Austad and Olshansky's Bet

Best Life Online looks at the well-known bet made between researchers Steven Austad and S. Jay Olshansky: "Olshansky didn’t think anyone was going to live to 150 anytime soon. But Austad was quite serious, and so the two men made a wager. They each put up $150, which Olshansky invested in a fund. The winnings will be handed out in the year 2150. If there is a 150-year-old alive on earth - someone of sound mind and body - Austad's descendants will get the pot, which Olshansky has calculated will grow to $1 billion thanks to his shrewd, but secret, investments. ... In the years since the bet, the two scientists have closely monitored new evidence, and, somewhat remarkably, neither has seen any reason to budge on the bet. ... In one corner, Austad, the swashbuckling adventurer and optimist, points to the accelerating pace of discoveries about aging: Scientists have identified the genes that prolong the lives of animals and discovered ways to switch those genes on, and researchers are launching pharmaceutical start-ups to create the first real antiaging drugs that could slow the cellular damage. In the other corner, Olshansky, the number-crunching realist, sees too many hurdles in the way. ... Despite their diverging perspectives on life expectancy, both men share a belief that science is finally catching up with aging, and this has ramifications for us all."

Link: http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/health-fitness/Could_He_Live_to_2150_printer.shtml

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