The History, Nature, and Science of Immortality

THE HISTORY, NATURE, AND SCIENCE OF IMMORTALITY STARRING PONCE DE LEÓN... AFTER YEARS OF SEARCHING, I'VE FOUND...FLORIDA THE LEGEND GREW, FROM HERODOTUS' WRITING, THROUGH THE EARLY CRUSADES, THE ALEXANDER ROMANCE, AND PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN IV. VER SINCE THE 5TH CENTURY BC, MANKIND HAS TOLD ELABORATE STORIES ABOUT THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, A MYTHICAL SPRING PONCE DE LEÓN WAS KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, AND IN 1513, HE FOUND ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, INSTEAD. THAT RESTORES YOUTH TO THOSE WHO DRINK FROM OR BATHE IN IT. 20 YEARS AGO: I HAD ONLY BEGUN TO REALIZE MY MORTALITY EVERY PASSING YEAR, NEWBORNS WILL LIVE 3 MONTHS LONGER THAN THOSE BORN THE YEAR BEFORE. PREHISTORIC MAN 20 AVG. LIFESPAN (YEARS) WORLD IN 1600's 30 UMANITY HAS COME A LONG WAY SINCE THE 1600S, WHEN LIFE EXPECTANCY WAS A ANGOLA 38 MEAGER 30 YEARS. WORLD 71 ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, WORLDWIDE LIFE EXPECTANCY IS NOW 71 YEARS, WITH THE USA AT A RECORD HIGH OF 79 USA 79 JAPAN 84 YEARS, AND JAPAN AT A WORLD- LEADING 84 YEARS. WORLD BY 2100 100+ JEANNE CALMENT 122 (OLDEST RECORDED HUMAN WHO EVER LIVED) PERHAPS I SHALL FIND THE ANSWER IN NATURE'S CREATIONS... Facterialist MEANWHILE IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM... A 507- YEAR- OLD OCEAN CLAM (ARCTICA ISLANDICA) WAS FOUND OFF THE COAST OF ICELAND, A DISCOVERY SO SPECIAL THAT THE CLAM WAS GIVEN A NICKNAME: MING THE CLAM THE LOBSTER DOESN'T WEAKEN WITH AGE, AND IS THUS NOT ONLY DELICIOUS BUT ALSO BIOLOGICALLY IMMORTAL. BUT THEY STILL DIE FROM EXHAUSTION WHILE MOLTING (AN INCREDIBLY ENERGY INTENSIVE PROCESS), FROM DISEASE, OR BY BECOMING DINNER. (AGE IN YEARS) 250 MILLION 12 STRAIN 2-9-3, BACTERIA REVIVED IN LAB (B. PERMIANS) 80,000 A TREE COLONY OF QUAKING ASPEN NAMED PANDO SPECIMENS OF BLACK CORAL ( LEIOPATHES) GIANT TORTOISE NAMED ADWAITA OLDEST TERRESTRIAL ANIMAL IN THE WORLD. 4,265 255 IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME, I MUST HAVE AN HEIR HERE'S A PATTERN IN NATURE: THE EARLIER AN ORGANISM HAS OFFSPRING, THE SHORTER THAT ORGANISM'S LIFE WILL BE. ONCE AN ANIMAL HAS SUCCESSFULLY RAISED ITS OFFSPRING, IT COMPETES WITH IT FOR IMPORTANT RESOURCES, LIKE FOOD. THE DANGER OF POPULATION OVERCROWDING MAKES THE DEATH OF ONE GENERATION OF A SPECIES BENEFICIAL FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE NEXT. IN EVOLUTION, THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM, UNTIL IT HAS CHICKS - THEN IT HAS TO FIGHT THEM FOR THE WORM. SCIENTISTS DISCOVER TELOMERES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON LIFESPAN... CAN I REWIRE THEM TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY? dreamsitpo 00:03 YOUNG CELL AGING CELL DEAD CELL IMMORTAL CELL TELOMERASE LENGTHENS AND RESTORES TELOMERES TELOMERES SHORTEN TELOMERES EACH TIME A CELL MULTIPLIES ARE DEPLETED TELOMERES THE TICKING TIME BOMB... AN ENZYME CALLED TELOMERASE HAS POTENTIAL TO INCREASE LIFESPAN TELOMERES ARE PROTECTIVE CAPS ON THE BY INCREASING OR MAINTAINING THE LENGTH OF TELOMERES. ENDS OF OUR CHROMOSOMES. BUT 90% WITH EVERY CELL DIVISION A BIT OF TELOMERE IS LOST, UNTIL EVENTUALLY THEY'RE TOO SHORT FOR CELL DIVISION AND THE CELL DIES. APPROX. OF HUMAN MALIGNANT TUMORS CONTAIN ACTIVE TELOMERASE, THIS IS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT ALLOWING THEM TO REPRODUCE IN AN UNCONTROLLED, DANGEROUS WAY. BIOLOGICAL LIMITS THAT CAUSES AGING, BUT IF TELOMERASE CAN BE USED TO IT'S POSSIBLE THAT TELOMERASE IS EXTEND TELOMERES, THEN THIS LIMIT ON CELL DIVISION, AND THEREFORE LIFESPAN, CAN THEORETICALLY BE INCREASED. NATURALLY ABSENT IN MOST HUMAN CELLS AS A PROTECTIVE MECHANISM TO REPRESS UNCONTROLLED GROWTH. IN 2015, STANFORD RESEARCHERS REPORTED THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO LENGTHEN TELOMERES IN HUMAN CELLS BY UP TO 10%, OR 1000 NUCLEOTIDES, BY USING A MODIFIED TYPE OF RIBONUCLEIC ACID (RNA) THAT CONTAINED TELOMERASE. 