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Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

theguardian.com

71–80 of 243 posts

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#72
post #64
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post fills me with questions. Foremost: What makes anti-aging technology unnatural compared to other medical treatments? To take one example, the smallpox vaccine was initially considered unnatural, and an affront to God[1]. [1] http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/whitem10.html

I think it's fair to call most medical treatments unnatural. That doesn't make them bad, but it should make us thoughtful and careful. Natural systems are often, thanks to evolution and adaptation, complicated and delicately balanced. I think reflexive appeals to tradition and novelty are both kind of dumb. But if people are going to err, I'd rather they erred on the side of tradition: at least that shit has been dem…

Eben Byers was a victim of quack medicine, much like people nowadays who try to use magnets and sugar water to cure cancer. Bringing him up in a discussion of real medicine is frankly an insult to the researchers who do this stuff.

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#73
post #68
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's fair to call most medical treatments unnatural. That doesn't make them bad, but it should make us thoughtful and careful. Natural systems are often, thanks to evolution and adaptation, complicated and delicately balanced. I think reflexive appeals to tradition and novelty are both kind of dumb. But if people are going to err, I'd rather they erred on the side of tradition: at least that shit has been dem…

Sorry, I fat-fingered on the downvote button with my iDevice, I meant to vote you up (because of the first paragraph specifically, not so much the rest). Could someone counteract me, please?

Done.... Just you make a little sport in my stead and get a thinner thumb will you?

Just kidding.

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#74
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I fat-fingered on the downvote button with my iDevice, I meant to vote you up (because of the first paragraph specifically, not so much the rest). Could someone counteract me, please?

Done.... Just you make a little sport in my stead and get a thinner thumb will you? Just kidding.

Thanks!

Maybe I'll consider thumb-thinning surgery instead ;)

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#75
post #37

Researchers injected a chemical called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD, which reduces in the body as we age. The addition of this compound led to the radical reversal in the ageing of the mice. While this is pretty cool, it seems that the most immediate effect would be a higher availability of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), meaning more energy "currency" for the body's machinery to work with [1] [2] (someone…

“Personally, I’ve been hearing all my life about the Serious Philosophical Issues posed by life extension, and my attitude has always been that I’m willing to grapple with those issues for as many centuries as it takes.” -Patrick Hayden

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#76
post #4

I always wonder about this quote, “Whether that means we’ll all live to 150, I don’t know, but the important part is that we don’t spend the last 20 to 30 years of our lives in bad health.” Imagine a process that makes you feel like you are 25 right up until you body gives up at a physical age of 100 or something. Do you end up doing riskier things because you don't "feel" old? And if you did would you die sooner? It…

What confuses me is that they seem to be making the assumption that if they are able to give good health in the later years, that the person will die at the same age they would have. Which seems unlikely.

Seems to me if they are in good health, they won't die (healthy people don't tend to). Eventually, though, they will be in bad health enough to die. In which case, it IS about longer life spans, since we'll still have the same problems, just at a later age.

I'm all for longer life (and I imagine they are too), but it seems to me that they are just trying to be politically correct by saying things like the above.

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#77
post #59
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a strange disconnect. I know everyone is thinking what I'm thinking, but you never see this in the articles. Is it some kind of taboo? Sure. It's ridiculously selfish. As you age, you realize your success in all things eventually boils down to experience and ability to execute. Ability to execute wanes with age, as experience is accumulated, so it balances out. Now imagine a spry 20 year old with 60 years of e…

I'm 54, so I suppose I'm one of the people you have never met but still choose to label as an "old fart." Whatever. For what it's worth, I don't care about any "balance that has existed for millions of years." I care about my life and the many people in it, whom I choose to love and respect. As I write this, I'm recovering from a sleeve gastrectomy, where about 75% of my stomach was removed. This was voluntary on my…

I'm 54 and am an old fart.

> This morning, I walked four miles in the Seattle rain.

Ya got me beat. I was waiting for things to dry up a bit before going running.

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#78
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if they are successful (which I hope they are) then we're talking about pushing back retirement until 90 or maybe 95 right? Which I would be totally OK with. Imagine how much more scientific progress we could make if we had 70-year veterans of their field with the sharp mind of a 27-year-old!

Who says their minds will be sharp? This discovery is about muscle aging.

We're just speculating here :)

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#79
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 54, so I suppose I'm one of the people you have never met but still choose to label as an "old fart." Whatever. For what it's worth, I don't care about any "balance that has existed for millions of years." I care about my life and the many people in it, whom I choose to love and respect. As I write this, I'm recovering from a sleeve gastrectomy, where about 75% of my stomach was removed. This was voluntary on my…

I'm 54 and am an old fart. > This morning, I walked four miles in the Seattle rain. Ya got me beat. I was waiting for things to dry up a bit before going running.

Hi Walter. We've never met, but I recognize your name from things you've done in the Seattle area over the last 20 - 30 years. Good to hear from you.

Re: Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

#80
post #4

I always wonder about this quote, “Whether that means we’ll all live to 150, I don’t know, but the important part is that we don’t spend the last 20 to 30 years of our lives in bad health.” Imagine a process that makes you feel like you are 25 right up until you body gives up at a physical age of 100 or something. Do you end up doing riskier things because you don't "feel" old? And if you did would you die sooner? It…

if they are successful (which I hope they are) then we're talking about pushing back retirement until 90 or maybe 95 right? Which I would be totally OK with. Imagine how much more scientific progress we could make if we had 70-year veterans of their field with the sharp mind of a 27-year-old!

Is that the goal of life? Incessant scientific progress?
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