Gene therapy -- Mouse lifespan extended up to 24% with one treatment. - Polidicks

[QUOTE=jaykray;35967409]You can feel time going quicker even when you're just 20 compared to 10. At 10 one year is a tenth of your whole life so far, that's quite a lot. When you're 20, it's only a twentieth, that is not as much and so it seems shorter.[/QUOTE] That's probably because when you're 10 everything is new and exciting. When you're 20 it's mainly college and sex. I had a boring as shit childhood and years felt fast, I am 21 now and these few years starting from 17 were so long and amazing. As some might say "I've never had a childhood" so I get to experience all the exciting shit now. [editline]15th May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=inconspicious;35967513]If we get our fingers out of our arses and colonize other planets & moons there will be plenty of space for a larger populace. I wouldn't mind living just a little longer, you know, to make sure I've done everything I've ever wanted to and what not.[/QUOTE]I wouldn't mind living forever really. Not being immortal, just not age. Like, get stuck at 25 or something.

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;35967841]That's probably because when you're 10 everything is new and exciting. When you're 20 it's mainly college and sex. I had a boring as shit childhood and years felt fast, I am 21 now and these few years starting from 17 were so long and amazing. As some might say "I've never had a childhood" so I get to experience all the exciting shit now.[/QUOTE] Perhaps a factor, but the mathematical aspect still stands.

[QUOTE=jaykray;35967873]Perhaps a factor, but the mathematical aspect still stands.[/QUOTE] The mathematical aspect is 1:1. An illusion is just an illusion. Life doesn't speed up when you get older. The time in your brain =/= the real mathematical time.

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;35967907]The mathematical aspect is 1:1. An illusion is just an illusion. Life doesn't speed up when you get older. The time in your brain =/= the real mathematical time.[/QUOTE] Yes it's "just an illusion" but that doesn't change anything, you still feel it and can't change that.

[QUOTE=jaykray;35967989]Yes it's "just an illusion" but that doesn't change anything, you still feel it and can't change that.[/QUOTE]YOU can't, science can. Scratch that, you actually can. Not so long ago there was a news article how doing exciting stuff prolongs your illusion of time thus making you happier and live longer. The reason we have monotone lives is because we need to work for our short future, school, college, work, money, survival. Learn one skill and stick to it to earn money. If we were immortal, I know I'd learn everything I find exciting to master level. When it gets boring I'd just change it because I'm fucking immortal. People do shit faster because life is short, but it's ironic since doing shit faster makes your illusion of time go faster.

This is really bad news for those people that get sentenced to like 100 years in prison. I can't imagine how horrible it would be to actually spend 100 years in there, you'd lose your mind.

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;35967841]I wouldn't mind living forever really. Not being immortal, just not age. Like, get stuck at 25 or something.[/QUOTE] There is enough bullshit to put up with in one lifetime thanks! I'd stick around for a little longer, but definitely not permanently.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;35968276]This is really bad news for those people that get sentenced to like 100 years in prison. I can't imagine how horrible it would be to actually spend 100 years in there, you'd lose your mind.[/QUOTE]Isn't that the whole point of prison? To punish a man and get a good feeling of revenge? Death penalty is immoral but driving someone nuts is okay.

I want to live forever.

Wow, thanks to University Biology I understand everything in that article. It's neat that we can no potentially keep chromosomes from deteriorating over time. The only question I have is that if the gene for producing telomerase is kept active indefinitely, how long would the mice live, and if they die, is it not due to aging?

[QUOTE=Black;35968673]I want to live forever.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't go that far, experiencing the heat death of the universe wouldn't be that exciting. But living long as hell, sure.

Ooh. Expanded lifetimes. I love science so much.

I just want to retain my consciousnesses. The idea of never being able to think again is something which upsets me.

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;35970338]I just want to retain my consciousnesses. The idea of never being able to think again is something which upsets me.[/QUOTE] The good part is, when you're dead you don't care any more.

[QUOTE=Mindtwistah;35966092]Err, I have had several courses in evolutionary theory and read quite a few books/other materials about it, to accuse me of not knowing anything about evolution is wrong, especially when it seems to be you who doesn't know shit. Evolution will not remove all genes just like that, evolution works on statistics for what will keep you alive best until you aren't able to have offspring anymore, and chance. If the gene therapy is as flawless as many here would believe then obviously it would be a widespread trait since cancer is a very common cause of death, and anything that reduces the risk of this also increases the chance of you surviving until you're old and can't have children anymore (statistics). Since it is also not very complex from a genetic point of view and doesn't require other genes to be mutated for it to work it is a very short evolutionary step and thus much more likely to appear due to random mutations (chance). Edit: How about answering with a counter-argument instead of just rating dumb and leaving the thread? Kind of implies that you did have no idea of what you were talking about to begin with.[/QUOTE] If you actually read the article you'd see why. It's not genetic engineering, it's gene therapy. They're stopping the telomeres from shortening, not finding a lowhanging fruit in genotypespace.

