1 00:00:00,181 --> 00:00:10,190 Most of us will live for a billion heartbeats. 2 00:00:10,190 --> 00:00:18,878 Within that span of time, we will have reached old age. 3 00:00:18,878 --> 00:00:23,563 Today, however, aging and death are becoming less inevitable. 4 00:00:23,563 --> 00:00:27,566 We are moving closer to the dream of immortality. 5 00:00:54,591 --> 00:01:03,600 Like distance runners on a measured course, all of us will move through time in a roughly predictable pattern. 6 00:01:08,604 --> 00:01:15,611 In the first stage of our lives, we develop and grow, reaching toward an ultimate peak of physical vitality. 7 00:01:15,611 --> 00:01:27,622 As we mature, however, the body begins an irreversible process of gradually wearing out. 8 00:01:33,628 --> 00:01:38,632 A new awareness of physical fitness may help prolong our years of health and vigor. 9 00:01:38,632 --> 00:01:43,637 Yet nothing we do will work to halt the inevitable force of aging. 10 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:52,645 Most of the changes of aging take place deep inside the body. 11 00:01:52,645 --> 00:01:57,650 The lungs become less able to take in vital oxygen. 12 00:02:01,653 --> 00:02:05,657 Powerful muscles gradually lose their strength. 13 00:02:07,659 --> 00:02:11,663 The heart loses power and pumps less blood. 14 00:02:15,666 --> 00:02:18,669 Bones grow ever more brittle. 15 00:02:22,673 --> 00:02:25,676 Valves and arteries begin to harden. 16 00:02:31,681 --> 00:02:34,684 Blood no longer circulates as well. 17 00:02:35,685 --> 00:02:40,690 As our lives continue, the symptoms of deterioration grow worse. 18 00:02:40,690 --> 00:02:44,693 The body becomes more and more vulnerable. 19 00:02:46,695 --> 00:02:49,698 Finally, we encounter a stress. 20 00:02:49,698 --> 00:02:53,702 A stress that is greater than our physical resistance. 21 00:02:53,702 --> 00:03:01,709 Often, it is only a minor accident or chance infection, but this time, it brings life to an end. 22 00:03:03,711 --> 00:03:07,715 Each of us must at some time confront the grim reality of growing old. 23 00:03:07,715 --> 00:03:13,720 With every passing year, the visible signs of wear and decline become more and more apparent. 24 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:15,722 Try as we might to hide the fact. 25 00:03:15,722 --> 00:03:22,729 Our wrinkling, sagging, and loss of strength tell us undeniably that we are aging. 26 00:03:27,733 --> 00:03:34,740 Since our earliest history, we have been obsessed with the idea of prolonging life and recapturing lost youth. 27 00:03:35,741 --> 00:03:40,745 We have endlessly searched for ways to vanquish the physical toll of passing time 28 00:03:40,745 --> 00:03:46,751 and a means to unlock the working secrets of the clock of aging that ticks inside us. 29 00:03:54,758 --> 00:04:00,764 Alchemists sought for centuries to brew an elixir of life that would reverse the effects of age. 30 00:04:04,767 --> 00:04:06,769 The Elixir of Life 31 00:04:25,787 --> 00:04:32,793 In 1919, a rejuvenation treatment was introduced by a Russian-born surgeon named Serge Voronov. 32 00:04:33,794 --> 00:04:39,800 Using the sex organs of chimpanzees, Voronov grafted their tissue into the bodies of aging men. 33 00:04:43,804 --> 00:04:47,807 Voronov claimed amazing results and his therapy made him a millionaire. 34 00:04:47,807 --> 00:04:54,814 Yet the popular treatment met a sudden end when numerous patients became accidentally infected with syphilis from the chimps. 35 00:04:56,816 --> 00:05:00,819 Nevertheless, Voronov's work was a pioneering step in medicine. 36 00:05:03,822 --> 00:05:06,825 The Elixir of Life 37 00:05:07,826 --> 00:05:14,832 Today, near the warm waters of the Bahamas, a youth spa offers perhaps more modern techniques of rejuvenation. 38 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:25,843 Dr. Elliot Goldwag is the spa's executive director. 39 00:05:26,843 --> 00:05:32,849 It is a place that he describes as being devoted to the study and application of revitalization therapies. 40 00:05:34,851 --> 00:05:42,858 Here, the often wealthy or famous clientele receive an array of treatments which the center's staff believes can reverse many effects of aging. 41 00:05:43,859 --> 00:05:45,861 Dr. Elliot Goldwag 42 00:05:54,869 --> 00:05:59,874 To open pores and renew the skin, faces are bathed in a warm mist of steam. 