Aging

I mentally filed this article from the Financial Times website under “holy crap”:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/436a39a0-1a6e-11df-a2e3-00144feab49a.html

Basically (for those who don’t get FT.com for the articles), the article explains that scientists in Germany (U. of Ulm) have discovered the mechanics of how and why we age.  Old cells get their DNA damaged over time and reach a point where they are told to either stop reproducing or destroy themselves.  It is this damage that, if left unchecked, that can cause many types of cancer and other problems of aging.

For me, this begs two really big questions.  First, should I find of save sources of my young DNA now so that it might serve as a tool for refreshing my DNA when that technology is discovered?  The second question is do I really want to?

The first question is pretty easy.  The answer is yes.  Why not hedge my bet and have some spare DNA just in case.  I don’t know if my mom saved any of my baby hair.  I actually had an wisdom tooth lying around for years.  I may still have that.  I seem to remember teeth being good containers of DNA.  I’ll have to go find that and maybe find another source to set aside.

The second question is probably also a yes.  I’m pretty much OK with my current situation where age is involved.  I’ve always gravitated to people younger than myself.  Most of my friends are more than 5 years younger than me.  Some are almost 20 years younger but I see them as equals and colleagues (except maybe when they do dumb-assed things that I did at THAT age).  I feel good and really don’t look or act almost 50 years old. I don’t expect any of that to change drastically in the next 10 years. 

However, barring a technological miracle, the end is almost certainly closer than the beginning and that is a really strange concept to get my head around.  What if I could keep going?  Right now, I would.  I wouldn’t mind continuing to work or coming home to Dr. K and the dogs.  I could keep learning new things (like I’ve learned about podcasting this past year) and meeting new people.  The central deciding factor is am I tired of this and ready for what lies beyond.  I’m not even close, so keep working, you demon deacons of the U. of Ulm.  You need to figure out how to refresh human DNA.  I’ll wait as long as I can.