fountains of youth

Promises of eternal youth and immortality have united quacks, frauds and gullible paymasters since ancient times. To this day, ageing research is haunted by dubious efforts. The intense interest also means, however, that we can learn interesting things about how and why we age, and maybe even how to stay healthy for a little bit longer. Which is why I agreed to do a feature on this field even though I am very sceptical about it. Here's my original (mildly sceptical) intro which was edited out:

The fountain of youth, as depicted by the Renaissance artist Lukas Cranach the Elder in 1546 (see below), has a very simple operation mode. Frail, elderly women enter the rejuvenating pool from the left of the painting, and after a refreshing bath they emerge on the right hand side as young ladies, eagerly awaited by noble knights.

Scientific research in the centuries since hasn’t quite succeeded in making this imaginary treatment happen in the real world, but the task has attracted a lot of research effort from alchemists through to modern scientists, and an inordinate amount of media coverage.

A recent, widely reported effort, the idea that the kinetic isotope effect could slow down deleterious reaction if only our food and drink was spiced up with deuterium, the heavier isotope of hydrogen, may serve to illustrate the fundamental problem of most such ideas. Even if this anti-ageing diet works, it will be prohibitively expensive, so the net effect will be to give billionaires even more time to count their assets, while most of the world population will continue to die prematurely of avoidable causes.

Thus, in the real world, Cranach’s fountain is poisoned by the narcissism of those who think they can buy a ticket to escape mortality, and the scientists who are willing to serve them. Nevertheless, there is a lot of interesting biology to be explored in the question of why and how we age, and a better understanding of the whole complex process, if applied fairly, might just help to enable more people to live healthier lives for a bit longer.

The Fountain of Youth, an oil-on-panel painting produced in 1546 by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Source: Wikipedia (they have a huge file if you want to zoom in - I used a smaller size.

Happily, the rest of the feature is now available here:

Forever young

Chemistry & Industry Volume 87, Issue 12, December 2023, Pages 30-33

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled PDF)

SCI OPEN ACCESS and also includes additional media not shown in the print version.

As always, I'm happy to send a PDF on request.