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The two tributes will have a short time with people they are close to before they head for the Capitol, and then they go to a training center where they spend the next few weeks getting ready for the games. |
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Curing Aging and the Science of Immortality |
Previously, I argued how real anti-aging medicine does not yet exist. In this speculative essay, I debate how gerontology may progress with the aim of developing true anti-aging therapies that not only considerably extend lifespan and delay human aging but may eventually cure aging. |
A Roadmap to Developing a Cure for Aging |
Understanding the Process of Aging |
Genomics and the Promise of Digital Biology |
Fighting Aging: The Road Ahead |
The Importance of the Brain in Anti-Aging Research |
Keywords: ageing, biogerontology, biomedical gerontology, ending aging, functional genomics, immortalism, life-extension, neurodegeneration, neuroscience, pharmacogenomics, rejuvenation, translational science |
A Roadmap to Developing a Cure for Aging |
"No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking." |
As previously mentioned, I care about understanding the aging process for human benefit, to develop biomedical interventions that can delay aging in people and improve their health. No doubt curing aging is an Herculean task. The major age-related diseases like cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases are s... |
Given the complexity of aging, many have questioned whether curing aging is even realistic (Warner et al., 2005; Olshansky et al., 2006; Holliday, 2009). There is no scientific reason, however, to think that aging cannot be cured. After all, curing aging does not violate any law of physics. There are even reasons to be... |
Unfortunately, the development of true anti-aging interventions is hindered by the little we know about the mechanisms of aging. Others have argued that we do not need to learn how a car works in order to drive it, and so maybe we do not need to learn everything about aging in order to cure it (de Grey, 2003). As discu... |
With curing aging as the ultimate goal, and based on the model systems available, I believe there are three general areas we must tackle: |
1. Increase our knowledge of the mechanisms of aging |
2. Develop a deeper understanding of biology, and specifically of the machines of life and their interactions (which can be seen as a broader goal of the above point) |
3. Develop new methods to modify biological processes in vivo |
Understanding the Process of Aging |
Opinions diverge, and many different strategies can be employed to study aging, yet I feel that the two most important questions in gerontology are: 1) What controls the rate of aging among mammals? This can refer to genetic differences between individuals (i.e., different people) but the major question to is: Why does... |
At present, we know very little about both 1) and 2). The little we know about the changes people endure as they age come from studies at the level of tissues and organs, as described before. That is, we know of specific age-related changes and functional declines but we do not know why those happen, what are the under... |
Studying human aging |
Figure 1: Methodologies for studying human aging. Variation is the basis for studying any phenomena and aging is no exception. On one hand we may use a comparative biology approach to understand why different species age at different paces (and to a lesser degree study differences in longevity between individuals of th... |
One crucial aspect of research on aging, which is sometimes overlooked by researchers including myself, is that our work should deal with human aging. Aging in model organisms is irrelevant if it is not applicable to humans. Some mechanisms of aging identified in model organisms may be relevant to human aging while oth... |
Once we know more about which mechanisms to target for therapeutic purposes, we can consider the development of therapies that delay, stop or reverse the aging process (Fig. 2). It may be seen as speculative to consider such ambitious anti-aging therapies at present, since we know little about what interventions will b... |
Strategy for studying aging |
Figure 2: Steps necessary to gain enough information about aging to start developing a cure. On one hand, we must identify therapeutic targets by studying why we become frailer with age and/or why we age slower than most other mammals. Then we must develop technologies capable of targeting the molecules, cells, or tiss... |
Genomics and the Promise of Digital Biology |
". . . the general who wins a battle makes many calculations . . ." |
Sun Tzu in "The Art of War" |