43 00:06:07,881 --> 00:06:11,885 Clients who have problems sleeping are taught techniques to induce relaxation. 44 00:06:12,886 --> 00:06:15,889 I feel the tightness going out of my chest. 45 00:06:18,892 --> 00:06:22,895 The skin is carefully checked for flaws and signs of unusual wear. 46 00:06:30,903 --> 00:06:35,907 Regular cosmetic facials remove debris and other dead tissue from the skin. 47 00:06:43,915 --> 00:06:48,919 A facial mask is said to improve color and texture and to restore youthfulness. 48 00:06:59,930 --> 00:07:06,936 High pressure sprays are used to stimulate the body, reportedly alerting and invigorating millions of tired cells. 49 00:07:12,942 --> 00:07:18,947 Inhaling atomized seawater mixed with aromatic oils is prescribed to aid respiration. 50 00:07:29,957 --> 00:07:35,963 Regular massages are provided to relax and tone tight muscles and to stimulate circulation. 51 00:07:43,970 --> 00:07:49,976 Warm seawater baths are said to allow natural minerals to absorb into the skin. 52 00:07:54,981 --> 00:07:59,985 A day of revitalization is often ended with a live chicken embryo cocktail. 53 00:08:00,986 --> 00:08:07,993 The egg is believed to act as a biological catalyst to stimulate healthy cell growth and revitalized tissue. 54 00:08:12,997 --> 00:08:18,002 Cell therapy is another treatment offered at the center. 55 00:08:21,005 --> 00:08:26,009 Cells from unborn lambs supposedly revitalize the body. 56 00:08:30,013 --> 00:08:35,018 Cells from unborn lambs also revitalize aging tissue when injected into the body. 57 00:08:42,024 --> 00:08:47,029 Dr. Ivan Popov is the medical director of the revitalization center. 58 00:08:48,030 --> 00:08:54,035 You have two kinds of troubles which we call premature aging. Some of them are irreversible. 59 00:08:55,036 --> 00:09:00,041 And ruin your liver very often it's practically impossible to correct it. 60 00:09:00,041 --> 00:09:09,049 But you have many reversible phenomena and those reversible phenomena by stimulating our own body to react to fight against aging. 61 00:09:10,050 --> 00:09:13,053 We can't make anybody one day younger than they are. 62 00:09:13,053 --> 00:09:23,062 But we can make them function and look younger because the majority of the people does function and does look older than they should. 63 00:09:24,063 --> 00:09:28,067 And this is one of our aims to put them in the right age. 64 00:09:31,070 --> 00:09:38,076 The magic elixir of life has not yet been found. But compelling new discoveries may be bringing us closer. 65 00:09:41,079 --> 00:09:50,087 In 1932 a classic experiment nearly doubled the lifespan of rats simply by cutting back drastically the calories in their diet. 66 00:09:51,088 --> 00:09:54,091 The reason for the effect was then unknown. 67 00:09:57,094 --> 00:10:05,101 Today at the University of California at Berkeley Dr. Paul Siegel has also greatly extended the normal lifetime of rats. 68 00:10:09,105 --> 00:10:16,111 The result was achieved through a special protein restricted diet which had a profound effect on the chemistry of the brain. 69 00:10:21,116 --> 00:10:27,121 Siegel showed that within the brain specific chemicals control many of the signals that influence aging. 70 00:10:27,121 --> 00:10:32,126 By altering that chemical balance the clock of aging can be reset. 71 00:10:33,127 --> 00:10:46,139 Since the mechanism of aging may not be very much different in rats than in humans it implies that we're no longer stuck with the idea that we have to get old. 72 00:10:47,140 --> 00:10:55,147 It means that we can now devise treatments that can alter the rate of aging not only in rats but eventually in humans. 73 00:10:58,150 --> 00:11:02,154 For the first time the mystery of why we age is being seriously challenged. 74 00:11:04,156 --> 00:11:08,159 Scientists in many fields are now making dramatic and far-reaching discoveries. 75 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:16,167 An average lifetime lasts 75 years yet in each of us lies a potential for near immortality. 76 00:11:17,168 --> 00:11:28,178 If we could retain the vitality and resistance to disease that we have at age 20 we would live for 800 years. 77 00:11:29,179 --> 00:11:35,184 At UCLA Dr. Roy Walford has linked aging to the body's complex immunity system. 