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| Science & Technology |
| Science says it is possible to be forever young |
| 2010-12-20 |
| I don't think it's possible to be "forever young." "Forever immature" is pretty common, though. [Daily Nation (Kenya)] Aging people wishing an existence similar to "Nancy Drew" and "The Hardy Boys" have hope. A molecular biologist says it is possible. Incidentally, "Nancy Drew" started as a sweet 16 in 1930. She remained an 18-year-old for decades. Similarly, the 17 and 18-year old "Hardy Boys," beginning in 1927, retained youthful looks, and muscle tone well into this century. The US-based CBS radio and television network reported experimental findings indicating scientists can stop some aspects of aging. That's not all. A reversal is possible. Aging aspects scientists can tinker with include hair loss, infertility, and decreased brain functions like forgetting the days of the week. That's beyond big boobs, flat stomachs, and taunt muscles, et cetera, that eternal youth seekers die pursuing. Dr Ronald A. DePinho led the Boston, US team that published the tantalising news in the November 29 issue of the journal Nature. Dr DePinho isn't in the league of quacks a la Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and his Aids cure. He's a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr DePinho's credentials are quite a chain. His tentacles also whirl in advisory boards of public and private institutions. His team's non-human laboratory collaborators were the usual suspects, mice. As CBS put it, "Think of them as gray, balding mice that can't have kids and have memory problems." By the time Dr DePinho's team was done the mice brain functions improved. They also regained fertility and youthful-looking fur. "Basically, what this study teaches us is that there's a point of return in aging," CBS quoted Dr DePinho saying. Human beings' thirst for eternal youth--not immortality, which is religious--isn't new. Records show it goes back to Greek and Roman mythologies. Humans being of the same stock despite different hues and guttural noises, people who left no written records must have had versions of eternal youthfulness, better, agelessness. Today the pursuit of agelessness has created a lucrative world industry. Methods of achieving it range from cosmetics to surgery. In between are concoctions that cause stomachs to mutiny, exercises that punish the anatomy, and meditations that appeal to gods. Dr DePinho's team turned to serious science. It engineered the mice to reduce levels of enzyme telomerase. The mice got problems that affect 80-year-old humans. Technical details aside, the enzyme telomerase cuddles with telomeres, found at the end of chromosomes. When cells divide or say goodbye to each other for whatever reason, telomeres shorten and cells age. Jump-kick the gene that controls the production of telomerase and, as Dr DePinho put it, a "dramatic reversal in the signs of aging" occurs. According to CBS, Dr DePinho hopes the findings lead to an anti-aging pill. That's as long as additional research confirms them and doesn't find side effects. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #18 I for one still feel like a teenager.... albeit a very sick teenager. |
| Posted by: Zombie Hillary Lover 2010-12-20 19:44 |
| #17 Like Loretta Lynn says: "Everbody wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die." |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-12-20 17:53 |
| #16 Love the humor. You were being funny I hope. I got laughing Einstein on my approach. Go figure. |
| Posted by: Dale 2010-12-20 16:15 |
| #15 Guy climbs to the top of a high mountain in the Himalayas to visit a true Indian guru... "How can I live forever?" he asks. The guru sits there and thinks for awhile and responds.... "Do you drink alcohol?" "Yes, I've taken a sip occasionally." "No more Drinking!" "Ok I guess I can do that. Anything else?" "Do you smoke?" "Yes I light up the pipe once in a while. Why?" "No more Smoking!" "OK... well I guess I can go without that too...." "Do you eat meat?" "Sure! I love a good steak!" "No more Meat!" "Oh! Um... well I guess so...." "Do you have sex?" "Oh yes! Me and my girlfriend go at it all the time!" "No more Sex!" At this point the guy is rather suprised at the high price and asks, "So if I give up drinking, smoking, meat and sex I will live forever right?" The guru looks him in the eye and response, "Don't know. But it would seem like an Eternity!" |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-12-20 15:54 |
| #14 sure Gorb - by a 128 yr old Helen Thomas No thanks. I prefer death. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-12-20 15:41 |
| #13 Just ask the Cumaean Sibyl about how that all works out. "Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent: Σίβυλλα τί θέλεις; respondebat illa: aποθανεiν θέλω." |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2010-12-20 15:38 |
| #12 It's like I told my mom when she married a guy my age: you're only as old as the man you feel! |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2010-12-20 15:18 |
| #11 OG 1929 the Alphaville or Jay-Z version? |
| Posted by: Beavis 2010-12-20 14:59 |
| #10 "Forever Young" May God bless and keep you always May your wishes all come true May you always do for others And let others do for you May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. May you grow up to be righteous May you grow up to be true May you always know the truth And see the lights surrounding you May you always be courageous Stand upright and be strong May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. May your hands always be busy May your feet always be swift May you have a strong foundation When the winds of changes shift May your heart always be joyful And may your song always be sung May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. |
| Posted by: Omolurong Ghibelline1929 2010-12-20 14:51 |
| #9 Reverting humans to a Juvenile state is easy. Just add copious amounts of booze. Before you know it they're be giggling at farts, burps, and other bodily functions. Ask any bartender. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-12-20 14:36 |
| #8 As long as I don't have to go through puberty again, I'll do it. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2010-12-20 14:26 |
| #7 sure Gorb - by a 128 yr old Helen Thomas |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-12-20 14:06 |
| #6 Zardoz is pleased. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-12-20 12:58 |
| #5 This is all we need. Government is drooling over potential long term tax revenue. I can see it now. Pay your taxes or you don't get your genetic enhancement. Recharge booths at you favorite locations. Them that has versus them that gets. |
| Posted by: Dale 2010-12-20 12:46 |
| #4 How about two? Depends. Would I get breastfed? |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-12-20 12:44 |
| #3 Anti-aging will never perform particularly well, because the aging system is set up for degeneration, for biological reasons. However, there is another way that evades the problem. Best typified by of all things, a jellyfish, it is for a mature organism, that has reproduced, to revert to a juvenile state. This works because it takes the entire system, including the aging processes, "back in time", in a manner of speaking. Typically, people assume that a jellyfish could do this only because it is a simple organism, but this is not the case. Various types of jellyfish have a range of chromosomes from fewer than humans, to many times that of humans. (N.B.: humans have actually shed unneeded chromosomes in past.) That being said, except for the hard part of figuring out *how* to revert humans to a juvenile state safely, there is no particular reason why we *can't* do this. But, then again, would you want to be five years old again? How about two? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-12-20 12:21 |
| #2 Heh. And the arthritis and plaque buildup in the cardiovascular system just melt away, too! |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-12-20 11:06 |
| #1 Given the financial state of the pension plans throughout the industrialized world, Dr Ronald is asking for an accident. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-12-20 09:26 |