Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity?

fightaging.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–26 of 26 posts

Re: Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity?

#21

Post by melling »

cantrevealname wrote: post #20

There's a super-fundamental discovery about ageing--and a possible "cure" to ageing--that longevity researchers seem to be WAY TOO cautious in discussing and pursuing. These are telomeres. Telomeres are a DNA pattern that sets a hard limit on the number of times a cell will divide (and thus repair itself). When the limit is reached, cells stop dividing (then accumulate damage and age). The limit for humans is somethi…

Really? I think it has been in the press for a couple of decades now. At any rate, it's probably wise to spread the research money around. The war on cancer started with Nixon is about 40 years old, and we still have a long way to go? My hope is that crowd sourcing and funding really catches for science on in the next few years. Wouldn't it be great to have a lot more resources, both money and people, working on interesting science problems?

Re: Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity?

#22

Post by aneth4 »

cantrevealname wrote: post #20

There's a super-fundamental discovery about ageing--and a possible "cure" to ageing--that longevity researchers seem to be WAY TOO cautious in discussing and pursuing. These are telomeres. Telomeres are a DNA pattern that sets a hard limit on the number of times a cell will divide (and thus repair itself). When the limit is reached, cells stop dividing (then accumulate damage and age). The limit for humans is somethi…

Telomeres exist to prevent out of control cell reproduction, ie cancer. Turn them off and you get a very high cancer rate.

That's not to say we can't end aging by extending them, but it's not that simple.

Re: Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity?

#23

Post by dbittner1 »

standeven wrote: post #14

It's rather mind blowing to consider the effects on society if an affordable way of doubling our lifespans is found. Talk about disruption.

Exactly. Once a method to significantly lengthen human lifespan is found, the challenge then becomes: where do the natural resources come from to support such an expanding world population. When that day of great scientific discovery arrives, we may all be on a calorie restricted diet, whether we choose to or not.

Re: Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity?

#24

Post by sliverstorm »

dbittner1 wrote: post #23
standeven wrote: post #14

It's rather mind blowing to consider the effects on society if an affordable way of doubling our lifespans is found. Talk about disruption.

Exactly. Once a method to significantly lengthen human lifespan is found, the challenge then becomes: where do the natural resources come from to support such an expanding world population. When that day of great scientific discovery arrives, we may all be on a calorie restricted diet, whether we choose to or not.

It won't be a new problem, it will just accelerate the pace.

Re: Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity?

#25

Post by stcredzero »

aneth4 wrote: post #22
cantrevealname wrote: post #20

There's a super-fundamental discovery about ageing--and a possible "cure" to ageing--that longevity researchers seem to be WAY TOO cautious in discussing and pursuing. These are telomeres. Telomeres are a DNA pattern that sets a hard limit on the number of times a cell will divide (and thus repair itself). When the limit is reached, cells stop dividing (then accumulate damage and age). The limit for humans is somethi…

Telomeres exist to prevent out of control cell reproduction, ie cancer. Turn them off and you get a very high cancer rate. That's not to say we can't end aging by extending them, but it's not that simple.

> Turn them off and you get a very high cancer rate.

Or rather, enable telomere repair mechanisms, and you get a higher cancer rate. One of the things cancers must do in order to keep existing is to activate teleomerase or the alt telomere repair mechanism.

Re: Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity?

#26

Post by JulianMorrison »

cantrevealname wrote: post #20

There's a super-fundamental discovery about ageing--and a possible "cure" to ageing--that longevity researchers seem to be WAY TOO cautious in discussing and pursuing. These are telomeres. Telomeres are a DNA pattern that sets a hard limit on the number of times a cell will divide (and thus repair itself). When the limit is reached, cells stop dividing (then accumulate damage and age). The limit for humans is somethi…

Telomeres are not immortality. They are "ulimit" for cells. Maximum number of forked processes. Set the limit to unlimited, oops cancer.

Also, they are only one of the factors that combine to cause of ageing.

Post reply on HN