Do You Want To Live Forever? a documentary

Most respondents to the Reader's Digest global survey are just fine with their limited shelf life here on earth. Not even the younger crowd consistently chooses immortality.

In fact, more than 50 percent of those 45 and under in seven countries (including the United States) report that they don't want to live forever.


Channel 4 Documentary following the revolutionary life-extension and immortality ideas of this somewhat eccentric scientist, Dr. Aubrey de Grey. This show is all about the radical ideas of a Cambridge biomedical gerontologist called Aubrey de Grey who believes that, within the next 20-30 years, we could extend life indefinitely by addressing seven major factors in the aging process. He describes his work as Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS).

Computer scientist Aubrey de Grey believes he has the answer to eternal life. As a Cambridge University computer technician, Aubrey has been rubbing shoulders with the great and the good of academic biology. With an open mind and a hunger for knowledge, he has become conversant with the latest aging research.He is a man with a mission – to end the scandal of death. Ever the logician, Aubrey has identified 'seven deadly things' that cause aging and has proposed a solution for each.Only those outside the field of biology admire Aubrey's work; it seems hard to discover a biologist who does. Most point out that whilst he is well informed, he is naïve in the extreme. He has no experience in the lab and has no idea how hard it is to address these problems in real life.

Aubrey's Seven Deadly Things

Cell death

Cells of the heart and brain get damaged and die. They are not replaced and lead to a gradual loss of function in these organs. Aubrey believes that stem cell therapy will replace these missing cells.

Stem cell therapy isn't at this stage of development yet.

Proliferation of unwanted cells

Bit by bit, we lose muscle cells as we age and our bodies replace them with fat cells. Aubrey believes that it's possible to manipulate muscle cell genes that cause cell death with gene therapy.

Gene therapy has been much more problematic in trials than expected and will take many man hours of science to perfect the therapy for each individual condition.

Formation of protein cross-links

Hardening of arteries occurs by the formation of bonds between the proteins in the arterial walls called cross-links. They have the effect of making the artery walls harder, even brittle. Aubrey believes we can develop drugs to prevent these cross-links forming.

Research hasn't even begun on this yet.

Clear accumulated junk outside cells

Our bodies slowly build up junk outside our cells. The junk comes from the general wear and tear of life, illness, damage and toxic substances. The junk is generally encased in proteins to render it harmless. In the brain for example, junk is encased in amyloid protein, but too much amyloid can be harmful to brain functioning.

The ability to safely remove amyloid protein is a major focus of many neurobiologists who have already spent many years thinking about it. Aubrey hasn't done any research on this yet.

Clear indigestible junk inside cells

Some of the toxins that our bodies absorb are difficult to break down and excrete. In this case, the substances are sequestered or bound inside cells so that they become inactive and harmless. As we age, this junk accumulates in cells, until it eventually effects cell function. Aubrey has suggested that enzymes taken from the bacteria that break down bodies in graves might stop the accumulation of harmful junk, inside and outside cells.

Aubrey has done no research into this at all, although he claims that he has two labs working on it. Most biologists in the know feel that this is a gross over-simplification of the problem.

Repair genes in the cells engine

Almost all of our cells contain little structures called mitochondria. These are the cellular engines that convert energy from oxygen into a form that the cell can store and utilise. These structures contain their own genes, which are prone to accumulate mutations causing an array of degenerative effects. Aubrey suggests we replace mitochondrial genes by gene therapy.

Since gene therapy in itself is far from a routine procedure, this solution seems rather over-optimistic.

Repair chromosomal genes

The DNA that makes up our chromosomal genes is prone to accumulate mutations as we age. Some of these mutations will be harmless, but others can lead to cell degeneration, inappropriate cell proliferation and even cancer. Aubrey believes that regular replacement of our chromosomal DNA will save us from aging.

Once again, nice idea Aubrey, but how is it to be done?

So what now?

Until Aubrey comes up with genuine laboratory evidence showing that he can achieve some of these goals, we are stuck with aging whether we want to live forever, or not.

Meantime, many of us, including research biologists, will try to slow down the aging process by tried and tested means – by taking in lots of antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables, keeping a balanced diet and exercising regularly. Most of us also manage to moderate the level of toxins that we put into our bodies. Aubrey, on the other hand, appears to be advancing the speed with which his own body ages with regular bouts of early morning beer drinking.

EngEdu Related websites:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3329065877451441972
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/do-you-want-to-live-forever-around-the-world-with-one-question/article127287.html
http://www.Mprize.org
http://www.ImmInst.org
http://www.sens.org