Human longevity

Considerable research is being done to increase human longevity to sustain long space flights. The longest a human has survived on Earth is 122 years and the longest tree to have lived on Earth has managed 80,000 years. Hence, there must be a way out to stop senescence and increase life span atleast to match that of the longest living mammal - whales supposed to live even for 250 years.

Harvard scientist Ronald De Pinho and his team have managed to reverse ageing in mice.

Biological immortality:

Scientists are continuously experimenting with achieving biological immortality. Biological immortality has been observed in jellyfish, tapeworms, lobsters, hydra and microscopic organisms.

the life extension society is investing in technologies and studies like cryonics to save human bodies for future revival.

Fictitious concepts:

In Potter world, horcruxes, unicorn blood and resorting to evil means helped Voldemort achieve near immortality.

Religious concepts:

Buddhism says that anything which takes birth must die. Immortality is not a goal worth pursuing. Even the Universe, if it has taken a birth, must die one day. Even in celestial kingdoms, Gods die.

What can we do now?

In the present moment though, there is nothing much common humans can do except hope for a breakthrough from scientists and rely on the oft repeated old faith of consume less calories and make do with less. "Less is more" phrase best explains the ageing concept.

What we can aim for is expanding life span, not immortality. The lesser the physical wants, longer is the lifespan. Why should we do it? The longer we survive, the better chances are to develop a more advance brain. A new born baby spends almost twenty years learning all the knowledge he can grasp. So the learning time consumes a lot of life years. And there are just around twenty more active years, when the brain is in its prime form, before the pains of old age start playing catch up and disturb the ideas.

If we can expand life span, and increase quality of healthy life and active brain, there is a better chance of creating humans who are more intelligent and capable of coming up with more innovative theories, ideas and practices.