Can We Live Longer Than We Think?

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Throughout history, mankind has been in a quest for elixir, a magical potion that would prolong life indefinitely, for thousands of years. Be it in a story of a brave hero's journey in a strange world of magic and powers to save his beloved, or today's world where scientists are working day and night to break the human code and solve ageing, and get people live longer. 


According to scientific evidences, human originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately 6,000,000 years ago. But they didn't have basic human traits such as ability to walk on two legs, make and use tools around them, language, etc. It took another two million years to develop several of these traits. It was a mechanism to survive from wild animals and harsh environment. Many believe that advanced human traits, including complex symbolic expression, elaborate cultural diversity, and art, emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years. Throughout the evolution, all humans have been succumbed to death at certain point, but their life expectancy increased over the years. Today people can live longer than before (the longest known lifespan was 122 years) because of the advances in medicine and quality of living. 

The past years, many companies have emerged, all aiming to 'solve ageing.' In September 2013 Google announced the creation of Calico. The company is dedicated to develop age-defying drugs and enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. A new company called Human Longevity Inc., also joined the race in March 2014. The company aims to collect one million human genome sequences by 2020 and help facilitate other companies to use the data to understand what makes for a longer and healthier life. Billions of dollars are poured to fund this research but no one knows for sure if we will be able to defeat aging. Many scientists are also of the opinion that it is impossible to develop such a drug that would extend our life. Scientists have already succeeded in extending lifespan in mice by 50%. It is only a matter of time that we will soon solve the mystery of life itself. 

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