One of the major problems of biology is that it is highly unpredictable. For example, the rate of success of drugs in clinical trials is only 20% (DiMasi et al., 2010). The reason for this is that biology is intrinsically complex and thus, even with promising pre-clinical results from cells and model organisms, most dr... |
In a sense, the human genome has all the information we need to know about aging, and we may have the secret of immortality in the genomes of animals that appear not to age. The problem is that the secret is encrypted and many facets of the genome remain a mystery. For example, at present almost half of the ~20,000 hum... |
I am convinced that genomics and bioinformatics will play a major role in deciphering the process of aging and perhaps the secret of immortality. Of course that major hurdles will need to be overcome. The genomes of certain viruses have been sequenced years ago and we still cannot cure the diseases associated with them... |
Comparative genomics of aging |
Figure 3: If we can understand the genetic factors that determine the rate of aging among similar species, like primates, then it may be possible to develop interventions that extend the human lifespan even further. To quote Leslie Orgel: "Evolution is cleverer than you are," so identifying the tricks evolution uses to... |
Fighting Aging: The Road Ahead |
"By the year 2030, we will have (1) developed a complete model of all human cell types, obviating the need for many laboratory experiments [by doing computer simulations instead]; (2) lowered the cost of doing a complete genomic sequence for an human individual to less than $1,000 each; and (3) catalogued all the genes... |
Francis Collins |
In silico studies will be one of the major approaches for determining the causes of aging and developing interventions. Some immortalists argue that the key to solve human aging is in computers and artificial intelligence, not in biology; i.e., building computers smarter than us capable of solving the problems we canno... |
"I'll live forever or die trying." |
There is considerable evidence that aging is not irreversible. At the molecular and cellular level this certainly appears to be the case. In stem cells, self-renewal can be reinstated by suppression of certain factors (Wang et al., 2011). The fact a number of aging changes seem to be due to signaling pathways is encour... |
No doubt I am optimistic about the prospect of radically increasing our lifespan, but I am also aware of the numerous problems involved. While I think that there are genetic factors that make up a unifying core of human aging, it is impossible to say how many genes are involved. The fact that no human (or mammal) can a... |
Overall, understanding the mechanisms of aging and deciphering the genome will be monumental tasks. Still, I am confident that we will be able to elucidate all the genetic mechanisms that drive aging within my own lifetime via the combination of approaches mentioned earlier (Figs. 1 and 2). I am equally confident that ... |
"We, alone on earth, can revolt against the selfish replicators" |
Richard Dawkins |
The Importance of the Brain in Anti-Aging Research |
One topic I should emphasize is brain aging. Theoretically, the only organ that cannot be replaced is the brain; lifespan is equivalent to brainspan. Following an earlier discussion, it is open to debate whether aging is caused by factors that do not have their origin in the brain. Perhaps our brain just ages because t... |
It is also possible, though speculative, that future developments in cybernetics, artificial organs and therapeutic cloning will make it possible to replace all other organs besides the brain. But even if we could develop replacement organs for our most vital organs, this appears to be a difficult, dangerous, and unpre... |
Short-term memory loss, personality and cognitive changes with age, dementia, general decline of the nervous system and senses, and many other changes are likely to occur with aging (Craik and Salthouse, 1992; Hayflick, 1994, pp. 161-166; Zec, 1995). Until recently, it was thought that neuronal loss, due to the accumul... |
Up to the Gerontology Information |
Back to |
Copyright © 1997 - 2002, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013 by João Pedro de Magalhães. All rights reserved. |
1. Sacred Destinations |
2. Spain Photos |
3. Cordoba Photos |
4. Mezquita de Cordoba |
5. Mezquita de Cordoba Photos |
6. Mezquita de Cordoba |
Photo of Mezquita de Cordoba |
Forest of Columns |
Interior of the Mezquita, with its forest of over 856 (originally 1,293) columns topped with piers and two tiers of red-and-white striped arches. The ancient columns - made of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite - were taken from the Roman temple which had previously occupied the site and shipped in from other ancient bu... |
