• A Human Anti-Aging Pill in Ten Years
  
  Sinclair’s basic claim is simple, if seemingly improbable: he has found an elixir of youth.
  
  In his Australian drawl, the 38-year-old Harvard University professor of pathology explains how he discovered that resveratrol, a chemical found in red wine, extends life span in mice by up to 24 percent and in other animals, including flies and worms, by as much as 59 percent.
  
  Sinclair hopes that resveratrol will bump up the life span of people, too. “The system at work in the mice and other organisms is evolutionarily very old, so I suspect that what works in mice will work in humans,” he says.
  
  Sinclair thinks resveratrol works by activating SIRT1, a gene that many scientists believe plays a fundamental role in regulating life span in animals.
  
  (((Weird idea. No, he’s not kidding. Yes, he has big lab resources from wealthy backers.)))
  
  While Sinclair was in Guarente’s lab in the late 1990s, he discovered that sir2 prevents aging in yeast by slowing down the accumulation of ERCs, circular strands of DNA that build up in organisms as they age, eventually killing them.
  
  Around the same time, others in Guarente’s lab made another crucial discovery: that a link may exist between sir2 and a molecule critical for metabolizing food, called NAD. The connection suggested that the longevity gene might be related to diet–specifically, Guarente postulated, to caloric restriction.
  
  A nutritionally complete diet containing 30 to 40 percent fewer calories than normal had long been known to extend life span in some animals, ramping up cell defenses and slowing down aging.
  
  Guarente and others theorize that in times of scarcity, such as famine or drought, this mechanism allows an organism to survive–and postpone reproduction–until the crisis is over. The link between sir2 and NAD, therefore, suggested to Guarente that caloric restriction might be affecting longevity by activating the antiaging gene. (((See, it doesn’t rebuild you or anything ambitious — it’s just triggering an ancient system that’s already in there.)))
  
  In a 2004 Science interview, Sinclair added to his reputation as a zealot, calling resveratrol “as close to a miraculous molecule as you can find.” “One hundred years from now,” he said, “people will maybe be taking these molecules on a daily basis to prevent heart disease, stroke, and cancer.”
  
  Sinclair’s paper came out within days of a study in Cell from the lab of Johan Auwerx of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Illkirch, France. ­Auwerx’s team, which was partially funded by Sirtris ­(Auwerx is on the company’s scientific advisory board), had given mice even higher doses of resveratrol–400 milligrams per kilogram.
  
  These mice stayed slender and strong on a high-fat diet, with the energy-charged muscles and reduced heart rate of athletes. The number of mitochondria in their cells increased, which improved the cells’ energy output.
  
  Students in Sinclair’s lab say he sometimes seems driven, and he admits that he is: “I’m driven to get to goals as fast as possible. It frustrates people in my lab who have something they think is cool, but if it doesn’t move us forward, I don’t want to do it.” He says he views all the experiments being done at Sirtris, all his work, as part of a master plan. “I see this laid out in my mind, every step. But it’s happening faster than I imagined–it’s taking 10 years instead of 20 years.”
  
  “When will it be ready for humans?” I ask.
  
  “This will impact humans within a decade,” he says. “That’s why I don’t think there is anything more important than this quest. That’s why I take chances, and why the controversy is worth it: because I think we are right.”

I just finished watching a Discovery Channel documentary (Next World) and heard about this. Becoming 150 years or so.. how awesome is that?

Source:
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyo...human-anti-ag/ and http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/next-world/next-world.html

Thoughts?

No.

Just no.

A million times no, but maybe, but no.

Why on earth would anyone want to be 150 years old?

I don't think it'll help to stop aging much. Supposing this works as anticipated, I can't imagine that it would do much to prevent the DNA mutations that cause cancer. Essentially I don't think this would extend our ages as much as claimed, it would just make us die with comparatively younger bodies. It would however, be useful as a preventative measure for age-onset diseases such as Alzheimer's, and thus is a valuable area of research.

Originally Posted by AelyaS

Why on earth would anyone want to be 150 years old?

To have the record for oldest person in the Guinness book of world records?

Originally Posted by AelyaS

Why on earth would anyone want to be 150 years old?

Originally Posted by AelyaS

Why on earth would anyone want to be 150 years old?

b/c of god does exist (i dont believe he does) I would so be going to hell.....

Originally Posted by AelyaS

Why on earth would anyone want to be 150 years old?

Ok, you wouldnt actually be 150 years old. Your body would still be 70-80 but since your body will age slower, when you get to the age of 150, your body would act as if it was 70-80.

Anyway, I think everyone would want to do this because everyone wants to prolonge their life on Earth as it stands now, hence why we try to keep in good health, go to the doctor, prevent diseases, etc: to have a long life.

Not gonna lie, I think it's weird. Why mess with the natural order of things? Aging is inevitable, and it doesn't have to be gross. Lots of people age gracefully

Originally Posted by AelyaS

Not gonna lie, I think it's weird. Why mess with the natural order of things? Aging is inevitable, and it doesn't have to be gross. Lots of people age gracefully

And lots of people don't. And they're the ones who make it gross.

On the other hand, anti-aging pills are gonna kill this earth.

Also I think it should be pointed out that if we start living to 150, the overpopulation problem is only gonna get way worse over a short period of time. If you limit who gets the pill to counteract this, it's like the government deciding your worth as a person saying something like "Only award winning scientists should get the anti-aging pill" or something along those lines. Furthermore if it were publicly available not everyone is going to be able to afford it and I highly doubt the government is willing to pay for daily pills for the entire population. In this case only the rich get to live longer.

TL;DR If this pill gets produced it'll lead to some sticky ethical issues guaranteed.

Originally Posted by REPLEKIA/.

Also I think it should be pointed out that if we start living to 150, the overpopulation problem is only gonna get way worse over a short period of time. If you limit who gets the pill to counteract this, it's like the government deciding your worth as a person saying something like "Only award winning scientists should get the anti-aging pill" or something along those lines. Furthermore if it were publicly available not everyone is going to be able to afford it and I highly doubt the government is willing to pay for daily pills for the entire population. In this case only the rich get to live longer.

TL;DR If this pill gets produced it'll lead to some sticky ethical issues guaranteed.

Over population is a BS concept. Not enough food to feed everyone? Not enough space to build s***? Lol, that is just a load of crap.

Originally Posted by xxsumz

Over population is a BS concept. Not enough food to feed everyone? Not enough space to build s***? Lol, that is just a load of crap.

Explain.

12chars

Originally Posted by AelyaS

Explain.

12chars

An explanation may come from basic economics theories. In the past pessimists had held the idea that through over population the humans would not be able to meet the demands of nutrition resulting in the demise of its populous. The problem with the economists of the past were that they underestimated the likelihood of technological advancement. We are now able to produce large amounts of outputs with little inputs. So i guess, as the population increases and as it approaches carrying capacity we will become more efficient with our management of our natural resources, land, production etc.

I doubt this pill will come out in 10 years, 50 years is more realistic. It'll come out when we're all old and frail....a lot of good it'll do for us then. We were all born too early.

Originally Posted by Souldier

I doubt this pill will come out in 10 years, 50 years is more realistic. It'll come out when we're all old and frail....a lot of good it'll do for us then. We were all born too early.

Damn right we were :(

Should've been born 500 years later <_< WHERE'S THE DEMOCRACY, GOD?!!?!?