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Discovered in a mysterious land, rapamycin can slow the growth of everything from wrinkles to cancer. Scientists are still uncovering the secrets of a compound discovered 50 years ago on Easter Island. Produced by bacteria there, rapamycin appears to be a powerful life-extender and may be a transformative treatment for age-related diseases. In 2009, the National Institute on Aging Interventions Testing Program (ITP) published a groundbreaking study indicating that rapamycin extended the lifespan of mice by 9 percent to 14 percent. Experiments conducted by various research institutions worldwide have further corroborated these findings or have found the compound to have...

·"The Fountain of Youth" 1546. By Lucas Cranach the Elder - Unknown source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30264218 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A biomedical sciences professor studying T-cells and their effect on cellular senescence believes she may have found a real-life fountain of youth hiding within our own bodies. Although still in the development stages, the professor’s pioneering method may indeed increase health and “reverse” aging for older patients while also preventing aging-related declines in younger patients. HUMANITY’S ENDURING QUEST FOR THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH The idea of a Fountain of Youth that could reverse aging and help people stay young indefinitely was made most...

Adult Wing Precursor Imaginal Cells of Drosophila melanogaster Absence of Chinmo in imaginal cells suppresses wing growth (left) compared to control wing precursor tissue (middle), while overexpression of the Chinmo gene induces tissue overgrowth, as occurs in processes tumors (right). Credit: IBE Researchers discover Chimno, the gene responsible for the juvenile stage in insects. This gene is present in mammals and could play a key role in cancerous processes. The study, which was published in the journal eLife and led by the Institute for Evolutionary Biology (IBE, CSIC-UPF) and the IRB Barcelona, has revealed that the Chinmo gene is responsible...

Heavens to Betsy! The “far right” conspiracy theorist prophets are vindicated again. No longer “conspiracy theory,” youth blood-sucking is official “fact” because the gatekeeping corporate media now acknowledges it. Via The Telegraph: “As macabre as it sounds, science is beginning to discover that ‘youth transplants’ really can slow down the ageing process. The fountain of youth, it seems, is youth itself.” “Youth transplants” is a euphemism for sucking out the vital fluids of baby/child “donors” and injecting them into aging recipients: “Although nobody is suggesting we siphon the bodily fluids of youngsters into our elderly… infusing cerebrospinal fluid of young...

NORWICH, United Kingdom — What’s the secret to eternal youth? As scientists look for ways to extend life, a new study suggests the answer to healing older brains may be hiding in younger guts. Researchers say fecal transplants not only affect your gut health, they can alter your brain too. An international team finds fecal transplants from older to younger mice impacts the learning and memory abilities of the recipient. By altering the gut microbiome of the younger mice, researchers say they began to act more like their older donors. These changes included some of the same cognitive impairments older...

WASHINGTON, DC – Is old age a disease? Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC], says a significant amount of scientific research indicates that aging is, indeed, a disease. “More important there are many who believe it is a disease with a cure.” Weber cites the work of Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a well-known biomedical gerontologist. His focus is on extending life spans by intervening at the cellular level, repairing damaged cells and in turn extending life. Some call de Grey a “mad scientist” but there is lots of independent study being conducted by those in...

Researchers say it may be possible to slow and even reverse aging by keeping DNA more stably packed together in our cells In a breakthrough discovery, scientists report that they have found the key to keeping cells young. In a study published Thursday in Science, an international team, led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk Institute, studied the gene responsible for an accelerated aging disease known as Werner syndrome, or adult progeria, in which patients show signs of osteoporosis, grey hair and heart disease in very early adulthood. These patients are deficient in a gene responsible for copying...

A new procedure can quickly and efficiently increase the length of human telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that are linked to aging and disease, according to scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Treated cells behave as if they are much younger than untreated cells, multiplying with abandon in the laboratory dish rather than stagnating or dying. The procedure, which involves the use of a modified type of RNA, will improve the ability of researchers to generate large numbers of cells for study or drug development, the scientists say. Skin cells with telomeres lengthened by...

It's not just about anti-aging. "Longevity" is the new buzzword as Hollywood embraces all sorts of technology, from an altitude machine favored by tennis star Novak Djokovic to L.A.'s hot new treatment: the very deep freeze. This story first appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. "I have no intention of dying," Sumner Redstone told THR in January. Redstone, now 91, has made no secret of his longevity regime. It begins with a breakfast of goji berries, "Green Machine" smoothies and tomato juice — followed by a fish dinner and a shot of vodka for its...

The real story goes something like this: In 1511, messy political squabbling forced Ponce to surrender the governorship of Puerto Rico, an appointment he had held since 1509. As a consolation prize, King Ferdinand offered him Bimini, assuming the stalwart conquistador could finance an expedition and actually find it. J. Michael Francis, a historian at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg who has spent decades studying the Spanish colonies in the Americas , says no mention of a Fountain of Youth occurs in any known documents from Ponce’s lifetime, including contracts and other official correspondence with the Crown. In...

This is an image of an aged stem cell after growth factors were added. A new method of growing cardiac tissue is teaching old stem cells new tricks. The discovery, which transforms aged stem cells into cells that function like much younger ones, may one day enable scientists to grow cardiac patches for damaged or diseased hearts from a patient's own stem cells—no matter what age the patient—while avoiding the threat of rejection. Stem cell therapies involving donated bone marrow stem cells run the risk of patient rejection in a portion of the population, argues Milica Radisic, Canada Research Chair...

While doing research to verify various comments Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) made during her San Jose book signing/fee-based “non-townhall” meeting, I came across two images of the same person— which both surprised and troubled me. If I didn’t tell you who this person was, you would have never put it together at first glance. The images below are a portrayal of Senator Barbara Boxer. The left image is from her 2004 Senate campaign and the right image shows today’s campaign. Click on the image to see a larger version. Click for enlarged image

Controversial theorist Aubrey de Grey insists that we are within reach of an engineered cure for aging. Are you prepared to live forever? On this glorious spring day in Cambridge, England, the heraldic flags are flying from the stone towers, and I feel like I could be in the 17th century—or, as I pop into the Eagle Pub to meet University of Cambridge longevity theorist Aubrey de Grey, the 1950s. It was in this pub, after all, that James Watson and Francis Crick met regularly for lunch while they were divining the structure of DNA and where, in February 1953,...

A major announcement regarding human cloning is supposedly underway. Related article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2002-12-27-baby-clone_x.htm

Birth of a small girl obtained by cloning, according to the sect of the raéliens Friday December 27, 2002 - 1h49 GMT MIAMI (the United States), 26 déc (AFP) - the scientist Frenchwoman and member of the sect of the raéliens Brigitte Boisselier affirmed Thursday evening with the AFP to have put at the world a baby obtained by the technique of the cloning. The baby, a small girl, came in the world "today" (Thursday) by Caesarean. "Ca they passed very well", was restricted to affirm Mrs. Boisselier, president of the company of human cloning Clonaid, joined by telephone...

IN a world first, Melbourne scientists have successfully grown an organ from stem cells. A team from Monash Medical School grew a functioning thymus, a small organ that is critical to the immune system. Human trials could begin within two years. Stem cells are the body's building blocks and have unlimited capacity to grow and replace all the cells within a particular tissue or organ. "When I realised what we had finally done after 15 years of research, I went weak at the knees," Professor Richard Boyd said. He said understanding the thymus, located near the heart, was the...