When I was younger I used to say I had two goals in science. One was to clone myself and the other was to live until 107.
The cloning myself thing doesn’t sound as appealing to me as it used to 
(although it could be interesting) but the living until 107…I still want that. Unfortunately, I ended up in the cosmetic science business which gave me little opportunity to study treatments for making me live longer.
Fortunately, there are scientists who took the goal seriously and have been working hard to develop real treatments that will help me achieve the goal. You can read the latest in this work in this New York Times article on aging.
The bottom line is YES science should be able to help you live longer!
Basically, the article makes the following points.
- The science of long living is becoming a more legitimate pursuit.
- Resveratrol is thought to be a key compound to help achieve long life.
- Studies show chemical mimics of Resveratrol keep mice living longer.
- Rapamycin has increased life expectancy of even older mice.
- In 5 or 6 years there will be drugs that prolong life.
If there was a drug to prolong life, I’m fairly certain I would take it. Think of all the extra joggling miles you could do.
Would you take it?
