Need help? Tell someone you know (or even someone you don't know if they are willing to listen) about telomeres getting shorter and how that may be related to their aging process. Maybe this image will help them understand the process that happens with each DNA replication. Find out what they think about the potential of reversing old age by activating telomerase genes (if research would discover that it would actually work). Summarize these ideas in a few sentences. What about the potential increased risk of cancer to attain this hypothetical "immortality"? What do you think? For centuries, people have searched for the fabled Fountain of Youth, said to confer the ability to forestall old age and remain young forever. To gain insight into how tackling aging by targeting telomerase might work, researchers looked at mice that lack a telomerase gene. These mice have shorter telomeres than normal mice and age prematurely. But when these mice are engineered to express telomerase in their somatic cells, their telomeres lengthen and the effects of aging are reversed. This observation suggests that a drug that stimulates the expression of telomerase in somatic cells could prevent telomere shortening and stop the aging process. Do you think such a drug would work well in humans? What might be some potential side effects of such a drug? Use your critical thinking skills to analyze this information.

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