Reversing aging might be possible

[Yoyodyne ArtWorks]

Mother Nature is trying to rid this planet of humans like a dog shaking off fleas. Let us not interfere with her good works. miley-gen013:

[freeradical]

Yoyodyne ArtWorks wrote:
Mother Nature is trying to rid this planet of humans like a dog shaking off fleas. Let us not interfere with her good works. miley-gen013:

:facepalm:

[pRICE cUBE]

Sooooooo.....isn't this how we end up with Zombies?

[sekker]

Newsweek did not even followup.

The Nature citation is a news article.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02638-w

The main paper can be accessed here:

https://www.gwern.net/docs/longevity/2019-fahy.pdf

None of the links in the Nature article seemed to work for me, so I thought I'd post.

This paper is quite preliminary in my opinion - including the idea that there is an 'epigenetic clock' is controversial.

[NewtonMP2100]

....can you reverse Age of Innocence......???

[Sarcany]

From what I've read, the idea behind using methyl as a proxy for aging is that it accumulates over time and supposedly interferes with gene-expression and transcription. Whether it is a reliable indicator of age or infirmity is still up for debate.

I think it's similar to the shortening telomeres thing. Seemed to be a good way to estimate a subject's age, but clones end up with shorter telomeres than otherwise and often live normal-length lives, so it's more complicated than just the length of telomeres.

Correlation does not equal causation and all that...

Seems that there are lots of other factors: Accumulating DNA damage, fewer stem cells, viral infection (seems that common viruses have surprising influences on brain-function over time)... And general wear-and-tear.

Any geneticists in the forum who care to comment?

[pdq]

I don’t know about reversing aging, but I think drug (or gene) therapies slowing aging (already being done in experimental animals) may not be as many as 30 years away.

[NewtonMP2100]

....so we can 'Benjamin Button'.....this sucker....???

[Lew Zealand]

No controls.
No researcher blinding.
Uses a proxy for actual effects.

This is the thinnest of preliminary data but at least it suggests obvious experiments to generate actual data.

[NewtonMP2100]

....if I could turn back time.....if I could find....a way.....