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The episode takes a scientific and medical look at methods being explored to extend human life and potentially achieve immortality.
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00:00most of us will live for a billion heartbeats within that span of time we will have reached
00:12old age today however aging and death are becoming less inevitable we're moving closer
00:24to the dream of immortality
00:54laboratory mice appear young and healthy they are by human equivalent over 100 years old
01:10experiments indicate that our lifespans might also be greatly extended
01:20we have sought forever to understand the mystery of why we grow old
01:24now that goal is coming within our grasp
01:28this series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture
01:40the producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations
01:44but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine
01:48like distance runners on a measured course all of us will move through time in a roughly predictable
02:09pattern
02:09in the first stage of our lives we develop and grow reaching toward an ultimate peak of physical
02:20vitality
02:21as we mature however the body begins an irreversible process of gradually wearing out
02:33a new awareness of physical fitness may help prolong our years of health and vigor
02:44yet nothing we do will work to hold the inevitable force of aging
02:51most of the changes of aging take place deep inside the body the lungs become less able to take in vital oxygen
03:03powerful muscles gradually lose their strength
03:11the heart loses power and pumps less blood
03:17bones grow ever more brittle
03:23valves and arteries begin to harden
03:30blood no longer circulates as well as our lives continue the symptoms of deterioration grow worse
03:46the body becomes more and more vulnerable
03:52finally we encounter a stress
03:56a stress that is greater than our physical resistance
04:00often it is only a minor accident or chance infection
04:04but this time it brings life to an end
04:09each of us must at some time confront the grim reality of growing old
04:14with every passing year the visible signs of wear and decline become more and more apparent
04:20try as we might to hide the fact
04:22our wrinkling sagging and loss of strength tell us undeniably that we are aging
04:34since our earliest history we have been obsessed with the idea of prolonging life and recapturing lost youth
04:42we have endlessly searched for ways to vanquish the physical toll of passing time
04:49and a means to unlock the working secrets of the clock of aging that ticks inside us
04:54alchemists sought for centuries to brew an elixir of life that would reverse the effects of age
05:07in 1919 a rejuvenation treatment was introduced by a russian-born surgeon named russi
05:09in 1919 a rejuvenation treatment was introduced by a russian born surgeon named russi
05:11Serge Voronov
05:13in 1919 a rejuvenation treatment was introduced by a russian-born surgeon named Serge Voronov
05:17using the sex organs of chimpanzees Voronov grafted their tissue into the bodies of aging men
05:21In 1919, a rejuvenation treatment was introduced by a Russian-born surgeon named Serge Voronov.
05:39Using the sex organs of chimpanzees, Voronov grafted their tissue into the bodies of aging men.
05:45Voronov claimed amazing results, and his therapy made him a millionaire.
05:54Yet the popular treatment met a sudden end when numerous patients became accidentally infected with syphilis from the chimps.
06:03Nevertheless, Voronov's work was a pioneering step in medicine.
06:06A youth spa offers perhaps more modern techniques of rejuvenation.
06:21Dr. Elliot Goldwag is the spa's executive director.
06:33It is a place that he describes as being devoted to the study and application of revitalization therapies.
06:40Here, the often wealthy or famous clientele receive an array of treatments which the center's staff believes can reverse many effects of aging.
06:51To open pores and renew the skin, faces are bathed in a warm mist of steam.
07:07This is a general relaxation training procedure.
07:11Rest your arms beside you.
07:13Clients who have problems sleeping are taught techniques to induce relaxation.
07:17I feel the tightness going out of my chest.
07:24The skin is carefully checked for flaws and signs of unusual wear.
07:36Regular cosmetic facials remove debris and other dead tissue from the skin.
07:41A facial mask is said to improve color and texture and to restore youthfulness.
07:54High-pressure sprays are used to stimulate the body, reportedly alerting and invigorating millions of tired cells.
08:12Inhaling atomized seawater mixed with aromatic oils is prescribed to aid respiration.
08:25Regular massages are provided to relax and tone tight muscles and to stimulate circulation.
08:42Warm seawater baths are said to allow natural minerals to absorb into the skin.
09:02A day of revitalization is often ended with a live chicken embryo cocktail.
09:07The egg is believed to act as a biological catalyst to stimulate healthy cell growth and revitalize tissue.
09:25Cell therapy is another treatment offered at the center.
09:28Cells from unborn lambs supposedly revitalize aging tissue when injected into the body.
09:46Dr. Ivan Popov is the medical director of the Revitalization Center.
09:51You have two kinds of troubles which we call premature aging.
09:55Some of them are irreversible.
