By Max Berlinger for DETAILS.
Do you ever think that it's kinda crazy that we can order pizza from our cellphones and yet no one can figure out how to stop (or at least slow) the inevitable march towards death? Well, you're not alone.
Science has been trying to figure out this whole aging thing for a long time now, and a new development just could be one of those watershed moments in history. According to the New Zealand Herald, a new anti-aging drug is going to be tested on human subjects starting next year. The potential result of this could mean that we, human beings, could extend our life spans to 120 years of age (!), and be in good health to the very end (!!).
The drug in question is a widely-used diabetes pill called Metformin and costs mere cents to make. Metformin helps to increase oxygen flow on the cellular level, thereby slowing the necessary cell divisions that keep our bodies both functioning correctly but ultimately lead to aging. Belgian researchers have tested the drug on roundworms, and have had positive results so the next step is to do a human trial.
"I have been doing research into aging for 25 years and the idea that we would be talking about a clinical trial in humans for an anti-aging drug would have been thought inconceivable," says aging expert Professor Gordon Lithgow. "But there is every reason to believe it's possible. The future is taking the biology that we've now developed and applying it to humans."
Let's just hope that cosmetic surgery can keep apace of these new developments.
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