How Silicon Valley is trying to cure ageing

February 15, 2015

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If we could somehow prevent our bodies from breaking down slowly, year after year, or suddenly from a catastrophic disease process that we can't reverse, we could theoretically extend our life spans forever. That is the premise in the search for a solution to ageing and death. There's a million dollar prize waiting for the first team to unravel one of the key secrets to life extension: homeostatic capacity (i.e., the body's ability to stabilise in response to stressors).

How Silicon Valley is trying to cure ageing

By Josie Ensor at The Telegraph

Excerpt:

Humanity has long been in search of the mythical Fountain of Youth, from Alexander the Great to knights of the Crusades.

But now Silicon Valley scientists believe they are on the cusp of discovering the cause of ageing, which will help them achieve the unthinkable: find a cure.

Earlier this year, doctor and investor Joon Yun launched the Palo Alto Longevity Prize, offering $1 million (£650,000) to anyone who could “hack the code of life” and come up with a way to keep us young.

“It’s always been said that there’s two certainties in life: death and taxation, but death isn’t looking so certain anymore,” says Stuart Kim, one of 50 world-class advisers on the prize board and a professor in Developmental Biology and Genetics at Stanford University.

He believes ageing is simply a medical problem for which a solution can be found.

[…]

As the body ages, being able to recover from diseases, injuries and lifestyle stresses becomes more difficult. In youth, blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels can return easily to normal levels.

As homeostatic capacity erodes as we get older, the body is no longer able to regulate these changes as effectively, resulting in diseases such as diabetes or hypertension.