>>13913569The answer is a hard maybe.
These threads come along once in a while, so i have written this down a few times before.
I am a relatively new and junior member of a research group doing research on various aspects of the molecular mechanisms of ageing.
When it comes to the key mechanism of ageing, the emerging understanding seems to be that ageing is DNA damage accumulation, to which the most significant contributors are transposons. These mobile genetic elements have an exponentially growing damage rate over time. They are under epigenetic controle, and have various silencing and activating mechanisms.
We believe we may have found the most important one, and once our current paper is published, we will be attempting to target this key activating mechanism to create high longevity strains of drosophila.
Despite this, my opinion is still only that high longevity may be possible. The relevance of transposons may be over estimated, in the worst possible scenario all DNA damageing mechanisms sinergise to cause ageing, in which case high longevity could take several decades to achieve.
To anyone who answers OPs question with moral, religious or emotional arguments, or arguments over its practicality: Those points are irrelevant to whether or not high longevity will be achieved. The research is ongoing, and based only on whether or not it's possible it either will or won't be achieved. Each countryes legislation will have to decide how to deal with wthis technology if it ever arrives.
Ps.: My english is kind of shit at the best of times, and i am quite tired right now. I had a long day. So i apologise for my horrible grammer and all the misstyped letters.
