5. A Cure For Aging
As the incessant march of mortality continues unabated, the search for a cure for ageing is hotting up. The first problem is to figure out exactly what ageing actually is. After middle age, the body gradually loses its ability to maintain proper homeostasis.DNA damage begins to build up, it can't regulate blood sugar or pressure as effectively, and collagen production drops off. We give these names like cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and wrinkles, but what if we were able to treat the root cause? Ageing is basically thought to be cased by an accumulation of damage that happens as our cells copy and reproduce, sometimes with random errors. These errors build up over time and disrupt the normal, healthy functioning of the body. If there was a way of eliminating the cells that contain errors, we might be able to stave off the effects of ageing indefinitely. Scientists at the Institute of Cell Biology, Switzerland, have developed a technique that can dramatically increase the lifespans of fruit flies by activating a gene that destroys unhealthy cells, thus eliminating the buildup of damage over time. They identified the azot gene, which can selectively target unhealthy cells in the body. Usually, there are two copies of this gene in each cell, but the researchers found that, by inserting a third copy, they could increase its efficiency and boost the lifespans of the flies by as much as 60%. As the same gene is conserved in humans, this could also work for us. If it does, then people could live healthily and actively well into their hundreds.