Saturday, November 19, 2011

Experiments that may mean reduced ageing

Courtesy Nick.

This TED talk is by the illustrious Cynthia Kenyon, where she describes experiments done by her which could reveal genes which cause aging, at least those that appear to do so in C.Elegans, everyone's favorite model organism.

An interesting debate should ensue about what the implications of such research could be on the human race, given that part of the population problem, and indeed most current global problems, is due to an increased lifespan in humans.

3 comments:

  1. Say humans could live forever based upon engineering advances, in terms of the population problem it is irrelevant so long as the population has a birth rate of less than 2, do the math, the population has a finite number even if we all live forever. However, if the rate is above 2 then the population's final number is infinite for whether we live forever or not. Since this technology (based upon current social standing) would never be applied to a population with a rate above 2, there is currently should be no fear of this technology based on population growth.

    See this video for further information into the contraversial debate on how we'll engineer living longer

    http://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here is an example of some of that engineering at work already

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15963467

    ReplyDelete
  3. not convinced. need to see the math. I think you're skipping steps.

    ReplyDelete