| > We would need to master the natural process of aging that serves to kill us once we have outlived our evolutionary purpose Related to aging is the length of our telomeres. Doing a search through recent news brings up some interesting related topics like: Childhood trauma causes shortened telomeres (and shortens life):
http://www.medicaldaily.com/childhood-trauma-may-shorten-tel... Acne-sufferers may have longer telomeres (and live longer):
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161003133005.h... There's now a genetic test that provides more information about your telomeres:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161005005364/en/TELO... Gene therapy may add years of life to leukocytes (and follistatin may help those with MS and spinal muscular atrophy):
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45947/... Some anti-cancer drugs inhibit telomerase (which keeps telomers long making cancer cells live longer than they should):
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160818111454.h... Loss of (T)P53 genes cause increased cancer rate (and elephants that have more P53 genes rarely get cancer)- surprise, surprise- because loss of p53 function accelerates acquisition of telomerase activity:
http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v22/n34/full/1206667a.html It seems that, if we don't kill ourselves or die of natural disasters/famines/diseases, we will have a better handle on disease and aging with more study. I don't understand why people would study statistics on aging and conclude that we can't age more than we already do. |