Trying to stay forever young

An age-old obsession for the mythical “fountain of youth” has inspired some very extreme measures.

The pursuit of staying young forever has inspired art, music and literature in which it’s possible to live forever—or at least look like we might. From snake-oil salesmen to now-debunked medical techniques that were once considered major scientific advances, almost every culture has had a market for so-called “cures” or access to a mythical “fountain of youth.”

What if old hearts could actually be made young again?

Scientists at Harvard may have figured out how to do just that—someday. On “TechKnow” this week, we meet two scientists who are now researching Growth Differential Factor 11 (GDF11), a blood protein that’s more abundant in younger systems. In mice, GDF11 can reverse the effects of aging in old hearts in as little as four weeks. Though testing on human hearts hasn’t yet begun, work to better understand how manipulating the protein could help combat age-related human heart diseases is on the horizon.

According to one report, the world market for anti-aging is expected to grow to almost $350 billion by 2018. As the number of available products and alleged quick cures quickly multiply, it will become even more important to learn how to differentiate advanced medicine from junk science.

Blood connections

Scientists at Stanford University found that giving older mice blood from a young mouse helps memory and invigorates brain cell connections. There may be implications later down the line for how this treatment can actually impact disease like Alzheimer’s.

Botulism by any other name

The Botox craze has been around for years, spurning extreme frozen faces and Botox happy hours. But this injected drug is actually prepared from the toxin botulinum. The reason it removes wrinkles is because it temporarily paralyzes facial muscles. The craze that has now reached he billions in profits was started in the 1820s because of a rash of sausage poisoning—Justinus Kerne studied this batch of poison sausages and first implied it could be used for medical reasons.

Vampire diaries

Reality star Kim Kardashian made waves after getting treated to a blood facial on her show last year. Nicknamed “the vampire facial,” this procedure requires drawing blood from a patient and injecting it again under the skin. The doctor who invented it, Charles Runel, claims the facial is non-invasive and helps bring back the glow of youth.

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