A great man once said, "Who wants to live forever".

Well, judging by the amount of money that's been invested in prolonging life I'd say that quite a few people do, or at least the very rich ones but despite medical advances over the last century or so leading to a creeping increase in life expectancy that does seem to be a limit to the length of human life of around a hundred and twenty years but is that the best that we could do.

Could we live forever?

Well, gerontologist "Aubrey de Grey" certainly thinks, so in fact, he thinks that the first person to achieve immortality is already alive today. The theory goes that if we can find a way to extend our lives by a few decades then in those decades new advances can grant us even more longevity in which time technology will have advanced to add a few more years and so on. Achieving this "Longevity escape velocity" in which life expectancy is extended faster than time is passing is the holy grail of all aging research. But what is aging?

We might see it as wrinkles, gray hair, stiff joints, and mental decline, but inside our bodies, there are more subtle processes at work. There's "DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) methylation" extra bits of junk that is genetic molecules accumulate over time which interferes with how our genes function, plus over the years our genetic code can become damaged thanks to mutations or mistakes made when the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is copied or by collisions with reactive free radical molecules and then there are our "Telomeres" the protective caps at the end of all our chromosomes which become smaller every time the cell and the chromosomes divide





 All these factors are more contribute to something called "Cell senescence" the aging and deterioration of cells that produces the tangible evidence of old age




So, to stop aging, we need to find a fix for "cell senescence" and one potential solution that sounds like something straight out of your favorite vampire romance, 'assuming you have one" is to replace your old blood with new.

It was way back in the 1800s that scientists first started experimenting with "Parabiosis", linking two animals together so they share a circulatory system with some intriguingly positive results, by joining the circulatory system of an old mouse to that of young mouse scientists have noted that in the heart, drained muscles and almost every other tissue examined the blood of the young mice seems to bring new life to aging organs making old mice stronger smarter and healthier it even makes fur shinier although we're still not entirely sure what it is in young blood that's doing the trick evidence points to proteins that build up in our blood as we get older, too many of these proteins can start to hamper the growth and maintenance of body tissues and replacing with young blood massively diluted their concentration.





This promising the finding suggests that we may be able to keep our bodies up and running by simply filtering out the proteins rather than needing to undergo transfusions or running around sinking our teeth into the necks of teenagers.

 Scientists are also exploring medicinal routes to eternal life, or at least ways of extending it a bit for now.

“Rapamycin” which is normally used in organ transplants and to treat rare cancers was found to extend a mouse's life by up to 25% percent. If it works in humans that could be the equivalent of adding an extra 30 years of life or so raising the longevity ceiling to around 150 and the diabetes drug “Metformin” seems to help the body run smoothly for longer in life “Metformin” increases the number of oxygen molecules released into a cell which appears to boost the robustness and longevity and at a cost of only around 10 pence per day it could be a very affordable way of adding on those extra years.

And finally, some futuristic gene therapies are claiming to be able to rewind the biological clock present in every cell.

Born of a technique to turn specialized body cells back into stem cells, scientists are attempting to partially reset them returning them to a younger state but not letting them completely lose their function. it's still in the experimental stages and apparently not ready to be applied in humans however the researchers expect that clinical trials are a decade away or so, but if other techniques can keep us going for those years, then that "Longevity escape velocity" might still, be achievable.

But what happens if and when we do find that Fountain of Youth so that our lives span centuries and millennia rather than decades well we can forget about retiring at 65 for a start, we'll be fit and healthier for much, much longer so we'll be able to stay and work indefinitely doesn't sound like much fun but we'll need it if we're going to support ourselves for hundreds of extra years but with super-centenarians keeping their jobs for much longer, that leaves little employment and earning potential for young people, never mind the worries of overpopulation and housing in a world where births continue apace and death is rare clearly living forever isn't the gateway to the utopia that we might expect.

So, maybe immortality isn't the answer but in the short term, it can't harm to stay healthier for longer putting off those AIDS-related diseases like Alzheimer's and heart disease, and for that, you don't need a blood transfusion or gene therapy just some simple changes in lifestyle should suffice, so eat well sleep well and exercise regularly.

So, these are scientific theories and other researches about "could we live forever”.

 So, tell your point of view would you want to live forever what lengths would you go to, to cheat death and what would you do with all that extra time

 

 

 

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