One of my favorite movie lines comes from a Star Trek movie where pretty much the whole plot is centered around growing old and dying (or prevention thereof). After the great moral message is played out (essentially “it’s natural, deal with it”), Riker says “I don’t know about you, sir, but I plan to live forever.”

That pretty much sums up my take on the whole thing as well. Sci-fi is one thing, but lately advances in medical science have been somewhat astounding. While some scientists may have some far-fetched beliefs on what will be achievable in our lifetimes (although I hope they’re right), conventional wisdom would say that while we have some ideas for how to do this, we really aren’t far out of the starting gate.

However, what this means is that we really won’t be able to extend the human lifespan beyond its natural limit of 100-115 years or so. BUT, most people don’t reach that maximum age and in fact time out around 78, typically due Heart Disease or Cancer, which together account for over 50% of all deaths.

It would seem then that statistically, eliminating these two diseases would increase the average lifespan from 78 to around 90 (since 50% of all “premature” deaths would be eliminated). The math isn’t quite that simple, but you can see what a large impact this would have. That is why it is reassuring to see that there are currently a large handful of new medical treatments available which are targeting just these diseases. For example, cancer treatments ranging from first-generation nanomachines to selectively aging cancer cells, many of which are quite promising.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen as many cutting edge solutions for Heart Disease, which cuts much closer to home for me since I have a history of it in my family. However, I’m only 26 at the moment, so I’m hoping that they’ll have plenty of time o develop them.