Putin says organ transplants might grant immortality. Not fairly.

On Wednesday, one scientist described how he’d been testing potential longevity medication on the tiny nematode worm C. elegans. These worms dwell for under about 15 to 40 days, and his crew can carry out tens of 1000’s of experiments with them. About 40% of the medication that reach lifespan in C. elegans additionally assist mice dwell longer, he instructed us.

To me, that’s not an incredible hit charge. And we don’t know what number of of these medication will work in individuals. Most likely lower than 40% of that 40%.

Different scientists offered work on chemical reactions occurring on the mobile stage. It was deep, fundamental science, and my takeaway was that there’s lots getting older researchers nonetheless don’t totally perceive.

It would take years—if not many years—to get the total image of getting older on the molecular stage. And if we depend on a sequence of experiments in worms, after which mice, after which people, we’re unlikely to make progress for a actually very long time. In that context, the concept of substitute remedy seems like a shortcut.

“Alternative is a extremely thrilling avenue since you don’t have to know the biology of getting older as a lot,” says Sierra Lore, who research getting older on the College of Copenhagen in Denmark and the Buck Institute for Analysis on Getting old in Novato, California.

Lore says she began her analysis profession learning getting older on the molecular stage, however she quickly modified course. She now plans to focus her consideration on substitute therapies. “I in a short time realized we’re many years away [from understanding the molecular processes that underlie aging],” she says. “Why don’t we simply take what we already know—substitute—and attempt to perceive and apply it higher?”

So maybe Putin’s simple method to delaying getting older holds some advantage. Whether or not it can grant him immortality is one other matter.

This text first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Expertise Evaluation’s weekly biotech publication. To obtain it in your inbox each Thursday, and browse articles like this primary, join right here.