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Insight and Health

A cure for ageing is near but you probably can't afford it

The race is on to develop anti-ageing treatments, but will they really work? And if they do, will only the rich be to defy the ravages of time?

By Jessica Hamzelou

4 January 2017

couple on beach

Grey days can be averted

Aldo Sperber/Picture Tank

FEEL that? It’s your body, slowly degrading. Ageing affects us all, and it leads to diseases that eventually kill most of us. No wonder so much research is going into creating an antidote.

If we come up with a way to slow, halt or even reverse the ageing process, we could potentially protect people from cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. The idea is to extend “health span”, the number of years of good health a person enjoys. Extra birthdays are simply a bonus.

Where philosophers once pursued outlandish schemes for eternal youth,…

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