• Question: Can you develop medicine that will enable people to live forever?

    Asked by ellie to Dave, Ed, Guido, Hugh, Stef on 11 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Dave Bond

      Dave Bond answered on 11 Mar 2015:

      I am no expert in this.

      But I think it would only be possible if you can repair the human body in excess of what is done in a human now. As a foetus developes into a baby we can grow all parts needed to make that person. We loose that ability after birth. We cannot re grow an arm, lung or heart for instance. All these parts wear out so everything that makes up us would need to be replaced eventually.
      This is done using stem cells, we keep them as adults and the most plentifull source is bone marrow. We use them still for repair in the human body, but not the same as the Embryonic stem cells found in a embryo.
      But the brain is what makes you … well you. Can you repair this in this way without changing the persons memories or personality.

      This all would be considered controversial science and equally cutting edge so no one knows at the moment.

    • Photo: Hugh Harvey

      Hugh Harvey answered on 11 Mar 2015:

      Not yet!

      Scientists are working on the secret to long life, but we don’t have the right understanding right now. Maybe if you start a career in science you could help work on a ‘live forever’ project?

    • Photo: Ed Rial

      Ed Rial answered on 11 Mar 2015:

      I think it’s probably going to be possible to develop therapies that stop you getting old, or rejuvenate you, but I think there are a lot of ethical questions to answer first.

      Or we need to colonise another planet. We can only support so many people on Earth, and although we’re not at that limit yet if people stopped dying then we’d hit the limit pretty quickly!

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