"The first human being in this century who can live to be 1,000 years old has been born." Dr. Aubrey de Gray of Cambridge University once said such shocking words.

He believes that when the body's repair speed exceeds the damage speed of aging, we will not be far from 1,000 years old or even immortality.

Dr. De Gray vividly calls this concept "longevity escape". In his eyes, aging is like a black hole, and human beings can use the power of life technology to try to exceed the "speed of light" and escape from the "black hole" of aging, ultimately achieving eternal life.

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01 Genius or madman?

It is precisely because of these shocking remarks of Dr. De Gray that he is regarded as a mad scientist in the eyes of many colleagues. He uses these stunts to attract attention and obtain investment from wealthy people.

The SENS Research Foundation he manages has received more than $20 million in donations, with the main purpose of supporting anti-aging research.

But Dr. De Gray is not satisfied. He believes that this amount of money is not enough for cutting-edge research. He said that "if there is one more digit in a small budget, our longevity escape velocity can be at least doubled."

Therefore, many people call Dr. De Gray a "liar", while others think he is an anti-aging pioneer.

In 2021, Dr. De Gray was accused of sexual harassment, suspended from the SENS Foundation, and eventually fired.

De Gray called it a hoax and said the SENS Foundation was poorly run, moving too slowly and not fully respecting the wishes of donors.

At the end of last year, he set up his own business and established a new foundation: the Longevity Escape Foundation, a name that reflects Dr. de Gray's belief.

Unlike the SENS Foundation, this foundation is completely controlled by him from beginning to end. Therefore, it changed its previous slow pace and immediately announced the launch of its first research project "Healthy Mouse Rejuvenation Project" just a few weeks after its establishment.

02 Combination of anti-aging methods, what is the effect?

The research plan adopts four promising treatments and applies them in different combinations to thousands of middle-aged mice (18 months old), with the aim of increasing the average life span by more than 12 months, that is, more than doubling the life span of mice.

The four methods mentioned in the study are the immunosuppressive substance rapamycin, the "zombie cell" substance navitoclax, mTERT that extends telomeres, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Previously, many scientists have conducted in-depth research on one of the methods and confirmed that it does have the potential to increase lifespan. But combined, can the 1+1 effect be >2?

We don't know yet.

Compared with these four emerging anti-aging methods, a scientific research conducted by the Harvard Institute of Aging in 2013 is more mature and has been verified by multiple human clinical trials.

Hinkley, a professor of genetics at Harvard, found that some aging indicators such as telomeres improved to a certain extent after aging mice experienced "Ruohu" substances for 60 days.

Researcher Sinclair said "this has never happened before."

Subsequently, China, the United States, and Japan conducted research on this type of substance respectively, and the results were surprising. The muscle regeneration ability and endurance of the elderly people have improved, and their glucose and lipid metabolism have improved, showing a "younger appearance."

Subsequently, Japanese scientists relied on fermentation technology to quickly put it into practice and maintained a monopoly for a long time.

In 2017, China developed the "total enzymatic method" technology with more than 80 patents, which greatly improved production efficiency, reduced costs by 95%, and achieved "returnable" results in implementation.

It flows into the country through JD.com, meeting the needs of tens of thousands of citizens and breaking Japan’s control over the high-end health product market.

In just one year, "Ruohui" regained 60% of the market share and achieved revenue of hundreds of millions.

After browsing more than 20,000 feedbacks, many people said: "The effect is almost the same as that of Nissan, but the price is much cheaper, and it still smells like a domestic product" and "Sleep more soundly and have more energy."

Dr. de Gray said that other intervention methods will be tried in the next round of experiments. He referred to a large amount of information from the community and literature and made a list. In the list, "ruohu" substances are prominently listed.

It seems that scientists are quite optimistic about its potential to suppress decay.

03 Use your knowledge to serve mankind. Einstein once said: Science is by no means a selfish pleasure.

Those who are fortunate enough to devote themselves to scientific research should first use their knowledge to serve mankind.

Dr. De Gray is just such a person. His attitude towards science is rigorous and pure, and he hopes to use his knowledge to benefit mankind.