If nanotechnology seems too much like science fiction, biotechnology is working here and now to lessen the impacts of aging--with the goal of even reversing parts of the process.
The principal areas where biotechnology is applied include cloning, applications of stem cell technology, genetic testing for future vulnerability to diseases such as Alzheimers and more.
Let's talk first about cloning. Although you may think of this as creating a replica of yourself, that is far in the future, and prohibited to boot. What is more immediate is cloning a kidney or a liver from your cells and transplanting the cloned organ into you. Currently, if you get a transplant from someone else, you also get a lifetime prescription for drugs that suppress your immune system, so that your body doesn't reject the transplant. But if it's your organ, cloned from your cells, that's not an issue.
The other problem that this would solve is the waiting list for organs. (Are you listed as an organ donor yet? Why not?) Currently far too many people die while waiting for a compatible organ to become available. But if you're the donor, that again is not an issue.
It's been done, in experimental surgery. It is not commonplace as yet. But it's coming soon, and to an (operating) theater near you.
This is not science fiction. The problems to be solved in making it commonplace (and there are quite a few) are more engineering than conceptual. Now that President Obama has changed the rules regarding stem cell research, that engineering will be done soon.
The fun begins when we start using this technology, not to replace failed organs and systems, but to restore vitality and function...
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