#57, Everlasting

The advances in medical science are moving at an incredible pace.  Within the past decade there have been remarkable developments of our understanding of the human body.  The International Human Genome Project has mapped out all 23,000 of our genes and can approximate the function of each one.  New HIV treatment has raised the life expectancy for HIV positive individuals from twelve years to more than forty.  Through stem cell research, scientists are able to grow fully functional human body parts in a lab.

Still, the holy grail of medical discoveries still eludes man's grasp...immortality.  A week ago, researchers at John Hopkins University took a major step towards unlocking the secret to everlasting life.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered an efficient and totally safe method to turn adult blood cells "all the way back to the way [they were] when that person was a 6-day-old embryo." The discovery could be the key to cure the incurable—from heart attacks to severed spinal cord to cancer—and open the door, some day, to eternal youth.

But this new method changes everything. To start with, it uses normal adult blood cells from the patient, so there's not need to keep umbilical cords in storage. It also doesn't use any virus reprogramming, so it's completely safe. It's also very efficient: researchers successfully transformed about 50 to 60 percent of adult blood cells into embryonic stem cells that can then be turn into any type of cell—a heart muscle cell, a bone cell, a nerve cell, anything.

SOURCE: http://gizmodo.com/5937249/scientists-clear-a-path-to-the-fountain-of-eternal-youth

Imagine that you are a researcher at Johns Hopkins University and you have just independently figured out the key to eternal youth.  Your findings are written on a sheet of paper that absolutely no one else knows about.  What would you do with the formula?  Think carefully about the intended and unintended consequences of your decision.  Defend your position.

-Brenden Lee Teacher

laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone