Suitably Framing the Future of Medicine

Now this is what we'd like to see more of in the press: there's nothing new in this BBC article insofar as science and technology goes, but the way it is presented is all in terms of lengthening health life and repairing the damage of aging. That is still fairly novel. When this way of looking at things becomes widespread, half the battle is won: "Half of babies now born in the UK will reach 100, thanks to higher living standards, but our bodies are wearing out at the same rate. To achieve '50 active years after 50', experts at Leeds University are spending £50m over five years looking at innovative solutions. They plan to provide pensioners with own-grown tissues and durable implants. New hips, knees and heart valves are the starting points, but eventually they envisage most of the body parts that flounder with age could be upgraded. ... The concept is to make transplantable tissues, and eventually organs, that the body can make its own, getting round the problem of rejection. So far they have managed to make fully functioning heart valves using the technique. ... experts elsewhere [are] also working on similar regenerative therapies, but grown entirely outside of the body, to ensure that people can continue being as active during their second half-century as they were in their first."

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8314442.stm

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