Death by cheating: Latest research on aging and immortality from Nobel Prize-winning scientists

Shift Your Mindset is a monthly series from CNN’s Mindfulness, But Better team. We talk to experts about how to change things to live a better life.

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Since time immemorial, humans have made every dastardly effort to cheat death. Today, with revolutionary advances transforming the world of science fiction into everyday reality, are we getting closer to extending lifespans or achieving immortality?

If so, do we really want eternal life? In his new book, Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality, Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan scrutinizes past and cutting-edge research and explores longevity ambitions. The theory and practical limitations of this study are clarified. Along the way, he asks important questions about the social, political, and ethical costs of attempting to live forever.

Thanks to increased knowledge about disease and its spread, humans are already living twice as long as they were 150 years ago. Does that suggest that interventions that will triple or quadruple our lifespans are just around the corner? Ramakrishnan shares his views on the realities of aging, death and immortality.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

CNN: What is aging? How does it lead to death?

Venki Ramakrishnan: Aging is the accumulation of chemical damage to molecules within cells, which damages the cells themselves, their tissues, and ultimately us as organisms. Surprisingly, we start aging even when we’re still in the womb, at which point we’re growing faster than we can accumulate damage. Aging occurs throughout our lives, from the very beginning.

The body has evolved many mechanisms to correct age-related damage to DNA and the low-quality proteins produced. Without a way to solve these kinds of problems, we won’t be able to live this long. Still, over time, the damage begins to exceed the ability to repair.

Think of your body like a city, containing many systems that need to work together. When the organ systems essential to our survival malfunction, we die. For example, if your muscles weaken and your heart stops beating, your organs can no longer pump blood with the oxygen and nutrients they need, and you die. When we say someone dies, we mean death as an individual. In fact, when we die, most parts of us, such as our organs, are still alive. This is why organs from accident victims can be donated to transplant recipients.

CNN: Is there a fixed limit to the human lifespan?

Ramakrishnan: The lifespan of all living things ranges from hours or days for insects to hundreds of years for certain whales, sharks, and giant tortoises. A layman might think that all living things are preset to die when they reach a certain age. However, biologists do not believe that aging and death are programmed in the sense that a fertilized egg is programmed to develop into a human being.

Instead, evolution has optimized a lifespan equation with optimal resource allocation for every species. Large animals tend to live longer. If you are a small animal and are likely to be eaten by predators, starve, or die in a flood, it makes no evolutionary sense to waste resources repairing the damage needed to stay alive longer. there is no. Instead, evolution chooses to grow quickly and mature quickly so that genes can be reproduced and passed on.

If you are a larger animal, by staying alive longer you are more likely to find a mate who can produce more offspring over a longer lifespan. Lifespan is an evolution that maximizes the chances of inheriting genes. In humans, this finely tuned resource balance allows for a lifespan of up to about 120 years. But that doesn’t mean we can’t change our biology to intervene in the aging process and perhaps extend lifespan. Like many aging scientists, I believe it’s possible. However, I cannot share their optimism about how feasible such an intervention will be.

CNN: Who has lived the longest life ever?

Ramakrishnan: The oldest person for whom we have reliable records was a French woman named Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122. She smoked all but the last five years of her life and ate over two pounds of chocolate every week. However, with the possible exception of chocolate, we do not recommend these specific strategies for longevity.

CNN: Can an aging clock ever run backwards?

Ramakrishnan: The aging clock moves in the opposite direction with each generation. Although children are born from the cells of adult parents, they still start at age 0. A child born to a 40-year-old woman is no more than 20 years older than a child born to a 20-year-old woman. Both are starting from zero. Therefore, at some level the aging clock may be reversed.

There is also cloning. Dolly, perhaps the most famous cloned sheep, was sickly and died at about half her normal age, but other cloned sheep continue to live normal lives. This has led some to believe that resetting the aging clock must be possible on a broader scale. Although it has been successful to trick adult cells into embryos and start growing again, practical difficulties make cloning highly inefficient. Many cells accumulate unbearable damage, and raising a single animal requires a huge number of experiments.

