We have seen these research results hinting at scientific miracle cures for everything from cancer to heart disease, and now some Boston researchers claim to have reversed aging in mice, and the article by Elysium Health goes on to say that this may have implications for human beings. Firstly, when newspapers publish these sensational headlines based on research, we have all seen that these things rarely, if ever, lead anywhere. Another research team will probably find that they were wrong, or that, while it appears to reverse aging, the test subjects all die of cancer or something. Even more likely, we'll never hear anything more about this. Secondly, while someone dying of heart disease or cancer may understandably experience a feeling of optimism when they read in the newspaper that some research team may have found a cure for whatever it is that they're dying of, wouldn't this be a false hope? Particularly in the case of reversing aging, but also in other cures that could potentially affect large numbers of people, do you think your Medicare plan is going to pay for it? Who do you think it would be made available to? Raising my hand, I can answer that question. It will be made available to the very rich and powerful, and those who are powerful enough will find a way to make us pay for it. The next question bolsters the last. Given that we have been told for decades now that the earth is overpopulated, and we need to do something about that, who do you think is going to have to die in order that the very rich and powerful might live forever, or even a long, long time? Another question, or more of a concern really, is that wouldn't you think that the very rich and the very powerful are going to get richer and more powerful with every extra year they are given? Where does that leave the rest of humanity?
Scientists reverse age-related memory loss in mice "Scientists at Cambridge and Leeds have successfully reversed age-related memory loss in mice and say their discovery could lead to the development of treatments to prevent memory loss in people as they age". "In a study published today in Molecular Psychiatry, the team show that changes in the extracellular matrix of the brain -- 'scaffolding' around nerve cells -- lead to loss of memory with ageing, but that it is possible to reverse these using genetic treatments". (Read More)