS 11.1.2 — devices on the current iOS 11.2 beta aren’t affected.

Apple Stores in Australia, where it is late afternoon on December 2, are reportedly being inundated with support requests from customers who are experiencing the issue.

PSA from staff: if you have an iPhone, it will likely crash due to a date bug when date rolls over to 2 December, depending on time zone.

The temp fix is to manually set date/time to a date prior to 2 Dec. This will make some apps unusable due to date checks on server.

— J (@jeremybank) December 2, 2017

Apple will undoubtedly fix this problem quickly through an iOS update, but as people wake up on December 2 in the United States and other countries throughout the world, there’s likely to be quite a lot of confusion when devices begin inexplicably respringing over and over again.

If you’re experiencing continual crashing, the first thing to try is disabling notifications for apps that send regular reminders. It can, however, be difficult to tell which apps are responsible, so a secondary solution is to set the date on your iPhone to before December 2 as you await a fix from Apple.

If you aren’t experiencing any crashes, there’s no need to turn off notifications or adjust the date on your device.

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