How Long Do You Want to Live?

SINCE 1900, the life expectancy of Americans has jumped to just shy of 80 from 47 years. This surge comes mostly from improved hygiene and nutrition, but also from new discoveries and interventions: everything from antibiotics and heart bypass surgery to cancer drugs that target and neutralize the impact of specific genetic mutations.

Now scientists studying the intricacies of DNA and other molecular bio-dynamics may be poised to offer even more dramatic boosts to longevity. This comes not from setting out explicitly to conquer aging, which remains controversial in mainstream science, but from researchers developing new drugs and therapies for such maladies of [...]

Full article at nytimes.com

If natural and/or political events don't send us reeling for a while in terms of technological development over the next few years, these are questions we'll have to answer before too long. I do hope we choose to ask how long we and those around us *want* to live, and not to dictate how long anyone is allowed to live and under what circumstances.

Posted via email from Moments of Awareness