Immortality in a Pill

Get thin, get healthy, live forever. No diets, no exercise, no pills.

Well, OK, just one pill.

It’s called a sirtuin activator, and you’ve already heard of it as a drug called resveratrol. Resveratrol is an ingredient in red wine, and — at least according to some researchers — may be the quickest route to the fountain of youth. That’s because research seems to suggest that a low-calorie diet can actually slow aging.

Can sirtuin activators really trick the body into cutting calories and losing weight while you indulge in cheesecake and champagne?

Anything is possible, say some researchers. These optimistic research biologists believe that the aging process can be slowed, disease can be eliminated and a healthy weight can be maintained, all through the magic of chemistry.

Others, mainly evolutionary biologists, have a different take. According to an article in the New York Times, these “experts on the theory of aging, have strong reasons to suppose that human life span cannot be altered in any quick and easy way.”

Before resveratrol can become the “it” drug of the millennium, there’s a lot of work to do. Up until now, resveratrol has been tested only on lab mice and monkeys. And while there’s a lot to be said for the similarity between animal models and humans, there are plenty of differences. What’s more, while the mice really did live longer, the monkeys did not.

Is it really possible to extend the life span of human beings indefinitely? Could we go on and on, for hundreds or even thousands of years? And if we could — would we really want to do it? In short: Are we ready for immortality?

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