Eternal youth
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Eternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of ageing. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast to the depredations of aging, rather than a specific age of the human lifespan. Eternal youth is common in mythology, and is a popular theme in fiction.
Religion and mythology
Eternal youth is a characteristic of the inhabitants of
The Hindus believe that the Vedic and the post-Vedic rishis have attained immortality, which implies the ability to change one's body's age or even shape at will. These are some of the siddhas in Yoga. Markandeya is said to always stay at the age of 16.
The difference between eternal life and the more specific eternal youth is a recurrent theme in Greek and Roman mythology. The mytheme of requesting the boon of immortality from a god, but forgetting to ask for eternal youth appears in the story of Tithonus. A similar theme is found in Ovid regarding the Cumaean Sibyl.
In Norse mythology, Iðunn is described as providing the gods apples that grant them eternal youthfulness in the 13th-century Prose Edda.
Telomeres
An individual's
However, a study of the comparative biology of mammalian telomeres indicated that telomere length correlates inversely, rather than directly, with lifespan, and concluded that the contribution of telomere length to lifespan remains controversial.[2] Also, telomere shortening does not occur with age in some postmitotic tissues, such as in the rat brain.[3] In humans, skeletal muscle telomere lengths remain stable from ages 23–74.[4] In baboon skeletal muscle, that consists of fully differentiated post-mitotic cells, less than 3% of myonuclei contain damaged telomeres and this percentage does not increase with age.[5] Thus telomere shortening does not appear to be a major factor in the aging of the differentiated cells of brain or skeletal muscle.
Studies have shown that 90 percent of
Therapy
The idea that the human body can be repaired in old age to a more youthful state has gathered significant commercial interest over the past few years, including by companies such as
Philanthropy
The "loss of youth" or ageing process is responsible for increasing the risk of individuals to many diseases including
See also
- DNA damage theory of aging
- Elixir of life
- Fountain of Youth
- Indefinite lifespan
- Immortality
References
- ^ Lee J. Siegel. "ARE TELOMERES THE KEY TO AGING AND CANCER?". Archived from the original on 2013-01-20.
- PMID 21518243.
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- S2CID 7020102.
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- PMID 17482404.
- ^ "Former unicorn genetics startup Human Longevity loses its horn". 2018-12-11. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ "Google's Long, Strange Life-Span Trip". Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ "The Anti-Aging Pill". Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ "Esthechoc: Scientists invent 'anti-ageing' chocolate".
- ^ "Startup Alkahest inks a $50M deal for anti-aging R&D".
- ^ "New "Senolytic" Drugs Can Dramatically Increase Healthy Lifespan". 11 March 2015.
- ^ Wallace, Benjamin (August 23, 2016). "An MIT Scientist Claims That This Pill Is the Fountain of Youth". New York Magazine.
- ^ "Billionaire Peter Thiel embarks on anti-aging crusade".
- ^ "These Tech Billionaires Are Determined to Buy Their Way Out of Death". Business Insider.
- ^ "Zuckerberg, Brin join forces to extend life". February 20, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2016.