So, you wanna live forever?

There are several advances in the area of eternal life, and Swedish television just did a show on the subject. Here is what they had to say, in short:

Calorie Restriction - This will increase your lifespan with about 30%.

Not good enough says Aubrey de Gray. We should be able to live for 1000 years, the trick is to know what kind of damage is inflicted on your body by aging and find ways to repair it. He has singled out 7 kinds of damage. Oh, and there's 20 000 dollars for the one proving him wrong.

Swedish scientist Thomas Nystrom and his team has discovered a gene called Sir 2. When a "mother" cell reproduces it does not pass on it's flaws to it's "child". However if you remove Sir 2 it will pass on the flaws as well. This is a clue that might reduce age related damage on the body.

Cancer is very tough and can keep itself young forever because of the telomeres. Telomeres are the physical ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. Each time the chromosome splits in two, the telomeres are reduced. After 23 splits the telomeres are completely gone, and the cell dies. Cancer has found a way to renew the telomers and thus live forever. This ability has been transferred to human cells. Stemcells anyone?

Vetenskapamagasinet (30 min. Not dubbed. All the interviews in eng.)
Aubrey de Gray in Wikipedia (1 page)
Methuselah Mouse Prize in Wikipedia
Methuselah Mouse Prize - Official site
About Thomas Nystrom
What are Telomeres?