DailyDirt: Defying Nature -- The Quest For A Longer Life And Eternal Youth
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
In the quest for a longer life and eternal youth, people have come up with many different (and sometimes crazy) theories on how to get there. Add years to your life with vitamins, supplements, and hormones! Eat this, not that! Postpone death with suspended animation! Here are just a few examples of possible ways to increase our lifespan.- As early as in 1935, studies have suggested that restricting caloric intake can extend the lifespan of rats, but does the same idea apply to humans? Researchers at Tufts University are conducting a study (CALERIE) to see if reducing caloric intake by 25% can help to slow aging and extend life. [url]
- Researchers at the University of Paris have found that feeding rats fullerene (C60) in olive oil can almost double their lifespan, with no long-term toxic effects. Apparently, an unaffiliated small startup is already selling research-ready C60 olive oil solution -- prepared the same way as in the study -- to people interested in studying it (in rats, not people!) [url]
- Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have figured out how to turn adult blood cells into embryonic stem cells. Aside from curing the incurable, perhaps the discovery could one day lead to eternal youth. [url]
- A study from Northwestern University suggests that children with older fathers are more likely to live longer. This is because they inherit longer telomeres from their fathers (and paternal grandfathers) that protect against aging processes. [url]
- The FDA has apparently approved "suspended animation" for human trials. The idea is that by injecting critically injured patients with a cold fluid to induce severe hypothermia, death can be postponed so that surgeons can work on them in suspended animation for 60-90 minutes. This extra time could mean the difference between life and death. [url]
Filed Under: aging, buckyballs, c60, fullerene, life, lifespan, stem cells, suspended animation, telomeres