78 00:11:36,185 --> 00:11:41,190 Dr. Walford believes that aging may not be a slow wearing out of the body but rather an active self-destruct process. 79 00:11:44,193 --> 00:11:49,197 When a germ or foreign tissue has entered the body it is a very important process. 80 00:11:49,197 --> 00:11:56,204 Dr. Walford believes that with time the immunity system loses its ability to tell the difference between the body's own cells and foreign invaders that should be destroyed. 81 00:11:59,207 --> 00:12:04,211 The body has a special blood cell that is used to prevent the immune system from moving. 82 00:12:06,213 --> 00:12:14,221 Dr. Walford believes that with time the immune system loses its ability to tell the difference between the body's own cells and foreign invaders that should be destroyed. 83 00:12:19,225 --> 00:12:26,232 As the immune system becomes less able to distinguish self from non-self the body slowly ages. 84 00:12:39,244 --> 00:12:43,248 Experiments with mice have supported Dr. Walford's ingenious theory. 85 00:12:44,248 --> 00:12:50,254 When injected with drugs to suppress their immune systems their life spans were greatly increased. 86 00:12:58,261 --> 00:13:06,269 Special experimental diets designed to affect the immunity system have also been shown to have dramatic effects on aging. 87 00:13:07,270 --> 00:13:15,277 Two mice are the same age. A lifetime on a normal diet leaves one tumored and ready to die. 88 00:13:16,278 --> 00:13:22,284 The other whose diet has been carefully controlled still appears young and healthy. 89 00:13:25,286 --> 00:13:30,291 A new experiment in Dr. Walford's research involves a technique called parabiosis. 90 00:13:31,292 --> 00:13:36,297 A young and an old mouse are surgically attached to share a common bloodstream. 91 00:13:37,298 --> 00:13:42,302 Perhaps the younger mouse's immune system will extend the lifespan of the older mouse. 92 00:13:43,303 --> 00:13:50,310 Dr. Leonard Haeflich, an eminent biologist working in aging research has made a revolutionary discovery about the reasons we grow old. 93 00:14:00,319 --> 00:14:07,325 It was long thought that individuals who have been in the field of research have been able to find a way to grow old. 94 00:14:08,326 --> 00:14:14,332 It was long thought that individual human cells could continue living indefinitely. 95 00:14:15,333 --> 00:14:19,336 Yet Dr. Haeflich found that our cells have a maximum lifespan. 96 00:14:20,337 --> 00:14:24,341 They can divide only about 50 times before they wear out and die. 97 00:14:28,345 --> 00:14:36,352 If indeed the clock of aging lies deep inside each cell there may be an ultimate limit on how long we can ever hope to live. 98 00:14:37,353 --> 00:14:49,364 I think the goal of extending our useful lives for longer periods of time within the normal lifespan is certainly a possibility and a probability. 99 00:14:50,365 --> 00:14:55,370 But I think that increasing the absolute lifespan for man is very improbable. 100 00:14:56,371 --> 00:15:06,380 Nevertheless, Dr. Haeflich continues his search deeper into the mysteries of the living cell, probing for the secrets of why the body grows old. 101 00:15:10,384 --> 00:15:21,394 It's pointless to have as our goals in gerontological research increasing the length of time we spend on this planet simply for the sake of increasing the time. 102 00:15:21,394 --> 00:15:27,399 I think what is important to consider and what's essential to consider is how that time is spent. 103 00:15:29,401 --> 00:15:35,407 If we're to spend it with an additional 10 years of infirmities of old age I don't think that's desirable. 104 00:15:39,411 --> 00:15:48,419 If we're to spend it with additional 10 years of vigor and activity both physical and mental then that is the kind of goal we should strive for. 105 00:15:48,419 --> 00:16:02,432 To understand the mechanisms of aging to the extent that people will live a full and productive life until the stroke of midnight on their 100th birthday at which time we would all drop dead. 106 00:16:05,435 --> 00:16:10,439 Today even the finality of death does not necessarily mean an end to life. 107 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,443 A technique called cryonics may offer a hope of immortality. 108 00:16:15,444 --> 00:16:19,448 A California cryonics facility is operated by Art Quaith. 