A Short Editorial on the Limits of Longevity

The mailing list of the Gerontology Research Group is something of a watering hole for many of the interesting folk in the pro-longevity gerontology community and related supporters of medical intervention to extend healthy life. Members include the Supercentenarian Research Foundation board, Methuselah Foundation volunteers, calorie restriction researchers, transhumanist writers, and so forth. L. Stephen Coles of the GRG recently penned a short editorial on the limits of longevity which closes with:

We should appreciate that the really-important parameters of longevity operate at the molecular level, such as the accumulation of sticky amyloid compounds which relentlessly infiltrate all our organs, the mechanism for which we have yet to decipher. When we do figure it out (science) and when we learn what to do about it (medicine), "all bets (on life-insurance-policy planning) will be off." We will be on the road to a real revolution in the human condition.

It being that time of year, I should note that the Supercentenarian Research Foundation is soliciting donations:

We seek to further scientific research into to why Supercentenarians live as long as they do? (And, conversely, why they don't live longer still?) We are incorporated and have held many meetings of our Board of Directors. We have received approval for our 501(c)(3) non profit, tax-exempt status from the US Internal Revenue Service. Nevertheless, we are urgently in need of "seed money" to fund the formation of an international team of physicians and investigators who could travel to visit each of our living Supercentenarians around the world in person before they are no longer with us. Obviously, the data that we plan to obtain is a precious resource that could disappear from our radar screens unless we get started soon.
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