Can we increase longevity?



In the 1500's Ponce de Leon sought out a form of increased longevity.  He and his colleagues traveled from Spain to what is now Florida to search for the mythical Fountain Of Youth.  The promise of a longer life and healing tired bodies seemed like a venture worth the risk of going into unfamiliar territory.  Sadly for Ponce there was no fountain of youth and he himself eventually passed away, though his legacy still lives on.  This is one of the many examples of how humanity has tried to wrap its head around the concept of longevity.


Well, recently, some scientists have kind of picked up where Ponce and others left off.  Humanity is still captivated by the sense of increasing longevity.  These Buck Institute scientists are trying an entirely different approach which has produced some bizarre, but fascinating results.  What's so different about this attempt to grasp longer longevity?  Unlike many examples from the past this group of biologists is using logic, science, and hard data.  Though there's one more thing that makes this even more interesting - their test subjects are fruit flies.


Fruit flies, like many other living animals, have very similar body functions and procedures.  They have a vast amount of biological functions that can easily be seen in other living animals, including humans.  The goal behind testing these ideas on fruit flies made even more sense when you factor in their life span.  The average fruit fly will live for roughly a month to a month and a half.  Here the goal was to see if any changes could be made to the fruit fly that could extend its life even by just a little.  That added time to the insect's life would shed some light on how this may impact other organisms and their longevity.  For example, in comparison, a fruit fly's average life would be about 40 days, where as a human can live 75 to 80-some years.  So, if there is a practice that can enhance the insect's longevity, in theory other animals should see a proportional growth in their longevity.






This research is still very new and a lot more work still remains, but this is a pretty impressive story to add to the library of humanity's quest to better understand longevity.  Think about it, in the 1500's there were ships and crews ready to set sail all over the world to look for an object or process that would enhance and extend lives.  Nowadays the quest for these goals is still being researched, the only difference is we're now using logic, science and hard data.  The goals remain the same, but no one had to make a trip to Florida to do it.