(1) So you want to live forever…

From the fabled fountain of youth to (more recently) Silicon Valley startups in blood plasma transfer and cellular rejuvenation programming, there have always been people dreaming up strategies for human longevity. One molecular biologist, the University of Cambridge Nobel prize winner Venki Ramakrishnan, explores why people decline over time and die, and what strategies can one reasonably deploy to slow down the inevitable?

“Dr Ramakrishnan notes that some species, such as jellyfish, respond to injury or stress by rejuvenating themselves. Among mammals, the naked mole rat stands out, seemingly resistant to heart disease and cancer. Can humans learn the secrets of longevity from the mole rat—or from the hydra, a tiny aquatic creature capable of indefinite self-renewal?…

“Dr Ramakrishnan takes a hard look at voguish therapies. Not all of them draw criticism. He cites evidence for the benefits of limiting calorie intake, and cautiously reports the promise of rapamycin, a drug that produces the same effects without the need to restrict diet. But there are many “dubious” enterprises pushing “crackpot” ideas. He is especially critical of cryonics, a process that involves freezing people after death and defrosting them when cures for their ailments are found…

“Prophets of immortality attract funding from plutocrats who treat life as yet another system that can be hacked. Bryan Johnson, a tech entrepreneur, has spent an estimated $2m a year on his anti-ageing regimen, which until recently included blood transfusions from his teenage son (he has said these produced “no benefits”). Those who share his interest in anti-ageing research include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg: “When they were young, they wanted to be rich, and now that they’re rich, they want to be young,” writes Dr Ramakrishnan.”*

* Anonymous review of “Why We Die” by Venki Ramakrishnan (William Morrow 2024), in “Death and a thousand nuts,” The Economist (May 11 2024): 69-70; https://www.economist.com/culture/2024/05/09/what-strategies-actually-work-to-fight-dying