I’ve always thought that progeria was sort of an existence proof that the aging process is a lot more amenable to external intervention than many want to believe. After all, if it can be accelerated on such a grand scale, why not be able to slow, or even reverse it? Yes, I know that some people think it’s a violation of the Third Law, but I don’t buy it. We do cellular repair perfectly well for years before it starts to decline, and if the repair mechanisms can be made to work again, there is no law of thermodynamics that says we can reduce the entropy again.
So this is a very exciting development, with profound societal implications if it pans out:
The drug rapamycin has been found to reverse the effects of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a fatal genetic disease that resembles rapid aging, in cells taken from patients with the disease. Rapamycin, an immunosuppressant drug used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs, has already been shown to extend life span in healthy mice. Researchers hope the findings will provide new insight into treating progeria as well as other age-related diseases.
As Glenn says, faster, please.
The laws of thermodynamics in this context apply only to closed systems. Biological organism are clearly open systems as they receive inputs in the form of sunlight, air, water, and food and produce outputs in the form of air, liquid and solid wastes as well as sweat and what not. The idea that a cure for aging somehow violates the laws of thermodynamics is complete rubbish.
I agree, but some believe it (just as some ignorantly believe that evolution violates it).
immunosuppressant drug, obvious adverse side effect. I suspect Hutchinson-Gilford progeria involves an auto-immune element.
As much as I would like to extend my lifespan, I’m one of the proles who can’t afford it/or not offered to.
What scares me is people like George Soros (spooky dude), who will use this to endure indefinitely, and have enough time to become de-facto global ruler, beyond the reach of anything as silly as our Constitution.
Oh wait, that part happened already.
After all, if it can be accelerated on such a grand scale, why not be able to slow, or even reverse it? Yes, I know that some people think it’s a violation of the Third Law, but I don’t buy it.
Well, sure, in principle one can unscramble scrambled eggs. In practice, it’s much easier to have the chicken lay more eggs.
in principle one can unscramble scrambled eggs.
That is a dramatically overblown metaphor for this situation.
I’ve wondered the same thing about progeria holding clues to anti-aging treatments.
That raises a question, though: if progeria is a disease involving abnormally rapid aging, is there a disease in which the opposite (abnormally slow aging) occurs?
Where are the Howard Families?
(And would that actually be a “disease”?)