09:57If you have intoxicated yourself and ruined your liver, very often it's practically impossible to correct it.
10:04But you have many reversible phenomenas.
10:07And those reversible phenomena, by stimulating our own body to react, to fight against aging,
10:15we can't make anybody one day younger than they are.
10:18But we can make them function and look younger.
10:22Because the majority of the people does function and does look older than they should.
10:29And this is one of our aims, to put them in the right age.
10:36The magic elixir of life has not yet been found.
10:40But compelling new discoveries may be bringing us closer.
10:43In 1932, a classic experiment nearly doubled the lifespan of rats
10:52simply by cutting back drastically the calories in their diet.
10:56The reason for the effect was then unknown.
10:59Today, at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Paul Siegel has also greatly extended the normal lifetime of rats.
11:10The result was achieved through a special protein-restricted diet,
11:18which had a profound effect on the chemistry of the brain.
11:26Siegel showed that within the brain, specific chemicals control many of the signals that influence aging.
11:32By altering that chemical balance, the clock of aging can be reset.
11:39Since the mechanism of aging may not be very much different in rats than in humans,
11:45it implies that we're no longer stuck with the idea that we have to get old.
11:52It means that we can now devise treatments that can alter the rate of aging,
11:58not only in rats, but eventually in humans.
12:02For the first time, the mystery of why we age is being seriously challenged.
12:09Scientists in many fields are now making dramatic and far-reaching discoveries.
12:19An average lifetime lasts 75 years.
12:23Yet in each of us lies a potential for near-immortality.
12:26If we could retain the vitality and resistance to disease that we have at age 20,
12:32we would live for 800 years.
12:35At UCLA, Dr. Roy Walford has linked aging to the body's complex immunity system.
12:51Dr. Walford believes that aging may not be a slow wearing out of the body,
12:55but rather an active self-destruct process.
12:58When a germ or foreign tissue has entered the body,
13:05a special blood cell of the immunity system quickly moves in to destroy it.
13:10Dr. Walford believes that with time,
13:13the immunity system loses its ability to tell the difference
13:16between the body's own cells and foreign invaders that should be destroyed.
13:20As the immune system becomes less able to distinguish self from non-self,
13:30the body slowly ages.
13:32Experiments with mice have supported Dr. Walford's ingenious theory.
13:51When injected with drugs to suppress their immune systems,
13:55their lifespans were greatly increased.
13:57Special experimental diets designed to affect the immunity system
14:09have also been shown to have dramatic effects on aging.
14:15Two mice are the same age.
14:18A lifetime on a normal diet leaves one tumored and ready to die.
14:22The other, whose diet has been carefully controlled,
14:27still appears young and healthy.
14:32A new experiment in Dr. Walford's research
14:35involves a technique called parabiosis.
14:39A young and an old mouse are surgically attached
14:42to share a common bloodstream.
14:45Perhaps the younger mouse's immune system
14:47will extend the lifespan of the older mouse.
14:52Dr. Leonard Hayflick, an eminent biologist
15:06working in aging research,
15:08has made a revolutionary discovery
15:10about the reasons we grow old.
15:16It was long thought that individual human cells
15:19could continue living indefinitely.
15:21Yet, Dr. Hayflick found that our cells
15:24have a maximum lifespan.
15:27They can divide only about 50 times
15:29before they wear out and die.
15:35If indeed the clock of aging lies deep inside each cell,
15:39there may be an ultimate limit
15:40on how long we can ever hope to live.
15:42I think the goal of extending our useful lives
15:47for longer periods of time
15:49within the normal lifespan
15:52is certainly a possibility and a probability.
15:55But I think that increasing the absolute lifespan
15:59for man is very improbable.
16:04Nevertheless, Dr. Hayflick continues his search,
16:07deeper into the mysteries of the living cell,
16:10probing for the secrets of why the body grows old.
16:13It's pointless to have as our goals
16:20in gerontological research
16:22increasing the length of time we spend on this planet
16:26simply for the sake of increasing the time.
16:28I think what is important to consider
16:31and what's essential to consider
16:32is how that time is spent.
16:36If we're to spend it
16:37with an additional 10 years of infirmities of old age,
16:41I don't think that's desirable.
16:46If we're to spend it
16:48with additional 10 years of vigor
16:49and activity, both physical and mental,
16:52then that is the kind of goal we should strive for.
16:55To understand the mechanisms of aging
16:57to the extent that people will live
17:00a full and productive life
17:02until the stroke of midnight
17:04on their 100th birthday,
17:06at which time we would all drop dead.
17:12Today, even the finality of death
17:14does not necessarily mean an end to life.
