Science News has some interesting articles today, several have a theme (to me, anyway) so I am going to discuss them together. I have long predicted that I was young enough to be able to take advantage of what I perceive as the inevitable longevity treatments I expect to be available soon. Of course, ‘soon’ has been longer than I expected and I was actually quite down on the subject fairly recently and worried that such treatments would happen after I died (my statistical death, anyway; some of my family has lived to quite ripe old ages, but others have died rather young, so I figure on my statistical life span (75-80) leaving me with another 25-30 years yet to go). However, these articles give me hope that scientists will have treatments within that window…
Fasting hormone helps mice live longer
Protein tricks body into starvation mode
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345907/title/Fasting_hormone_helps_mice_live_longer
Not quite exercise in a pill (at least not yet, anyway), but very interesting that such a dramatic impact was made with a relatively small change. I would like to know the results when they switch the hormone ‘on’ when the mice are in middle age.
Nouveaux Antennas
A single hairlike appendage may allow a cell to sense the outside world
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/345831/title/Nouveaux_Antennas
I was _just_ talking with my cube-mate about my theory that the cure for cancer has already been discovered, but the person who discovered it doesn’t realize what they have and that information is sitting in a database awaiting (re)discovery. This is also a subject where I didn’t know that I didn’t know about it. I have studied science rather extensively for going on 40 years so stumbling across something like this where I know bupkus about it is rare and surprising to me. This is to say that I know what I don’t know (or rather thought that), something that took over 5 years for me in the study of computer science. Of course, life, the universe and everything is larger that simply computer science, so I guess I could be forgiven, but it is still a bit of a shock to learn something that now appears to be so fundamental but was unknown.
Regarding the article specifically, it seems likely to me that as cells age and are no longer replaced that the cell’s ability to communicate (or at least receive state from surrounding tissues) would get increasingly compromised with time. Finding a treatment to rejuvenate the antennas seems like it would go a long way toward lengthening the healthy part of life.
Living longer comes easier
Human longevity largely a modern phenomenon
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345778/title/Living_longer_comes_easier
It seems that our species longevity is tied pretty closely to reducing or eliminating disease or poor environment. I guess next up will be dealing with us all being fatties who never move around, but it seems like that might be had in a pill (or at least an injection) soon. I have read several places that the biological effects of aging seem to reach a plateau in the 70-80 year old time frame and now the thinking is that a person who is otherwise healthy (and avoids being run over, slipping on a bar of soap, being killed by a jealous lover, etc.) can live past 100 with relative ease. Which is good news, if I can get rid of some of this gut (was dealing with some positional asphyxia over the weekend what with all my bending over to work on the roof; as if I really needed more reasons to get rid of it), maybe I can add another 20 years onto my window to get longevity treatments.
