Still on the Azamara Journey, and should arrive into St. Johns by the time this posting is completed.
In a way, the roots of this series about the science to stop and reverse began with a posting on 8May2016, a decade ago, about how life began. Then on 13June2025 I posted on DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?
On 19June2025 my posting was on Lifespan Limits. I indicated that the Turritopsis dohrnii,the Immortal Jellyfish, might live for thousands of years. So might, perhaps, hydra. Something to do with FoxO genes. But Homo sapiens?
- The first emperor of the Qin dynasty in China, Qin Shi Huang, drank mercury to live longer. He died at the age of 49 in 210BC, which was then way over the life expectancy. He was the one who had buried with him the Terracota Army of Xian. By the way, in those days Buddhist monks lived to 70, so they were doing something right.
- Diane de Poitiers, a royal mistress to King Henry II in the 16th century, looked fabulous until she died in 1566 at the then very old age of 66. She had a daily drink infused with gold chloride, which kept her alive, but probably also killed her. At the age of 15, she married Henry when he was 54. She bathed daily in frigid cold water, always had a good night's sleep and exercised well.
- Countess Elizabeth Báthory killed 650 women so she could bath in the blood of her victims to maintain her youth and beauty. She was caught in 1612, confined to a castle for the rest of her life, and died two years later at 54.
Then of course there are present day billionnaires.
- Sam Altman in 2018, while running Y Combinator, placed a fully refundable $10,000 deposit on a waiting list for Nectome, a startup exploring chemical brain preservation. [1, 2] 34 others also did.
- Peter Thiel founded PayPal, and uses blood transfusions to extend life. Also ingests human-growth hormone pills. Has invested in Blackrock Neurotech to connect the human brain to computers. Has taken steps to cryogenically preserve his body. Altman to the left and Theil in the middle.
- Elon Musk has no grand plans to live forever, but has expressed interest in a device that allows users to upload their consciousness to the cloud, allowing them to live on once their physical bodies have expired. He co-founded Neuralink to do this.
- Herodotus in the 5th century C sought a fountain of youth.
- In 1513, Ponce de Leon, Spanish conquistador, and then governor of Puerto Rico, made his first voyage to La Florida to search for this flowing elixir.
- Well, Leonard Guarente, who heads MIT's Paul F. Glenn Center for the Science of Aging Research, co-founded Elixir Pharmaceuticals nearly two decades ago. The path to a Fountain of Youth pill has been full of potholes, for Guarente recently left the company to join a competing firm, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, co-founded by David Sinclair of Harvard. The field is dominated by colleagues from those two universities. In 2014, Guarente co-founded Elysium Health.
- Eleven years later, or in an article reporting on his progress, there is yet no Fountain of Youth Pill.
- However, he still believes the thought holds promise.
- He has spent 40 years studying the science of aging.
- He has focused on a yeast gene called SIR2, where boosting activity helped yeasts live longer.
- Same effect was observed in roundworms.
- Humans have seven similar genes, and are collectively called sirtuins. They help power cells, repair damage and regulate which genes are turned on or off.
- Nicotinamide aenine dinuleotides, or NAD, naturally decline as we get older. So he is tryig to restore NAD levels. This path led to the founding of Elysium Health. Says he has eight Nobel Prize winners on his board.
My focus today is on:
- Larry Ellison of Oracle, who has spent $630 million on aging research.
- Earlier this year, an article reported on his $430 million effort to cheat death, and indicated that at age 80, maybe it's working, for he looks and acts like he is 60. Turns out he has actually spent $630 million. I'll explain why later.
- The Larry Ellison anti-aging longevity crusade is the longest-running, most heavily funded personal war against mortality in modern history. And unlike most wars against nature, this one appears to be winning.
- Among the research areas the foundation supported, caloric restriction stood out. Studies showed that reducing calorie intake without malnutrition extended lifespan and improved healthspan in multiple species, from yeast to primates. This work led to the development of therapeutic compounds designed to mimic the effects of fasting in humans without requiring extreme dietary changes. The Larry Ellison anti-aging longevity investment did not create these discoveries. It funded the laboratories where the discoveries happened, which is arguably more important.
- When Altos Labs raised $3 billion for cellular reprogramming or when Retro Biosciences secured $180 million for lifespan extension, they were building on scientific infrastructure that Ellison helped pay for. He did not invent the longevity economy. He irrigated the soil from which it grew.
- The most prominent focus has been the $200 million Lawence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine at USC. This was in addition to the earlier menntioned $430 million for anti-aging research.
- He currently has a net worth of $247 billion, now the 5th richest person in the world. He actually last year surged past Elon Musk as the richest, but only for one day. He owns nearly all of Lanai island in Hawaii.
- Oh, and why does he look so young?
- His approach to personal longevity is old-school and private, which is itself a status signal. What is known from associates and biographers: he follows a pescatarian diet focused on fish, vegetables, and fruit. Alcohol and drugs are excluded entirely. Green tea and water are the only beverages. Daily exercise, reportedly hours in the gym, rounds out the routine. Disciplined but not performative.
Of course, Woody Allen has the best notion of all.
He indicated that he didn't want to achieve immortality through his work. He wanted to achieve it through not dying. Me? I don't have billions to try to live forever. My final goal is to just survive healthy for a few more years. I still go on trips, play golf and exercise in our wellness center. However, I'm mostly sitting in front of my computer or TV set. A sedentary life has been medically proven to shorten your life expectancy.
A few videos finally were processed. Rather than insert them where they belong in the past, thought I'd just place them here. First, our Nuuk tour.
- August 16: The eye, then at 80 MPH, travelled west northwest after just missing the Big Island of Hawaii. Weakened into a tropical storm of 65 MPH when it was 75 miles south of Honolulu.
- August 17: Continued traveling westward. Weakened further to 60 MPH.
- August 18: Still traveling west, began to strengthen, up to 105 MPH at the end of the day.
- August 19: Yesterday, went up to 125 MPH after making a right turn northwards.
- August 20: Today, back down to 105 MPH, and still heading north.
That tropical depression in the West Pacific is now Tropical Storm Saudel at 40 MPH. Will become a typhoon tomorrow, and possibly strengthen into a Category 3 in a couple of days.
Has a track headed for Okinawa, but will take almost another week to get there, so keep a watch.
We just arrive in St. John's, Newfoundland......and wow, these videos were processed ten times faster than when we were in Iceland and Greenland.
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