17:17A technique called cryonics
17:19may offer a hope of immortality.
17:21A California cryonics facility
17:25is operated by Art Quaith.
17:29Cryonics is the science
17:30of low-temperature preservation of human life.
17:33Cryonics suspension is the freezing procedure
17:36by which we preserve patients
17:37after they've been pronounced dead
17:39in the hope that at some future date
17:40medical science will be able to
17:42cure whatever they died of,
17:44repair the damage caused
17:45by the freezing procedure itself,
17:47and restore them to life.
17:48Now, in this capsule,
17:50we have two human patients,
17:52a 65-year-old man
17:54and a 75-year-old woman,
17:55both of whom died on the same day
17:57three and a half years ago.
18:00Their families arranged to have them
18:02placed into cryonic suspension.
18:04They're being maintained
18:05at the temperature of liquid nitrogen,
18:07which is minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit.
18:09At this temperature,
18:12there's going to be virtually no change
18:14or deterioration or decay
18:16for literally eons.
18:18These patients are not immortal now.
18:20They won't be if and until
18:21we can restore them to life.
18:23I think that if indeed
18:26that does prove possible in the future,
18:27it'll be at a time
18:29when it'll be very likely
18:30that almost all the afflictions of man
18:32will be treatable
18:32and people living at that time
18:35will have the expectation
18:36of living indefinitely into the future.
18:39Under careful laboratory controls,
18:46a hamster is painlessly put to death.
18:56The animal is packed in ice,
18:58maintaining its body temperature
19:00at freezing level.
19:02It is completely lifeless.
19:05Its heart is motionless.
19:09Clinically dead for over four hours,
19:15the hamster's frozen body
19:16will now be allowed
19:17to gradually thaw.
19:23Dr. Paul Siegel
19:25will carefully monitor
19:26its temperature
19:27and other vital signs.
19:29So far,
19:34there is no indication of life.
19:36The hamster is still dead.
19:40Dr. Siegel now uses
19:42a simple desk lamp
19:43to help warm the hamster.
19:48There is still
19:49no sign of life.
19:50a faint heartbeat
19:56registers on the EKG.
19:58The hamster may be coming back.
20:02Artificial respiration
20:03aids the animal
20:04with its first attempts
20:06at breathing.
20:09Its temperature is now rising,
20:11its heart beating stronger.
20:13It's starting to take
20:14a few breaths on her own.
20:14That was hard, wasn't it?
20:15Yeah.
20:15That's hard.
20:16Yeah, she's doing it.
20:16She's starting to breathe
20:17on her own a little bit.
20:18She's starting
20:19to take her first few
20:21attempts at breathing.
20:22You can see her abdomen
20:23every once in a while,
20:24but every 10, 15 seconds,
20:26she'll take in a deep breath.
20:27She still needs some help, though.
20:31There it goes.
20:31That's her.
20:32See?
20:32See it?
20:32See the reflexes?
20:33Okay.
20:34Remove the nose cone.
20:35All right.
20:35All right.
20:35All right.
20:35All right.
20:35All right.
20:39As the hamster
20:40returns to life,
20:41Dr. Siegel
20:42carefully watches
20:43its breathing
20:44and muscular reflexes.
20:51Though the hamster's
20:53body temperature
20:53is still very low,
20:55it will quickly
20:56return to normal.
21:02Soon,
21:03the hamster
21:04is almost
21:04completely recovered.
21:06For this particular animal,
21:08its amazing
21:09experimental voyage
21:10through death
21:11and back
21:12has already
21:12been taken
21:13five times.
21:25Today,
21:26for some laboratory animals,
21:28the boundaries
21:28between life and death
21:30are becoming
21:30less distinct.
21:32It may not be long
21:33before we ourselves
21:34can venture safely
21:35through death
21:36and return to catch
21:37at least a glimpse
21:38of immortality.
21:42Though aging and death
21:43may be what nature
21:44planned for us,
21:45science is at last
21:46unraveling some of
21:47the mysteries
21:48of growing old.
21:49The process is no longer
21:51beyond our understanding
21:52and is quickly
21:53becoming controllable.
21:54We may be on the way
21:55to realizing
21:56one of our fondest dreams,
21:58to live forever
21:59and never grow old.
22:01and never die
22:05and never die
22:05and never die
22:05until we end up
22:07in the end.
22:08We'll see...
22:09We'll be back a little bit
22:09and we'll be back in the way
22:09and have to think
22:10one more time.
22:11We'll be back in the day
22:11in the day
22:12and have to think
22:13into the future
22:13and can raise
22:14and ourés
22:15and I'm going to have a
22:16artheirone.
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