On Wednesday, one scientist described how he’d been testing potential longevity medicine on the tiny nematode worm C. elegans. These worms dwell for under about 15 to 40 days, and his workforce can carry out tens of 1000’s of experiments with them. About 40% of the medicine that reach lifespan in C. elegans additionally assist mice dwell longer, he instructed us.
To me, that’s not a tremendous hit fee. And we don’t know what number of of these medicine will work in individuals. In all probability lower than 40% of that 40%.
Different scientists introduced work on chemical reactions occurring on the mobile stage. It was deep, fundamental science, and my takeaway was that there’s quite a bit growing old researchers nonetheless don’t absolutely perceive.
It should take years—if not a long time—to get the complete image of growing old on the molecular stage. And if we depend on a sequence of experiments in worms, after which mice, after which people, we’re unlikely to make progress for a actually very long time. In that context, the concept of alternative remedy looks like a shortcut.
“Alternative is a extremely thrilling avenue since you don’t have to grasp the biology of growing old as a lot,” says Sierra Lore, who research growing old on the College of Copenhagen in Denmark and the Buck Institute for Analysis on Getting old in Novato, California.
Lore says she began her analysis profession finding out growing old on the molecular stage, however she quickly modified course. She now plans to focus her consideration on alternative therapies. “I in a short time realized we’re a long time away [from understanding the molecular processes that underlie aging],” she says. “Why don’t we simply take what we already know—alternative—and attempt to perceive and apply it higher?”
So maybe Putin’s simple method to delaying growing old holds some advantage. Whether or not it should grant him immortality is one other matter.
This text first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Expertise Assessment’s weekly biotech publication. To obtain it in your inbox each Thursday, and skim articles like this primary, join right here.
