It seems like every time I read a scientific document there is a reference in it to some breakthrough in the aging process of humans. Before I get into this I would like to say something about our DNA. We do not know what most of our DNA does and for years scientists have considered most of our DNA “junk DNA”. It is only lately some scientists are beginning to reason the DNA which they thought was junk may be very important to us. Some have even taken this further and suggested there could be a message in our DNA we don’t know about. Who would this message be from and what could it possibly say? Some say we were created by aliens and they left a message in our DNA to be read when we became technologically capable of doing it. Others say God left us a message and when we are smart enough to discover it, it could change our lives. I don’t know about secret messages, but I wonder if we will truly be able to stop the aging process without knowing what the rest of our DNA does.

There is a study which came out from the Euston Methodist Research Institute and it is aimed at human aging. It focuses on our chromosomes. For years some scientists have been claiming the telomeres at the end of our chromosomes correspond to our age, because they get shorter the more we age. The study talks about a genetic disease which is fatal and it is called progeria. The disease causes rapid aging. It is very sad to see someone with this disease, because while they may be a child their body is that of an old man or old woman. The scientists found when they lengthen the telomeres on the chromosomes of children who have the disease, many of the problems associated with this disease go away. There is a problem however and it is the fact sometimes an old person can be found which has longer telomeres than a young person. This is why scientists are saying this method is not ready and is not precise enough. I guess we’ll have to scratch this one off our list for now.

Things were much simpler in ancient times and in the Middle Ages, because the cure for old age was considered a magic potion and all one had to do was find it and drink it. Other cures was said to be magical waters and again they had to be located. Everybody knows about Ponce De Leon and his search for the fountain of youth. Some said this fountain was located in Bimini which was said to be a magical land. Many historians say Ponce De Leon did not search for the fountain of youth and the story is false. By the way he became the first governor of Puerto Rico and like all humans he eventually died.

An article in the Telegraph states scientists have been able to reverse aging in mammals and they are predicting performing human trials within ten years. So how can they be saying they are going to be able to do this? They claim they will be able to reverse adult cells back to their embryonic form. Researchers at the Salk Institute in California showed it was possible to reverse aging in mice and this allowed the mice to live 30% longer. They did it by stimulating four genes. They also took human cells from skin and make them look younger. The ultimate aim of the scientists is to create a drug which will allow us to slow down and maybe even reverse aging. What I thought was a very interesting statement was made by one of the doctors who said, "Our study shows that ageing may not have to proceed in one single direction.” This sounds like something right out of Benjamin Button. The scientists went on to say they realize mice are not as complicated as humans, but they believe they have shown the process to be easier to perform than they had first thought.

The US edition of The Guardian has another story about scientists trying to reverse aging. A group of scientists believe purging your body of old cells, known as retired cells, can undo the ravages of old age. It states scientists treated mice with a substance which swept away cells which had entered a dormant state due to DNA damage and once this happens the mice then grew new fur and kidney functions improved and they were able to run twice as far as the elderly mice which were the same age. It’s nice to know we are raising such a healthy crop of mice. The scientists want to know if getting rid of these type of cells in humans will cure a whole range of age-related diseases. It is believed someday people will be able to go to the doctor and be treated for their old age just as they are treated today for a disease.

An article in Science states there is a molecule which has killed elderly cells in mice and reduced signs of aging in the animals. Scientists are saying this is a landmark advance in the field of preventing aging. A scientist who was not connected with the study came out and said “This is the first time that somebody has shown that you can get rid of senescent cells without having any obvious side effects.” It seems as we get older these old useless cells just continue to build up in our body and apparently they are not good for us, to put it mildly. They are thought to be responsible for many of the diseases we have as we age. Scientists now say they have at least seven compounds which are known as senolytics that kill these types of cells. All is not rosy however, because they can kill healthy cells or trigger side effects. This means none of these drugs are ready for prime time.

It has been the dream of humans for thousands of years to be able to reverse aging or at least to stop it in its tracks. Immortality is not unknown in the animal and plant world. While there are immortal animals they certainly can be killed by disease or predators and one of them is the American lobster. Unfortunately for the lobster it is the favorite food of almost everything big enough to eat it in the sea and of course also the favorite food of humans. An immortal plant is the Rocky Mountains bristlecone pine. They have some in the United Kingdom which began growing five thousand years ago. Even though they are still around they haven’t fared well, because of all the times they have been struck by lightning and weighed down by snow. When the trees were studied it was found their vascular tissue function was just as efficient in the ancient trees as in the young ones.

It is beginning to look like we are entering an age where it might be possible to eliminate disease and control aging. The younger ones who are around now may live to see this.