[QUOTE=Zezibesh;35969891]I wouldn't go that far, experiencing the heat death of the universe wouldn't be that exciting. But living long as hell, sure.[/QUOTE] Atleast I will get a chance to loose my virginity if I can live forever.

How would you alter all the cell's chromosome's to keep producing tolemerase?

[QUOTE=Black;35970526]Atleast I will get a chance to loose my virginity if I can live forever.[/QUOTE] Being part of a big bang =/= losing virginity

The population of the planet is going to double in 70 years. This kind of technology should exist but not be allowed to be used. It might actually kill all of us faster

[QUOTE=Lick;35970901]The population of the planet is going to double in 70 years. This kind of technology should not be allowed. It will actually kill all of us faster[/QUOTE] Well, why not ban all medicine? It's the same thing; artificially prolonging ones life Good if I hear this one more time..

[QUOTE=Lick;35970901]The population of the planet is going to double in 70 years. This kind of technology should not be allowed. It will actually kill all of us faster[/QUOTE] And advances in Agriculture, Architecture, and Medicine will keep that from happening. What would likely happen if we kept populating at the normal rate with no new advances is a near extinction event like a famine or a pandemic.

[QUOTE=BrownTown;35971052]And advances in Agriculture, Architecture, and Medicine will keep that from happening. What would likely happen if we kept populating at the normal rate with no new advances is a near extinction event like a famine or a pandemic.[/QUOTE] Obviously we should continue the research but introduce it at a point where that's actually feasible. Our planet is currently facing some problems with 7 billion and 14 billion is going to be a tough time. I wouldn't take anything for granted at this point edit: Actually just to clarify I think this technology is incredibly important, but I'm not sure about the repercussions or the ethics of having it be given to some people

Overpopulation is a bullshit reason to go against this type of medicine, again and again the population is expected to plateau at 10 billion by 2050. As of right now the issue remains that while some areas are overcrowded, mostly the developing countries, it has been concluded countless times that the problem will resolve by itself as more people will live full lives and there is no longer a need for large families to sustain the families in developing countries.

[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;35970499]If you actually read the article you'd see why. It's not genetic engineering, it's gene therapy. They're stopping the telomeres from shortening, not finding a lowhanging fruit in genotypespace.[/QUOTE] Oh, then apologies, I only skimmed the article and must've missed that. I should have read it through properly. But Ray-The-Sun is still a stupid fuck who doesn't know shit about evolution.

[QUOTE=Lick;35971105]Obviously we should continue the research but introduce it at a point where that's actually feasible. Our planet is currently facing some problems with 7 billion and 14 billion is going to be a tough time. I wouldn't take anything for granted at this point edit: Actually just to clarify I think this technology is incredibly important, but I'm not sure about the repercussions or the ethics of having it be given to some people[/QUOTE] Not very likely, current trends shows that indeed the population growth rate is shrinking compared to the annual growth rate of the late 1980s(1.8%) compared to 2010(1.3%) Don't believe me? Have a look here: [url]http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/WPP2006_Highlights_rev.pdf[/url]

[QUOTE=Globex;35971231]Not very likely, current trends shows that indeed the population growth rate is shrinking compared to the annual growth rate of the late 1980s(1.8%) compared to 2010(1.3%) Don't believe me? Have a look here: [url]http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/WPP2006_Highlights_rev.pdf[/url][/QUOTE] I can see how that would happen, just looking at Japan recently is an excellent example

[QUOTE=Lick;35971248]I can see how that would happen, just looking at Japan recently is an excellent example[/QUOTE] Japan might be a bad example since the lack of young people is going to cause horrible problems a few decades down the line.

I might have missed something in that clusterfuck formatting, but I'm pretty sure I failed to see anything that said it could apply to humans. Is this just news over a new line of research that will likely fail to do anything except make mice have the highest quality of life of any animal?

"The authors selected demonstrably safe viruses that have been successfully used in gene therapy treatment of hemophilia and eye disease. Specifically, they are non-*‐replicating viruses derived from others that are non-*‐pathogenic in humans." Because of this I believe they used the vector(vehicle that is used in gene therapy) adeno-associated virus. I base this presumption off of the cases for Leber's Congenital Amaurosis [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adeno_associated_virus_and_gene_therapy_of_the_human_retina[/url] I have been wanting to go into genetics for a while now so I just thought I should share this

Really, if you think about it, there's no reason why we should die. Our bodies are just sacs of sacs chemicals. Aging is really just the deterioration of our DNA. If they've really figured out a way to circumvent this then the average age could really jump up.