
Has this scientist finally found the fountain of youth? - tysone
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614074/scientist-fountain-of-youth-epigenome/
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dekhn
No.

~~~
pmiller2
Care to offer a more substantive dismissal, Mr. Betteridge?

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dekhn
Not really. I'm not Betteridging here.

Epigenomics is exciting science but there is nothing here that indicates you
would be able to take this and treat people with it and extend their lives
without unpredictable and ambiguous side effects.

(I work in drug discovery and am very familiar with this field; my complaint
is about the headlines that massively overstate the significance of results.
This is a very common problem and I generally work to make people understand
the reality behind the hype.)

~~~
La-ang
I'd say it's more of a clickbait.

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uponcoffee
Betteridge's law says no [0]

> But just as quickly as he blows my mind, he puts a damper on the excitement.
> So potent was the rejuvenating treatment used on the mice that they either
> died after three or four days from cell malfunction or developed tumors

> An even broader doubt is whether the epigenetic changes that Izpisúa
> Belmonte is reversing in his lab are really the cause of aging or just a
> sign of it

> Wholesale rejuvenation, then, is still far off, if it will ever come at all.
> But more limited versions of it, targeted to certain diseases of aging,
> might be available within a few years.

Like battery tech, there's some progress and exciting results here, but no
where near crossing that last mile to market.

[0]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headli...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines)