Meanwhile, experiments in mice used cell reprogramming to enable cells to reverse their developmental course and gain the ability to regenerate tissue. By converting the cells to a slightly earlier state, the scientists created mice with improved blood markers and improved fur, skin, and muscle tone. There’s a lot of research being done in this area, but I’m not sure how easy it will be to translate it into something useful for humans.

CNN: Your father just turned 98 years old. How can your father’s health and independence affect your own life? To what extent are aging and longevity influenced by genetics?

Ramakrishnan: There is a correlation between parent and child age, but it is not perfect. A study of 2,700 Danish twins showed that heritability, or how much of our longevity is due to genes, only accounts for about 25% of our longevity. Still, researchers have discovered that a mutation in just one gene can make certain types of worms twice as long as her. It is clear that there is a genetic component, but its influences and effects are complex.

CNN: What does cancer science reveal about anti-aging research?

Ramakrishnan: The relationship between cancer and aging is complex. The same genes can have different effects over time, helping you grow when you’re young, but increasing your risk of dementia and cancer as you get older. The risk of cancer increases with age because defects accumulate in the DNA and genome, which can cause genes to malfunction and lead to cancer. But many of our cellular repair systems, which appear to be designed to ward off cancer early in life, also contribute to later aging.

For example, cells can sense breaks in DNA that allow chromosomes to join together abnormally, potentially causing cancer. To prevent this bonding, cells either kill themselves or enter a state called senescence, where they are no longer able to divide. From the perspective of organisms like us, which have trillions of cells, this makes sense. Even if millions of cells are destroyed in this way, the whole organism is protected by these actions. However, the accumulation of senescent cells is one of the reasons we age.

CNN: Has your research into why people die influenced the way you live your life?

Ramakrishnan: What’s interesting is that all the evidence-based recommendations for what can help us live long, healthy lives reflect common sense advice that has been passed down through the years. We were taught this by our grandmothers. “Don’t be a glutton.” Let’s exercise. Avoid stress as it can trigger hormonal effects, change metabolism and accelerate aging. Get enough sleep.

Aging research helps us understand the deep biological implications of this advice. Eating a variety of healthy foods in moderation can prevent the health risks of obesity. Exercise helps regenerate new mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses that provide energy. Sleep allows our bodies to repair themselves at a molecular level. Learning the biology behind this age-old and timeless advice can inspire you to take other actions that will help promote a long, healthy life.

I myself often say that my expiration date has long passed, but as a human being, I feel that I am still alive and have something to contribute.

CNN: What are the social costs of trying to deceive aging and death, especially inequality?

Ramakrishnan: Already, in both the US and UK, the top 10% of earners live more than a decade longer than the bottom 10%. If we focus on healthy life expectancy (years of healthy life expectancy), the difference becomes even larger. Poor people have shorter lifespans and are less healthy.

Many millionaires are pouring vast sums of money into research in hopes of developing advanced technologies to prevent aging. If these efforts are successful, the very wealthy will benefit first, followed by those with very good insurance. Wealthy countries will gain access before poorer countries. Such advances are therefore likely to increase inequality, both domestically and globally.

CNN: Has exploring this topic changed your thoughts and feelings about aging and death?

Ramakrishnan: Most of us don’t want to get old or leave this world. I don’t want to go while the party is still going on. However, cells in our body are constantly created and die, but we continue to exist. Similarly, life on Earth continues as individuals come and go. At some level you have to accept that it’s just part of how things work.

I think this quest for immortality is a mirage. 150 years ago, humans were expected to live to about 40 years of age. Today’s average life expectancy is approximately 80 years. As author Steven Johnson said, it’s like adding an extra life. But we are still obsessed with dying. If we live until she’s 150, we’ll wonder why he can’t live to 200 or 300. It’s endless.

jessica duron He is a Brooklyn, New York-based journalist, book collaborator, writing coach, and author of Saved at the Seawall: Stories From the September 11 Boat Lift and My River Chronicles: Rediscovering the Work That Built America.