Photo © Holly Hayes. |
NEW YORK — It's been a couple of days now, and perhaps it's time for Denverites to take a step back, use some perspective and at least appreciate how far the Broncos came this season. |
It's crazy to think back to the weeks after the loss to the Ravens last season. The sadness didn't dissipate after dethawing. The piercing painful reminders popped up randomly, which hit you during a work meeting or a drive home, and all you could think was AAAARRGGHH! |
Well, this one was for a Super Bowl title. And the greatest offense in NFL history scored eight points. What was that? This was LeBron James putting up six points with four boards. This was circa "Magnum PI" Tom Selleck leaving Ladies' Night with just his mustache. It was unfathomable. Joe Namath had a better night tha... |
"It doesn't feel real," said Denver defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. "It almost feels like a nightmare." |
In the 43-8 Super Bowl shellacking by the Seattle Seahawks, you were let down by the people you trusted, and that's perhaps the best way to explain the inexplicable, to capture the reality of the rout. That's why it hurts. Coach John Fox was valiant all season, next men were up, but in this chess match against Pete Car... |
But really, the game MVP was Dan Quinn. Wait, who? He is Seattle's defensive coordinator, who not only developed a historic defense with many overlooked low draft picks but also admitted he found a flaw in Denver's offense, a mole on Mona Lisa. After the game, Quinn and some Seahawks told The Newark Star-Ledger that qu... |
So that stinks. |
But that's what great coaches do: They find weaknesses. I'm not saying that Fox blew the game by not finding Russell Wilson's tell sign. I'm just saying this was another example of the Seahawks' staff rising to the moment. |
What if that first flip was heads, Denver won and deferred as it is wont to do? Denver was 14-1 when it won the toss this season. Makes you wonder, only for a moment, until you hear Manning's postgame words: "You can 'what if' all you want." |
I was told Denver's parade would have been Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather. |
Instead, they'll celebrate in Seattle, where it might rain on their parade — which, so it seems, has become a Seattle theme. |
Benjamin Hochman: or |
Terrell Owens Catch: Reactions From The Seahawks Sideline |
My opinion on Terrell Owens is not a negative one. From a football standpoint, I agree that at times in his career he has come off as a nuisance. Perhaps a distraction that is not worth the talent. I can't deny that there's something to it when several teams don't want you anymore, because NFL teams do not make a habit... |
However, from a human standpoint I like the guy. I think that T.O. is a sensitive, misunderstood, soft-spoken person that might have some self-esteem issues. I know his history with celebrations, but I think a lot of people have that one place where they don't necessarily have to be themselves anymore. I'm not sure tha... |
Owens struggled to get in a rhythm in his first Seahawks game and dropped a touchdown pass. You could either feel bad for the guy, feel angry, or just laugh about it. I felt bad for him. |
Owens struggled to get in a rhythm in his second Seahawks game and again, had a case of the drops. You could speculate on how his teammates felt about this. Were they mad? Did they just say, "Come on, Pete! Cut this guy already!"? I know that fans did that in the game thread. The fans were over the T.O. thing. But what... |
When T.O. made his first catch as a Seahawk, an over-the-shoulder falling 40-yard bomb, we had our answer... |
(click to embiggen) |
1 - Pete does an impression of Tom Hanks in Castaway... "AGGGHH!!! FIRRREEE!!!" |
2 - "AHHHHH" |
3 - "Ooooohhhhhhh yeah, boy" |
4 - "Wow, look!" |
5 - "What happened?" |
6 - "Okay, who is that and where am I?" |
7 - "Good job, good effort." /clap clap clap |
8 - "hehehehehhe" |
9 - "Is defense in yet?" |
10 - "oh neato!" |
But that is only the beginning... |
Pete instinctively starts bringing his hands back to his groin area. Earl Thomas is ready to pounce. Marcus Trufant still doesn't care. Bobby Wagner wants to go play defense, seriously. Donny Lisowski, #38, is wondering how this effects his chances of making the team. |
But as the after-the-play develops... something AMAZING happens. |
Lisowski will never care... |
I think I have a new favorite Seahawk. |
Oh, and the moral of the story is that most of this team blew up and I don't think it was because a Seahawk caught a nice 40-yard pass. It was because T.O. caught a nice 40-yard pass. Let's move on. |
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