Today we see all kinds of advertising for everything from products to keep us young or make us look younger or more beautiful, and medical technology in the hands of the best doctors has already given us incredible plastic surgery results as well as transplants of almost every organ or part of the body should that part wear out or need replacement from a suitable donor.

Let me bring this into focus for you.  If you’re old enough to remember going to the Saturday movie matinees as a kid in the 1940’s and 50’s, then you remember the futuristic Flash Gordon flying rocket ships into the Galaxy, or if you were a fan of the funnies, Dick Tracy using his magical two-way wrist-watch like a telephone.  That was only a little more than 50-years ago, and today, we hardly notice when another team of astronauts lands on the moon, or walks in space, and the unimaginable 2-way wrist radio of Dick Tracy has already been far surpassed with phones featuring voice, video, and cameras already built-in.  So it’s not too much of a leap of faith to think that we might be seeing our life spans extended dramatically within the next 20-years.  In fact, the scientific efforts are already well under way.

One of the leading researchers is Dr. Aubrey de Grey, chairman and chief science officer of the Methuselah Foundation, an appropriately named research center that is closing in on extending human life.  Most of us realize that our bodies are very much like a machine, with parts that wear out, and parts that break due to genetic or disease related defects.  But the one aspect that seems to be related to most major diseases, like Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease and cancer is that they tend occur in the later years of life.  What if science could intervene and alter that process – our bodies might not break down, get sick or succumb to life-threatening diseases and we might live many more years.

To combat aging, Dr. de Grey has formulated a plan that he says may eventually bring about the indefinite postponement of age-related physical and mental decline. This method was named SENS -Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence – or in plain English, how do we eliminate aging?  This new methodology is being used to seek a cure for aging with an engineering strategy based on the direct repair and replacement of the damaged structures in the body.

Not at all surprising is that much of this new science and technology is based on the use of stem cells, of which there are several types.  Some stem cells called embryonic stem cells, which are taken from human embryos. These embryos are capable, unlike adult stem cells, of morphing or changing into any specific cell in the body.  And this is critical, because the ethical debate notwithstanding, gerontologists have already identified 7-specific causes of age-related damage, and all of those problems can be targeted for repair with the use of these particular stem cells. It’s like that line from the old TV show, The $6-Million Man – “…we can make you faster, stronger, better….” In fact, a laboratory mouse in one experiment was kept the mouse alive for five years; that’s the equivalent of extending a human life up to 200 years.

Now I’m not a big fan of the idea of living forever, and this kind of technology and science may be tinkering with our Creator’s plan. And I don’t even want to get into the fact that such future offerings favor the wealthy, or the ethical and economic questions that may come out of this type of scientific breakthrough technology.  But think about this for just a minute.  In fewer than 100-years we’ve invented jets, color television, computers, cell phones, and eradicated major diseases like Polio, TB and malaria, so it’s not that far-fetched to think that our children, now in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s might see options in their lives of living to be 120 to 150- years old.  We live in amazing times, and for all the challenges we’re facing today, we’re still pushing the envelope on eternal youth, beauty and longevity in pursuit of a cure for aging.

In the words of that once famous Russian comedian, Yakov Smirnoff, “America, what a country!”  Until next time, be well and prosper.

Ron Kauffman is a Certified Senior Advisor, and an expert on issues of aging and care giving.  He is the author of Caring for a Loved One with Alzheimer’s Disease, which is available at www.seniorlifestyles.net. He can be reached at 561-626-4481 or by email at drron407@bellsouth.net.