"It's a $1 billion bet they call "The Great Longevity Wager," and an Alabama scientist is sure he'll win. Or his descendants will, because Dr. Steven Austad doesn't really expect to collect in 2150.
Austad, chairman of the biology department at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, is betting that the first person to reach 150 is alive today. If he proves right, his heirs will collect the earnings of an investment account set up with a $150 wager in 2000."
"Olshansky, a professor of public health, is the other bettor. And while he shares Austad's belief that lifespans will keep growing because of advances in aging science, he's confident, "It can't produce a 150-year old person."
This bet remains current news - even though it was made in 2000. It just is very entertaining.
There are so many ways of considering the 150 year life span. The discussion is about slowing aging - think of it taking 80 years to reach the state of a 50-year-old today. They are looking at drugs to intervene with these results. The ones being considered aremetformin and rapamycin. The scientists predict it will happen "in time to influence the lives of most people today."'
Maybe that also explains the next headline "Why Bryan John son and Jeff Bezos are betting big"...investing in longevity. They have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars towards companies pursuing longer life.
A rusty spring in the Strasbourg Railway repair shop - from a few years ago. It might be even rustier now.
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