Startup Says It's Honing in on a Way to Reverse Aging

The idea of a technological fountain of youth seems to be more of a reverie than a reality.

Scientists have continued to try despite that. According to M IT Technology Review, scientists may be close to a breakthrough, or it may be another case of bad science.

The founder and chief scientist of Altos Labs is Rick Klausner. Klausner promises "medical rejuvenation" via "rejuvenation programming," a method aimed at resetting DNA's epigenomic, which controls how genes are expressed. It appears that the technique makes individual cells younger. What's the downside? It can cause cells to change in ways that are not predictable.

Klausner claims that it works in mice. He claims to have found that reprograming cured mice of diabetes and saved others from fatal overdoses of painkillers.

Altos' methods are critiqued. One embryologist who spoke to MIT Tech called Altos an "alchemy project" and described Klausner as an "evangelical."

One of the main problems with the method is that it causes cells to lose their epigenetic identity in the process. The embryo is not an adult, as the name implies. Imagine the horror that might come from that incompatibility.

Klausner claims that partial re-programming in mice allows the little rodents to live longer.

He told MIT Tech that you did not lose your identity.

The foundation of undoing aging is shaky at best, because there isn't a scientific consensus on what causes aging in the first place.

It's possible that the research is genius or questionable. A senior medical researcher told the magazine that there is no scientific basis for evaluating rejuvenation and that more youthful scores on an epigenetic clock do not equate to better health or longer life expectancy.

It's a fascinating claim, but only time will tell if there will be any meaningful applications as a treatment.

Scientists want to make you look younger.

Giving baby mice a drug makes them live ten percent longer.