 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Live Longer & Prosper? by Yael Li-Ron
It all makes so much sense that you might be tempted to call the Mars trilogy science-based fiction rather than sci-fi. And why not? After all, we've mapped the entire human genome, or so we're told. And since genes are just the software that makes us (the hardware) tick, scientists merely need to "debug" the system when it fails, to borrow a term from software engineering. Well, not quite. A timeline on MSNBC.com projects that "complete genome-based health care will be the norm" in the year 2040, not before. And many scientists dispute that as too optimistic. But lots of new developments based on the mapping of the human genome are taking place now. For example, studies at the National Institutes of Health have revealed the importance of genes to longevity in mice. Some mice were bred without a specific gene that occurs normally. They lived 40 percent shorter lives than those with the gene, which is responsible for making the enzyme methionine sulfoxide reductase, or MsrA. This enzyme seems to repair damaged proteins, perhaps even protect brain cells damaged by oxygen stress. NIH scientists are trying to understand the actual effect of MsrA on the brain. Meanwhile, they're focusing their studies on the effect of increasing this enzyme in mice to see if it affects their longevity. If the study is successful, humans will be next. But that's at least four years away.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kim Stanley Robinson, the mega-best-selling author of the Mars trilogy (Bantam), has hit a nerve with his readers–thanks not only to the realistic-sounding colonization of the Red Planet, but also because of a gerontological treatment that lets patients live several centuries, and enjoy great health in the process.