[gcruse]

I would have thought the key was telomerase.  There may be several avenues to life extension.

[qam1]

It's the Mitochrondria that's the key,

If we could just keep them from mutating or fix them as they mutate we would return and stay 18 forever.

I personally hope they take all these life extention drugs coming down the pike and hide them away until the last of the baby boomers drops dead. They are in power now screwing everything up and I figure we are already stuck with them ruling for another 15-20 years until the Xs and Ys take over. America will be lucky to survive the next 20 years with this loser generation in control, We most certainly would be utterly destroyed if they were able to live and stay in power longer.

[WOSG]

This is WOW stuff ...

Telomerase: What it is saying is you can potentially fix the limits on cell division, which means regeneration can continue without limit.

Sirtuin: This pass is different because it is regulating and helping extend the life of an individual cell.

A third avenue would be cell replacement therapies (eg take a stem cell cultivate it to be brain glial cells or liver cells or heart cells, then insert to help out the 'tired' existing cells).

Several avenues. Put them together and it is possible to imagine 2X, 4X ...???X ... life spans, with same quality of life, just 'stretched out'.

I think if you get down to it and are able to manipulate and fix things on cell level, there is not a natural limit to human life, any more than there is a 'natural limit' to life of say a car. It can go for 500,000 with proper upkeep and replacement of key parts.

Eventually it breaks down too much and has to get junked.

I am all for repealing Soc Security before this gets out of hand! :-)