Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

so much red wine, which contains resveratrol.
    Scientists have found that sirtuin activators can protect mice from an impressive variety of diseases, including lung and colon cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, according to Sinclair. If even a fraction of these diseases can be treated in humans via sirtuins, it would revolutionize all medicine.
    Recently, a theory has been proposed to explain all the remarkable properties of resveratrol. According to Sinclair, the main purpose of sirtuin is to prevent certain genes from being activated. A single cell’s chromosomes, for example, if fully stretched, would extend six feet, making an astronomically long molecule. At any time, only a portion of the genes along this six feet of chromosomes are necessary; all the rest must be inactive. The cell gags most of the genes when they are not needed by wrapping the chromosome tightly with chromatin, which is maintained by sirtuin.
    Sometimes, however, there are catastrophic disruptions of these delicate chromosomes, like a total break in one of the strands. Then the sirtuins spring into action, helping to repair the broken chromosome. But whenthe sirtuins temporarily leave their posts to come to the rescue, they must abandon their primary job of silencing the genes. Hence, genes get activated, causing genetic chaos. This breakdown, Sinclair proposes, is one of the chief mechanisms for aging.
    If this is true, then perhaps sirtuins can not only halt the advance of aging but also reverse it. DNA damage to our cells is difficult to repair and reverse. But Sinclair believes that much of our aging is caused by sirtuins that have been diverted from their primary task, allowing cells to degenerate. The diversion of these sirtuins can be easily reversed, he claims.
    FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?
    One unwanted by-product of this discovery, however, has been the media circus that it sparked. Suddenly,
60 Minutes
and
The Oprah Winfrey Show
featured resveratrol, creating a stampede on the Internet, with fly-by-night companies springing up overnight, promising the elixir of life. It seems as if every snake oil salesman and charlatan wanted to jump on the resveratrol bandwagon.
    (I had a chance to interview Guarente, the man who started this media stampede, in his laboratory. He was cautious in his statements, realizing the media impact that his results may have and the misconceptions that may develop. In particular, he was incensed that so many Internet sites are now advertising resveratrol as some sort of fountain of youth. It was appalling, he noted, that people were trying to cash in on the sudden fame that resveratrol has gotten, although most of the results are still tentative. However, he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that one day, if the fountain of youth is ever found, assuming it even exists, then SIR2 may play a part. His colleague Sinclair, in fact, admits that he takes large quantities of resveratrol every day.)
    Interest in aging research is so intense within the scientific community that Harvard Medical School sponsored a conference in 2009 that drew some of the major researchers in the field. In the audience were many who were personally undergoing caloric restriction. Looking gaunt and frail, they were putting their scientific philosophy to the test by restricting their diets. There were also members of the 120 Club, who intend to live to the age of 120. In particular, interest was focused on Sirtris Pharmaceuticals,cofounded by David Sinclair and Christoph Westphal, which is now putting some of their resveratrol substitutes through clinical trials. Westphal says flatly, “ In five or six or seven years, there will be drugs that prolong longevity.”
    Chemicals that did not even exist a few years ago are the subject of intense interest as they go through trials. SRT501 is being tested against multiple myeloma and colon cancer. SRT2104 is being tested against type 2 diabetes. Not only sirtuins but also a host of other genes, proteins, and chemicals (including IGF-1, TOR, and rapamycin) are being closely analyzed by various groups.
    Only time will tell if these clinical trials will be successful. The history of medicine is riddled with tales of deception, chicanery, and fraud when it comes to the aging process. But science, not superstition, is based on reproducible, testable, and falsifiable data. As the National Institute on Aging sets up programs to test various