
Why Prioritize SENS Research for Human Longevity? - reasonattlm
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2013/03/why-prioritize-sens-research-for-human-longevity.php
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reasonattlm
Also worth noting for this audience, I suppose, is that Peter Thiel has
provided significant support for SENS research. See, for example:

[http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2006/09/peter-thiel-
giv.p...](http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2006/09/peter-thiel-giv.php)

The Bay Area is a hub for aging research in general - there are a number of
important labs nearby (and more in LA), and the SENS Research Foundation has
its research center there. That whole highly networked group of people merges
at the edges with the tech entrepreneur community and the life science
entrepreneur community in the area. See this grassroots group for example, as
representative of the overlap, that runs salons and meetings at Y Combinator
HQ:

<http://healthextension.co/>

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cantrevealname
There's a super-fundamental discovery about ageing--and a possible "cure" to
ageing--that longevity researchers seem to be WAY TOO cautious in discussing
and pursuing.

These are telomeres.

Telomeres are a DNA pattern that sets a hard limit on the number of times a
cell will divide (and thus repair itself). When the limit is reached, cells
stop dividing (then accumulate damage and age). The limit for humans is
something like 70 cellular divisions if I remember right.

If you can find a way to lengthen or reset telomeres, you'd have cellular
immortality.

The first time I heard about it ten years ago, it blew my mind. To me, this is
the biologist's equivalent of a proof that P=NP would be to a computer
scientist. I expected enormous interest and research into this, and billions
of dollars poured into it, but I'm amazed that it hasn't happened and most
people still have never heard of telomeres.

Why isn't there an Apollo-mission-let's-devote-the-resources-of-the-whole-
country effort into this? I think it comes down to fear of researching or
financing anything with the word "immortality" in it. You'd sound like a
crackpot even though the science is sound.

A brief intro on telomeres: [http://www.news-medical.net/health/Telomere-What-
are-Telomer...](http://www.news-medical.net/health/Telomere-What-are-
Telomeres.aspx)

~~~
aneth4
Telomeres exist to prevent out of control cell reproduction, ie cancer. Turn
them off and you get a very high cancer rate.

That's not to say we can't end aging by extending them, but it's not that
simple.

~~~
stcredzero
_> Turn them off and you get a very high cancer rate._

Or rather, enable telomere repair mechanisms, and you get a higher cancer
rate. One of the things cancers must do in order to keep existing is to
activate teleomerase or the alt telomere repair mechanism.

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whatshisface
SNES appears not to be a technology, it's a research group.
<http://www.sens.org/>

Humorously, I can't find where on their website the acronym is defined.

Also, most of the pages in the research section advise us to read _Ending
Aging_ , a book written by the foundation's "Chief Science Officer".

~~~
Aardwolf
Super Nintendo Entertainment System

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jostmey
"After advancing beyond the normal reproductive lifespan, the selective forces
of Mother Nature abandon us like a delinquent parent abandoning a crying baby.
She leaves us alone, scared, and subject to destruction from disorder."

<http://www.genetics.org/content/156/3/927.short>

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kanzure
SENS is worth reading about in the broader context of longevity research. Here
are some things I've enjoyed reading on this topic:
<http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/longevity/>

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standeven
It's rather mind blowing to consider the effects on society if an affordable
way of doubling our lifespans is found. Talk about disruption.

~~~
dbittner1
Exactly. Once a method to significantly lengthen human lifespan is found, the
challenge then becomes: where do the natural resources come from to support
such an expanding world population. When that day of great scientific
discovery arrives, we may all be on a calorie restricted diet, whether we
choose to or not.

~~~
sliverstorm
It won't be a new problem, it will just accelerate the pace.

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ari_elle
Some interesting material on Aubrey de Grey, the former Computer Scientist,
now Biogerontologist behind SENS

[1] TED 2007 - A Roadmap to end aging

[2] TedMed 2009

[3] Documentary: Would you like to live forever

[4] Book: Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse
Human Aging in Our Lifetime

I also wonder if he is on calorie restriction [5], i think it's quite possible

[1] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iYpxRXlboQ>

[2] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgLRhxvRlKg>

[3] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YNTMrarUBE>

[4] [http://www.amazon.com/Ending-Aging-Rejuvenation-
Breakthrough...](http://www.amazon.com/Ending-Aging-Rejuvenation-
Breakthroughs-
Lifetime/dp/0312367074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364678256&sr=8-1&keywords=aubrey+de+grey)

[5] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restriction>

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maaku
> I also wonder if he is on calorie restriction [5], i think it's quite
> possible

He was at least a decade or so ago. I remember it as a factoid in a piece
Discover magazine did about him and his research.

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devNoise
It took me a momemt to realize that retro gaming wasn't part of this research.

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juskrey
Prioritize ban for selling sugar, and you will see longevity jump with no
effort of super-whooper-money-sawing-science.

~~~
rdl
It will help the averages by bringing up the bottom and middle, but I think
anyone seriously going after SENS doesn't care about that as much as he cares
about the outliers (ie himself) who presumably do all that stuff already.

~~~
juskrey
We usually come to life-saving diet decisions in our 30-s or 40-s. Imagine the
society where people are not eating junk for the first half of their life. Can
any SENS do it?

Then go to state department of health and see the stats, where we can dig the
eye-opening data, e.g. all the science of last 50 years added only 4 monthes
of longevity for those who are already at their sixties. Do you beleive any
SANS is addressing the right problem? I personally do not.

~~~
kiba
Diets and exercises are good for damage prevention, when proven, sure.
However, they are not damage repair toolkit or maintenance tool for the human
body, nor could we replace our hearts, organs, and other damaged parts on
demand, like a car mechanics. No matter how well you eat, it is inevitable
that our parts will get worn out or starts malfunctioning in old age as a
result of cumulative damage.

(Yes, we do have artificial hearts, organs transplants, and so on but they
have drawbacks until we improve them...)

