Key Target Of Aging Regulator Found I'm always happy to read about these sorts of discoveries. With more than half a century of life in from of me, I feel confident we'll bring the Aging processes under our control, in my lifetime.
I hope they do as well, 'cos I certainly haven't got fifty years of life ahead of me, unless they make some drastically interesting discoveries.
Unless they simultaneously discover the fountain of youth, I don't see the point of an extended old age in the era of an overpopulated world. Do we really need more senile old persons racing around on the roads and sapping the resources that young people should avail of?
Fair point, SAM--it's no use getting to 150 years old because of extended lifespan, only to spend the last forty-odd years of your life confined to a hospital bed or staring at a wall in a retirement village because you can't remember your own name.
Uh uh, absolutely not. It won’t happen in our lifetime, probably not in the next generation’s either. This is a very common mistake on internet science forums. The aging mechanisms in mammals are far more complex than those of invertebrates and single celled organisms like yeast (the focus of the study in question). These organisms are frequently used as models for the aging process and it is relatively easy to increase/decrease their lifespan two- or three-fold through simple genetic modifications. But whilst altering single genes in invertebrates and yeast can dramatically change lifespan, we have seen time and time again that the same gene alterations have little or no effect in mice. This is despite mammals having orthologues of the same invertebrate genes. Aging is likely controlled by many genes and by complex feedback mechanisms from many cell types all over the body. Lifespan and senescence is a fundamental cellular process that I doubt we will be able to overcome.
Once men get past about 60, they start dropping like flies--so they (the BB's) are just at the edge of starting to let go...
To add to that, how are these people very useful to have around? They don't raise families and they draw retirement, social security, etc.
