The Grandparents of tomorrow
The Grandparents of Tomorrow
Why die? There may soon be nothing preventing great-grandparents from being as agile in body and mind as their descendants are.
Sections
Can Aging Be Cured?
Shaping Up for Long Life
A World without Aging
Keywords: ageing, biogerontology, geriatrics, gerontology, immortality, life-extension, old age, rejuvenation Imagine that your grandmother looks like a teenager, plays soccer, parties at the clubs all night, and works as a venture capitalist. Or imagine your grandfather teaching you the latest high-tech computer software in his office, which you hate to visit because of the loud heavy metal music. Such a scenario is hard to envision because we are taught to accept aging and the resulting suffering and death as an immutable fact of life. We cannot picture our grandparents in better physical shape than we are.
Nonetheless, aging may one day become nothing more than a scary bedtime story, perhaps one your grandfather will tell your grandson after a day of white-water rafting together.
Can Aging Be Cured?
Aging is a "barbaric phenomenon that shouldn't be tolerated in polite society," says University of
Cambridge gerontologist Aubrey de Grey. However, the more than 50% increase in longevity of the past century was due mainly to advancements in the war on infectious diseases, not aging. Present anti-aging treatments do not slow the aging process and do not extend lifespan more than quitting smoking, exercising, eating a good diet, or heeding ordinary medical advice. The only way to achieve another 50% increase in human longevity is by discovering ways to retard the aging process itself.
Although human aging remains a largely mysterious process, and scientists still debate why we age, there are reasons to think human aging can be manipulated, maybe even cured like a disease. Not only some animals live much longer than humans--recent estimates that bowhead whales may live over 200 years are a good example--but
Why die? There may soon be nothing preventing great-grandparents from being as agile in body and mind as their descendants are.
Sections
Can Aging Be Cured?
Shaping Up for Long Life
A World without Aging
Keywords: ageing, biogerontology, geriatrics, gerontology, immortality, life-extension, old age, rejuvenation Imagine that your grandmother looks like a teenager, plays soccer, parties at the clubs all night, and works as a venture capitalist. Or imagine your grandfather teaching you the latest high-tech computer software in his office, which you hate to visit because of the loud heavy metal music. Such a scenario is hard to envision because we are taught to accept aging and the resulting suffering and death as an immutable fact of life. We cannot picture our grandparents in better physical shape than we are.
Nonetheless, aging may one day become nothing more than a scary bedtime story, perhaps one your grandfather will tell your grandson after a day of white-water rafting together.
Can Aging Be Cured?
Aging is a "barbaric phenomenon that shouldn't be tolerated in polite society," says University of
Cambridge gerontologist Aubrey de Grey. However, the more than 50% increase in longevity of the past century was due mainly to advancements in the war on infectious diseases, not aging. Present anti-aging treatments do not slow the aging process and do not extend lifespan more than quitting smoking, exercising, eating a good diet, or heeding ordinary medical advice. The only way to achieve another 50% increase in human longevity is by discovering ways to retard the aging process itself.
Although human aging remains a largely mysterious process, and scientists still debate why we age, there are reasons to think human aging can be manipulated, maybe even cured like a disease. Not only some animals live much longer than humans--recent estimates that bowhead whales may live over 200 years are a good example--but