Extending life. How long do we want to live?
How long can we live? How long do we want to live?
A series of articles in Nature explore the possibilities.
None entertain the notion of immortality, nor do they outline the ethical or societal implications of extending the human lifespan, but they do explore the recent burst of research occurring that might halt, and potentially, reverse the ageing processes that lead to age-related disease.
More than beer and bothersome
Much of what we know about ageing we have learnt from yeast, worms and flies, but the physiological pathways that control the ageing process in these animals is likely to be similar in humans. That is, these genetically-controlled pathways have been conserved through evolution. (You actually share about 66% of your genes with fruit flies.)
Party hard at 100
When this topic is raised in any TechNyou public engagement activity most people post 50-something hate the thought of drooling on their shoes for longer than necessary. But then few of the cherish the thought of death. The bonus with this research is that you can forget the decrepitude aspect of ageing as this research aims to get us to our moment of mortality in a healthier state. Indeed one of the Nature papers in this series suggests most people born since the year 2000 will live to be 100.
Beyond 100
For now nutrition and environmental influences are key to good health and longevity. There are a growing number of drugs being trialled to enhance this already. Resveratrol is one, and although not a drug, restricting your calorie intake is another way, and one of the few with robust science behind it, of living longer.
Extending our years further requires understanding the role of genes and stem cells in the ageing process. It is likely this is where the real advances will be made, though probably not in my lifetime, which will save me thinking about a second career, worrying about a late-life crisis, or wondering if my superannuation will last 40 years instead of the planned 20.
….Unless Ray Kurzweil’s prediction that immortality is mere decades away.
More info
SENS – human regenerative engineering
Happy Easter and live long and prosper
Six or seven years ago, the lovely, if somewhat impetuous, Dr Karl made the impressively rash prediction that the generation being born then would be first to live forever or the last to die. I don’t know whether he took the Struldbrugs in Gulliver’s Travels into consideration, but they’re the poster geriatrics for not having eternal life. And they’re proper scary.
Thanks for ‘Live long and prosper’: my son is Original Spock’s third or fourth cousin.
I try not to think about the young Spock in the latest gasp of the Star Trek franchise.