In more recent times, researchers have began reseting the clock in mice.
This deals with erasing the epigenomic marks by activating genes responsible for the health of embryonic cells. Scientists have rejuvenated the organs of mice and discovered that they can lengthen their lifespan by 30%! This technique cannot be applied to humans but scientists are well on their way to gaining a better understanding of muscle and organ regeneration. I believe this is an incredible finding! Whether we are either slowing down or reversing aging we are moving forward scientifically and I find that amazing. This is all stemming from work completed ten years ago and I cannot wait to see how this has advanced in ten years to come.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/science/scientists-say-they-can-reset-clock-of-aging-for-mice-at-least.htmlrref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FGenetic%20Engineering&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3839659/
While this research is incredible and no doubt ground breaking, I can't help but think how people will end up using this technology. And, of course, this goes against many ethical issues. Will this research be considered as "playing God", so on and so forth? Even though it sounds promising and could do a lot of good in the world, I am almost positive that when this actually takes off, there will be HUGE controversy over it, even worse than the drama surrounding the stem cells when that first started (and even still to this day).
ReplyDeleteThis will definitely start a huge ethics debate. Unfortunately I predict that increasing your lifespan by 30% will be marketed. It makes me think of that movie "In Time" where your wealth and seconds to live are one in the same. The wealthy will live forever.
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