Aging Process Reversed (Sort of) in Lab Mice

You, too, can be forever 21, so long as you're a disease-ridden lab mouse. Oh, and even then, you're still going to die.

What's today's fascinating near-breakthrough in the science world that carries a billion or so caveats that make it nearly inapplicable to humans, but is interesting nonetheless? Why, it's lab mice who have had their aging process reversed by stem cells! A team at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center played a little bit of God with lab mice, genetically altering them so that they have a disease – progeria – that causes rapid aging, going from birth to death in just 28 days. To a lucky handful of the freak-of-nature mice, the researchers introduced stem cells from younger, non-freak mice after 17 days, when the mice began to get old and weak. The researchers then observed that those mice had better blood flow, more energy, and stronger muscles – and lived more than twice as long as the other genetically altered mice. Crazy, right? Well, not that crazy, according to Curt Freed, a leading pharmacologist at the University of Colorado, who had this to say to ABC:

"Because the transplants have added only 30 days to these animals' short lives, the results are interesting but are hardly a turnaround in this devastating disease model. The transplants are not curing the disease," Freed said. "I cannot imagine that this strategy will be useful for modifying the aging process in humans."

Oh, scientists. Always bringing us down with their "facts" and "healthy skepticism." But rest assured – if you're a lab mouse who happens to have progeria, there's a team in Pittsburgh who'll be more than happy to double your pitiful existence.