Dr. Ben Bova, renown author, scientist and futurist, argues that thanks to scientific advances, many of us alive today will be able to live for centuries. No, it is not fantasy but actual facts. Baylor College of Medicine announced last year that they have cloned a gene that makes some types of human cells live more than twice as long as they would normally. Researchers at U of T Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Tx have opened another avenue toward immortality by injecting human cells with an enzyme called Telomerase and caused these cells to live twice as long as normal and are still doing well. Extending the life span of cells is closely linked with cancer.
Cancerous cells produce telomerase naturally and proliferate without limit.
They are effectively immortal. Scientists say that they are a long way before extending lifetimes of cells in a petri dish and extension of human life, however, it is a great step toward the day when aging is banished and death would become an option rather than an inevitability. There are arguments pro and con immortality especially with the controversy cloning of Dollie the sheep and those who argue the cloning is playing God. However, most people do not want to die and would leap at the chance to extend their lives indefinitely and be vigorous, youthful for centuries. Travel to another planet, see your grandkids grow up and play with their children's children.