An anti-aging drug is about to go into human trials, even if its makers won't admit that it has this effect.

I'm all for life extension, but can't it wait for a goodly number of the boomers to die off, first. I really, really don't want to be hearing about how great the 1960s are when I'm 700 years old and living on Delta Pavonis IV

The difference between anti-aging and anti-dying will continue to blur.

The reason why they cannot talk about anti-aging is because the FDA does not recognize aging itself as a medical condition. Hense, no compound can be approved for "anti-aging" purposes. You have to treat a disease that is recognized by the FDA.

My prediction: the FDA will approve this as the first shovel full of dirt hits my coffin lid.

So instead of 2o years in retirement, you want 60? Good luck paying for it. Ask your fifty year old professional acquaintances what their chances of finding new full-time employment is.

Good grief! Does this mean that I might have to work for another 500 years or more? Hell,I'm 57 and tired!!

Jim, imagine what life will be like when you're 90 and have the same body you did at 17.

If you're good, age is no matter. Andrew Morton was imported from Australia to become Linus' second-in-command at the fresh age of 50 or 52, IIRC (ok, I lied here a bit: his H-1 was to hack on filesystems for Moxa).

However, the body of 17 y.o.? Thank you, but no, thanks. I think my body was best by 30. When I was 17, could do 3 push-up. When I was 33, I did 50 easy. Unfortunately, I screwed it up somewhat after that with injuries at training and tournaments. Surgeons just cannot make it like it was, alas.

I kept growing until I was 35, too (although slowly). In 1997 I was 198cm tall, but in 2001 I touched 200cm. And the suits I wore back then, it's just funny now how narrow my shoulders were. This idea that your teenage years are somehow the best is based on misconceptions, I suspect.

Garrett is quite right though. I would even add, we must abolish Social Security and have some kind of life insurance thingie, or come up with some drastic measures like that.

Interesingly, the research going on in finding substances that break undesirable cross-linkages in our tissues (Alteon's Alagebrium Chloride [a.k.a ALT 711] is the best-known example) is *also* a fallout of work on diabetes, as their inability to normally control blood sugar levels (high sugar encourages many of those cross-links) makes them more vulnerable to one of the many underlying aspects of aging, as that same process also happens more slowly to everyone else...

To those who say we should only treat diseases, not 'normal aging' (which as noted above, isn't currently regarded as a disease), I've long said that a full understanding of (and ability to treat) all diseases (espically cancer, and any disease or condition we consider age *related*) would mean that we could hardly *help* but understand aging, in the end.

Some of us just want to bypass the middleman.