Can we really live forever?

The search for immortality is for quacks and crackpots. Or is it?

By Joel Kang

In the eighth century BC, Taoist alchemists mixed some compounds derived from lead, arsenic and mercury into a lethal concoction – and didn’t feed it to some rats. Instead, they thought it would be a good idea to administer the lethal potion to fellow human beings. And as the specimens writhed and swelled dramatically, it was all simply brushed aside as the mixture doing its work of purging toxins from the body. Until the specimens died. Whereupon it was decided that the search for an immortality elixir would have to start all over again.

And so the alchemists started experimenting with sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre, heating the substances in the hope that they could better understand the laws of transmutation and somehow produce an immortality pill. Disappointingly, all they managed to do was set themselves on fire because what they had inadvertently discovered was, in fact, gunpowder.

But the Taoists weren’t the only ones obsessed with finding the secret to immortality. Alexander the Great is rumoured to have travelled the world partly in search of a mythical fountain of youth. Similarly, Ponce De Leon, the 16th century explorer who discovered Puerto Rico, once went looking for a spring of eternal youth in what is now Florida, the world’s largest old age home.

As recently as 1917, American John Brinkley announced that he could make men young again by simply transplanting goat testicles into them. Amazingly, there were more than 16,000 takers for this groin busting procedure. The men didn’t suddenly become sprightly youths again but some spoke of a strong urge to chew sprouts.

So there we have it. The search for immortality is for quacks and crackpots and anyone who genuinely believes that we can live forever should be put away in a cell with Britney Spears.

Not quite.

It seems that scientists have discovered genes that really could help us live much, much longer. And they’ve discovered them in (wait for it) a worm. Of course, this isn’t just any worm. It’s Caenorhabditis elegans, otherwise known as the nematode worm. Measuring just 1mm in length, the nematode reproduces sexually and is in possession of an endocrine system (an integrated system of small organs that regulates body function). This makes it remarkably similar to humans, which explains George Bush.

Another key advantage the nematode has is a lifespan of just 20 days. This allows scientists to conduct lots of experiments on them and see the results in a relatively short amount of time.

What they’ve found is that there are two genes key to facilitating longevity in the nematode – daf-2 and daf-16. The gene daf-2, when mutated, inhibits ageing and its effects. Conversely, daf-16 promotes longevity and youthfulness. But more importantly, scientists have discovered that these two genes control the expression of more than 100 other genes.

In a sense, daf-2 and daf-16 act like drill sergeants, ruthlessly whipping errant privates into shape and order. The result is a contingent that is always uniform and in step. This means that, with just these two genes, it could be possible to do almost everything from preventing damage caused by oxygen radicals to protecting the body against microbial damage.

Worm food, natch?

Using this knowledge, scientists managed to create mutant worms that could live for up to 120 days. The equivalent lifespan in humans would be 500 to 600 years. This was astonishing enough in itself but what really got scientists’ attention was that the majority of the worms remained active and full of vitality for the majority of their extended lives.

This could drastically change our view of life extension today. Currently, the focus is more on piling on the years rather than the actual quality of life in those years. The fact is that, quite often, living longer just means spending more time in the hospital, thinking you’re four years old or constantly wetting your pants, etc. Which renders a longer life completely meaningless. After all, no one wants to spend his golden years wallowing in a pair of diapers.

But now, as the worms have proved, it is possible to live to a ripe old age while enjoying all the perks of youth. If scientists can somehow translate what they’ve done with the nematodes to humans, life won’t just be much longer, it could also be much more enjoyable. That’s still some way off. But whether or not we eventually unravel the secrets of immortality, the bottom line is that now the possibility exists where before there was none.