TedEd: Could we cure aging during your lifetime?

Made by Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell

Many human diseases and injuries are caused by aging. As our lifespans increased, the time we spent outside of good health also increased. Now scientists are turning toward increasing our health span, or the time of our lives we spend disease free. This video explains three potential methods that could slow aging. The first is destroying senescent cells. When our cells replicate, they lose a tiny bit of DNA at the ends. This could be really bad, so we have telomeres at the ends of chromosomes to protect them. As the cells replicate, however, the telomeres wear away until they are gone. At this point, these cells become senescent, kind of like zombies. These cells do not die because they lack the production of proteins that tell them to do so. However, tests on mice showed that we can inject those to kill off senescent cells with minimal damage to healthy cells. The second method involves NAD+. This is an enzyme that tells the body how to take care of itself. However, your body makes less of these as you age. Low amounts of it causes diseases like skin cancer and Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, it can't enter cells as a pill. However, it can enter as a fluid substance that turns into NAD+ inside the cell. Clinical trials on mice proved positive and human trials may begin soon. The final option is stem cells. These create new cells for things like muscles. Like NAD+, we lose these as we grow. These can be more readily injected into areas such as the brain and heart. For more info, visit lifespan.io.