28x 3x TREATED SKIN CELLS DIVIDED UP TO MORE THAN UNTREATED CELLS HUMAN MUSCLE CELLS DIVIDED UP TO MORE THAN UNTREATED CELLS USING THIS NEW METHOD, THEY HAVE SUCCEEDED, AT LEAST ON A CELLULAR LEVEL, IN TURNING BACK THE CLOCK. SCIENCE ISN'T YET READY TO FIX WHAT'S ON THE INSIDE. I'LL HAVE TO FIX WHAT'S ON THE OUTSIDE... $12.9 BILLION COSMETIC PROCEDURES IN 2014. HOW MUCH AMERICANS SPENT ON 6.7 MILLION BOTOX PROCEDURES IN THE U.S. IN 2014. BOTOX IS A NEUROTOXIN DERIVED FROM BACTERIA. OF BOTULINUM TOXIN COULD KILL THE 2 KILOGRAMS ENTIRE HUMAN POPULATION OF EARTH. ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLASTIC SURGEONS TOP COSMETIC PROCEDURES IN THE US IN 2014 ( IN MILLIONS ) 6.7 1. BOTOX BY COUNTRY: 1. SOUTH KOREA 2.3 2. SOFT TISSUE FILLERS 2. GREECE . 1 IN 5 1.25 3. CHEMICAL PEEL 3. ITALY 1.1 4. LASER HAIR REMOVAL 4. BRAZIL WOMEN IN SEOUL HAVE HAD COSMETIC SURGERY 5. COLOMBIA .8 5. MICRODERMABRASION 6. US 7. TAIWAN 10X WORLDWIDE AVERAGE RATE FOR PENIS ENLARGEMENT, IN 2010 SPEAKING OF PENIS ENLARGEMENT, MAYBE IT'S TIME TO GIVE UP PLEASURES OF THE FLESH... TEM CELLS IN ASEXUAL PLANARIAN FLATWORMS SCAN CONTINUE CELL DIVISION INDEFINITELY. THIS TRAIT DOES NOT APPEAR IN SEXUALLY REPRODUCING FLATWORMS DID NATURE CHOOSE LIVING FOREVER AT THE EXPENSE OF SEX? Factorialist* I'VE TRIED EVERYTHING THERE IS, TO NO AVAIL. BUT WHO CAN PREDICT WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS? CRYOPRESERVATION $80,000 $200,000 THE "BRAIN PACKAGE' COST TO PRESERVE YOUR BRAIN AT ALCOR + ANNUAL FEES. THE "BODY PACKAGE" COST TO PRESERVE YOUR BODY AT ALCOR + ANNUAL FEES. 138 SATISFIED CUSTOMERS ALREADY IN THEIR FREEZERS CRYOPRESERVATION IS THE PROCESS OF FREEZING THE BRAIN OR BODY IN LIQUID NITROGEN. IT INVOLOVES DRAINING THE BLOOD AND BODILY FLUIDS THEN PUMPING THE BODY FULL OF AN ANTIFREEZE-LIKE LIQUID THAT PREVENTS THE FORMATION OF DAMAGING ICE CRYSTALS. UGE SUMS OF MONEY ARE THROWN INTO OUR MODERN QUEST FOR ETERNAL YOUTH, WITH LARGE GLOBAL CORPORATIONS AND BILLIONAIRES KEEN TO PLAY A ROLE. THERE'S THE PALO ALTO LONGEVITY PRIZE. OFFERING $1,000,000 IN PRIZE MONEY, IT ENCOURAGES SCIENTISTS TO HACK THE CODE THAT CONTROLS OUR LIFESPAN. IN 2013, 600GLE FOUNDED A BIOTECH COMPANY, CALICO, WITH THE AIM OF CHEATING DEATH AND CURING AGE-RELATED DISEASES LIKE CANCER AND ALZHEIMER'S. Sources: http:/www.cell.com/cell reports/abstract/S2211-1247(12)00418-4, http://www.ncbinimnih gov! pubmed/18508666, http:/www.newscientist com/gallery/regeneration, http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/ S2211-1247(12)004184, http:/jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/107/6/djv074.short, http://www.history.com/news/ the-myth-of ponce-de-leon-and-the-fountain-of-youth, http://www.pnas.org/content/109/11/4209. abstract, https:med.stanford.edu'news/all-oews/2015/01/telomere-extension-turns-back aging-clockin cultured-cells. htmil, http:/www.nature.com/news/lawsuit-challenges-anti-ageing-claims-1.11090, http:/abonews.go.com/Health/nip tuck-nations-countries-cosmetio-surgery/storynd-16205231, http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/plastic-surgery-sta tistics/2014-statistics htmi, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/288515.php, http:ipaloaltoprize.com/. http://www.calicolabs.com/, http:/www.alcororg Factorialist* 2015 CHROMOSOME Factorialist* E3 TFactorialist*