MPrize and SENS--Extending the Lifespan

The Methuselah Mouse Prize (Mprize) is a set of contests to develop the longest living mus musculus research mouse. The Mprize is an example of an "Inducement Prize", a cash award created to induce contestants to achieve a notable goal. Other examples of inducement prizes include the recent XPrize won by Burt Rutan's group and the Kremer Prizes for human powered flight won by Paul MacReady's group.

Aubrey de Grey and his SENS group are involved in several approaches to extending human life span, in addition to participating in the Mprize effort.

Peter Thiel, cofounder of Paypal, has recently donated US $3.5 million to SENS research projects. $500,000 was donated for immediate use, and $3 million was contributed in the form of matching grants.

Difficult challenges such as the human longevity challenge, require special champions able to direct scientific researchers toward likely avenues of research and to capture the imagination of donors and the general public. Aubrey de Grey has proven himself up to the challenge on both counts.

For those interested in attending a talk by de Grey, here is his schedule of coming talks. The Edmonton Aging Symposium would be a good choice for Canadians and other North Americans new to the field of life extension.

Humans need longer lives so as to acquire wisdom for future challenges. Although popular "culture" emphasizes amusements and entertainments, there really are serious challenges being met today--although you would never know it from the main stream media. That is one reason why the msm is "old media", obsolete, and a definite "sell."