109 00:16:22,450 --> 00:16:25,453 Cryonics is the science of low temperature preservation of human life. 110 00:16:26,454 --> 00:16:41,468 Cryonics suspension is the freezing procedure by which we preserve patients after they've been pronounced dead in a hope that at some future date medical science will be able to cure whatever they died of, repair the damage caused by the freezing procedure itself and restore them to life. 111 00:16:42,469 --> 00:16:51,477 Now in this capsule we have two human patients, a 65 year old man and a 75 year old woman both of whom died on the same day three and a half years ago. 112 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:56,482 Their families arranged to have them placed into cryonics suspension. 113 00:16:57,483 --> 00:17:02,488 They're being maintained at the temperature of liquid nitrogen which is minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. 114 00:17:03,488 --> 00:17:09,494 At this temperature there's going to be virtually no change or deterioration or decay for literally eons. 115 00:17:10,495 --> 00:17:15,500 These patients are not immortal now and they won't be if and until we can restore them to life. 116 00:17:16,501 --> 00:17:31,514 I think that if indeed that does prove possible in the future it will be at a time when it will be very likely that almost all the afflictions of man will be treatable and people living at that time will have the expectation of living indefinitely into the future. 117 00:17:33,516 --> 00:17:41,524 Under careful laboratory controls a hamster is painlessly put to death. 118 00:17:50,532 --> 00:17:54,536 The animal is packed in ice, maintaining its body temperature at freezing level. 119 00:17:56,538 --> 00:18:00,541 It is completely lifeless. Its heart is motionless. 120 00:18:03,544 --> 00:18:11,551 Clinically dead for over four hours the hamster's frozen body will now be allowed to gradually thaw. 121 00:18:17,557 --> 00:18:22,562 Dr. Paul Siegel will carefully monitor its temperature and other vital signs. 122 00:18:23,563 --> 00:18:29,568 So far there is no indication of life. The hamster is still dead. 123 00:18:31,570 --> 00:18:36,575 Dr. Siegel now uses a simple desk lamp to help warm the hamster. 124 00:18:39,577 --> 00:18:42,580 There is still no sign of life. 125 00:18:45,583 --> 00:18:49,587 Suddenly a faint heartbeat registers on the EKG. 126 00:18:49,587 --> 00:18:52,589 The hamster may be coming back. 127 00:18:53,590 --> 00:18:57,594 Artificial respiration aids the animal with its first attempts at breathing. 128 00:19:00,597 --> 00:19:04,601 Its temperature is now rising. Its heart beating stronger. 129 00:19:07,603 --> 00:19:09,605 That was her. Yeah, she's doing it. 130 00:19:10,606 --> 00:19:12,608 She's starting to breathe on her own a little bit. 131 00:19:13,609 --> 00:19:16,612 She's starting to take her first few attempts at breathing. 132 00:19:16,612 --> 00:19:21,616 She's breathing her abdomen every once in a while, but every 10-15 seconds she'll take in a deep breath. 133 00:19:22,617 --> 00:19:24,619 She still needs some help though. 134 00:19:25,620 --> 00:19:29,624 There it goes. That's her. See it? See the reflexes? Okay, moving us on. 135 00:19:34,628 --> 00:19:40,634 As the hamster returns to life, Dr. Siegel carefully watches its breathing and muscular reflexes. 136 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,643 The hamster's body temperature is still very low. It will quickly return to normal. 137 00:19:56,649 --> 00:19:59,652 Soon the hamster is almost completely recovered. 138 00:20:00,652 --> 00:20:08,660 For this particular animal, its amazing experimental voyage through death and back has already been taken five times. 139 00:20:17,668 --> 00:20:24,675 Today, for some laboratory animals, the boundaries between life and death are becoming less distinct. 140 00:20:25,676 --> 00:20:33,683 It may not be long before we ourselves can venture safely through death and return to catch at least a glimpse of immortality. 141 00:20:34,684 --> 00:20:41,690 Though aging and death may be what nature planned for us, science is at last unraveling some of the mysteries of growing old. 142 00:20:41,690 --> 00:20:46,695 The process is no longer beyond our understanding and is quickly becoming controllable. 143 00:20:47,696 --> 00:20:53,702 We may be on the way to realizing one of our fondest dreams, to live forever and never grow old. 144 00:21:11,718 --> 00:21:17,724 Thank you for watching!