#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 ultimate discovery still eludes man's grasp...immortality. Nevertheless, humanity pushes forward. 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.

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.

To complete this Journal response,

• What would you do with the paper? Think carefully about the intended and unintended consequences of your decision.
• Comment on a peer's response.

-Brenden Lee Teacher

i know that you are intimidated by my doughnut