Dr Aubrey de Grey believes
people who have already been born could live for ten centuries because of
ongoing research into extending the human lifespan. British-born Mr de Grey,
who graduated from Cambridge University in 1985, is the co-founder nd chief
science officer of Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS)
Research Foundation – an organisation aiming to end biological ageing – based
in California.
Scientists have been
desperately trying to get ageing recognised as a disease and there have been
several major breakthroughs in the anti-ageing agenda this year. Most recently,
experts from the University of Exeter and University of Brighton discovered
they could rejuvenate senescent cells which have ceased their natural age
cycle, causing them to divide.
The team applied compounds
known as resveratrol analogues – chemicals which are naturally found in red
wine, dark chocolate, red grapes and blueberries – to cells. A statement from
the University of Exeter said: “Within hours, the cells looked younger and
started to rejuvenate, behaving like young cells and dividing.”
Now, Mr de Grey says that
ageing will be conquered within the next 20 years and ultimately humans could
be living to 1,000 years old, according to Inverse.
He said: “The fact is,
raging kills 110,000 people worldwide every f***ing day. It doesn’t just kill
them. You have to take into account all the suffering that comes before. It
unequivocally causes far more suffering than anything else that we have to
experience and contrary to the impression that most of humanity has forced
itself into, it’s indeed a problem which is amenable through technological
intervention.”
The controversial scientist
has also recently dismissed any claims that people living for such a long time
would be bad for the planet, with the most obvious concern being ultimate overpopulation.
Mr De Grey said: “The fact
is, there is no such thing as overpopulation in an absolute sense” and that
this move will force the powers that be into implementing clean energy.
Via Express.co.uk