More Life-decoding the Secret of Aging | DW Documentary

May 28, 2022 Can the aging process be reversed - or even halted, altogether? If we manage to decode this final mystery of our human biology, we might soon be able to eradicate age-related illnesses like cancer, dementia and heart problems.

The race to invent the miracle pill is well underway. Today, international researchers are getting astonishingly close to realizing humanity’s dream of immortality.

The hunt for immortality gained traction with the discovery of Costa Rica’s so-called "Blue Zone,” by Luis Rosero-Bixby. In the "Blue Zone,” on the Nicoya Peninsular, he found a remarkable number of centenarians. Here, male life expectancy is the highest in the world. Their healthy lifestyle is one factor, but the promise of longevity is probably also because their telomeres - sections of DNA found at the end of chromosomes - are longer than those of the average person.

It’s a field of research currently being explored by Maria Blasco in Madrid. But this is just one of many possible factors influencing the process of aging. Senescent cells may also play a key role. Also known as "zombie cells”, these attack our body in old age and flood it with alarm signals until, at some point, we collapse under their weight. That’s a theory proposed by another researcher in Spain, Manuel Serrano.

A billion-dollar industry is already knocking impatiently at the lab doors. The first to market the miracle pill is guaranteed incredible wealth. That’s why investors are sponsoring young bio-startups in Hong Kong. Keen not be left out, US Big Tech is vying for the world’s best scientists. Alex Zhavoronkov has secured a slice of that pie, with a cash injection of more than 250 million dollars for his company’s work on aging research.

Whereas some pioneers’ visions burst like bubbles, others rush to get other, rather more dubious products onto the market. But their efficacy is now measurable. The epigenetic clock devised by Steve Horvath can measure our biological age, regardless of our actual age in years.

With his research on the thymus gland, California’s Greg Fahy managed to not only decelerate the aging process, but reverse it. His initial study on humans showed that a particular drug cocktail took an average two-and-a-half years off their age.

Young biohackers like Nina Khera from Boston want everyone to benefit from this research. Together with friends, she’s working on the "epigenetic clock for all”.

But while we’re busy trying to counter the aging process and all the illnesses it entails, fundamental questions arise: Should we be messing with nature like this? Are we about to overwhelm the planet with more and more people? Criminal biologist Mark Benecke in Cologne says that these questions are coming far too late.

David Sinclair: "Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To" | Talks at Google

David Sinclair, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, discusses his new book "Lifespan", which distills his cutting-edge research findings on the biological processes underpinning aging. Sinclair describes lifestyle hacks we can undertake now to combat aging, as well as future scientific breakthroughs that promise to slow down—and even reverse—the aging process. Moderated by: Sam Phippen

The Science of Aging - Waiting for Immortality | DW Documentary

Could immortality one day become a reality? Death anxiety or the aging process fills many people with dread, but what if it could be stopped?

This film investigates the prospects of eternal life. Some of the methods being investigated are rather unusual. In the US, scientists are experimenting with cryonics, a method where the human body is frozen in liquid nitrogen. And, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, researchers are working assiduously on the potential fusion of humans and robots - how human consciousness can be transferred to a virtual world and thus sustained forever.

Opinion is split. Controversial age researcher Aubrey de Gray thinks it should be possible to see life expectancy increase dramatically in the near future, perhaps even by as much as a thousand years. But philosopher Stephen Cave on the other hand confronts us with the question of whether we can ever really escape mortality.

Statins: Heart Disease Drug Speeds Up Ageing Process, Warns New Research

SUNDAY EXPRESS: STATINS make regular users become older faster, leaving them open to long-term mental and physical decline, according to disturbing new research.

Scientists have found the heart disease drug badly affects our stem cells, the internal medical system which repairs damage to our bodies and protects us from muscle and joint pain as well as memory loss.

Last night experts warned patients to “think very carefully” before taking statins as a preventative medicine.

A GP expert in the field said: “They just make many patients feel years older. Side effects mimic the ageing process.”

The new research by scientists at Tulane University in New Orleans has reignited the debate about statin side effects which many doctors say have been played down.

They include memory loss, muscle pain, diabetes, cataracts, liver dysfunction, [diabetes], fatigue and memory loss. » | Lucy Johnston | Sunday, September 27, 2015