Latest life extension research:

Does red wine extract increase potential lifespan? It would seem the results are in today, and they are stunning results indeed - link to Reuters story.

Until now the only way to extend lifespan has been to live on a near-starvation level of calories. Scientests have been looking for a way to effectively trick the body into thinking it is on calorie restriction. It looks as if resveratol is the best way to perform that trick, at least in mice, today.

The next step is to try it on other primates and humans.

I understand that two of the longest living people, a man and a woman, on record both drank red wine often. The interesting factor is raised by David Brin - given that human lifespan is already abnormally long in relation to other primates, somewhere in our evolutionary past we must have been selected for such improvements already as are possible. So one must ask: how much longer can sapiens live?

My present answer is "Look at the evidence." The oldest folk around live well into their tenth decade, often into the 11th decade. Given that the life expectancy of most people now is about 87 in the West, this is another third on top of ones life, and not to be blinked at - especially if that third is a productive, happy, contented time of giving back and spiritual growth.