We are programmed not to die, but to live.
"All great discoveries begin as blasphemy"..... George Bernard Shaw.
And so it was
with Galileo, flight, the wheel, and the coming of anti-biotics. Working on the
premise that the human body is programmed not to die, but to live, a group of
dedicated research scientists has found the gene that controls aging. They go to
great lengths to emphasize that their goal is not to stretch longevity but to
manipulate the gene SIRT1 to eliminate the diseases that end our lives.
They
acknowledge also, since the by-product of their work is indeed the extension of
life, that their work will become the stuff of hyperbole. They worry that their
research will be misinterpreted because the premise is so simple: people get
sick because their repair mechanisms get weakened, not because they get old. The
solution, they say, has been right in front of us all along.
These men and
women were drawn to this research from their bases in MIT, Harvard, the
Universities of California and Texas, and from widely scattered universities
abroad. A core group of cellular and evolutionary biologists began by studying
the genetics of the aging rates of yeast cells. Dr. Cynthia Kenyon set out to
find genes that would allow worms to live longer and found the gene SIR2 that
doubled their life spans. The researchers point out that the evolutionary cycle
from yeast to worm to mouse is billions of years in Darwinian terms.
After that,
the challenge became how to add a compound to the gene - like the natural
compound Resveratrol for example - to see how manipulation can affect cancer,
heart diabetes, neurological and other diseases. They believe diseases can be
postponed - perhaps indefinitely - and because disease and longevity go hand in
hand, longevity will be the by-product. Aging, they say is complicated, but this
approach is a simple concept. In 5 - 10 years, they add, we will know about its
effects on disease. It will take 10 -20 to understand the effects on longevity.
These serious
scientists, appropriately cautious in their claims, emphasize that as scientists
they "are going with the grain of nature, not against it." They stand on the
firm scientific ground of their discoveries and invite others to weigh the moral
implications that flow from them.
Robert Kane
Pappas' documentary moves quickly in short, fast cuts of this unfolding
conversation among the scientists and captures beautifully the passion that
drives them. In their expressions and body movements even more than in their
words, the excitement of their search and discovery is palpable. We will one day
know the names of Kenyon, Guarante, Westphal, Austriaco, Butler, Kirkwood,
deGray and others. For now I suggest that you - whoever you may be - will be
riveted by this enormously provocative documentary. The scientists are going
full speed ahead; now it's time for all of us to start pondering the
implications. However this unfolds, as Kenyon says, "This ranks with the
discovery of DNA...this will change everything."
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