 | Astronaut Scott Kelly is no longer half of a pair of identical twins. He set the record for most consecutive days in orbit, and when he returned his genetic composition had been altered from that of his twin brother. |
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy for males in the early 1900s was 45.6 years; by the late 1950s it rose to about 66; by 2007 it reached 75.5. There are multiple factors and variables involved in determining the life expectancy, certainly not the least of which is infant mortality which has drastically improved in the modern era.
Over the course of human history, life expectancy rates have steadily increased. Children born in 1900 were expected to be tucked into their graves by 50. 50 years of age was a vast improvement of 25 to 30 years a primitive human could expect to live.
Today, the average life expectancy teters around 77 years old in the western world - somewhat lower in the undeveloped countries. Females are expected to outlive their male counterparts at 79.4 years. Men are only expected to live for 73.5 years which balances out to an average life expectancy of 77 for the population as a whole.
A company co-founded by synthetic biologist George Church, a Harvard Medical School professor is researching various gene therapies / gene editing processes that have the potential to reverse ageing in Human Beings and increase our life expectancies. They've done it on mice and are trying it on dogs. The company, Rejuvenate Bio has carried out tests on beagles, which they claim will tweak the animals genetic make-up and hopefully reverse the ageing process.
As per Church “Dogs are a market in and of themselves....It’s not just a big organism close to humans. It’s something people will pay for, and the FDA process is much faster. We’ll do dog trials, and that’ll be a product, and that’ll pay for scaling up in human trials.”
Church described a combination of 45 gene therapies that have the potential to reverse aging. The combined treatments are effective against obesity, diabetes, osteoarthritis, cardiac damage and kidney disease. Anti-Aging Gene Therapy for Dogs Coming This Fall
Juvenescence, a UK start-up, is also developing age reversing technologies. The biotech has acquired stakes in 15 related companies, AgeX Therapeutics from California is one. They are developing stem cells to regenerate tissues that deteroriate as we age. They are anticipating an Initial Public offerring of their stock next year. Life Biosciences based in Boston is involved in similar research and development.
Some have speculated that practical rejuvenation therapies that reverse aging will be readily available within 2 decades. So someone please ring up Ponce de Leon on your Ouija Board and let him know that we finally found it - Eureka ?!
Astronaut Scott Kelly is no longer half of a pair of identical twins. He set the record for most consecutive days in orbit, and when he returned his genetic composition had been altered from that of his twin brother.
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