- do the math. - [maren] the genetic variation in this amish community occurs in a particular gene that creates a protein called pai-1. among other things, the pai-1 protein controls the bodies senescent, or zombie cells. doug's research reveals that those in the community with a single copy of the gene mutation produce more pai-1 proteins than those with the bleeding disorder, but less than the general population. and they live dramatically longer lives. why, it turns out it's all about balance. - pai-1 contributes to a variety of different disease processes. it's not good to have a lot of pai-1. it's not good to have no pai-1. it's good to be in the goldilocks zone and have somewhere in the middle. - [maren] doug wants to hack the aging code by developing medication that essentially mimics this mutation and regulates the pai-1 protein. - i have a collaborator now in japan

and after screening library of over 3 million compounds, they came up with a group of chemicals that looked like they might be candidates as pai inhibitor we've used it in a variety of experimental studies around the world. has some remarkable effects in terms of insulin resistance, even impacting on the development of arteriosclerosis or vascular stiffening, if you will. - i came into this whole adventure being pretty skeptical about a lot of it, but i think digging deeper into the biology has made me feel that we're at the beginnings of something really big here. - exactly. - aren] it's a lucky finding. i'd never have imagined that a self isolated communities genetic variation would upend the way scientists think about everyone's lifespan. blazing a trail to immortality seems more plausible than i ever imagined. - [announcer] in the future, most babies e conceived rough initro ferlization where it's possible to sw the aging process fore birth.

first, parents choose from a menu of longevity genes, including the amish varian technicians then customize and engineer the egg's dna before fertilization. througthis regulated conception, newborns can expect to live two hundred healthy years or more. - [maren] while this kind of future seems appealing. what might a healthy multi-centenarian actually look like? to get a clearer picture of this future, i'm in los angeles to meet lillian solomon. she just celebrated her 100th birthday and by all accounts, she is the living embodiment of what all these scientists aim to achieve. she is healthy, active, and alert. she a bowling champion and even has a new boyfriend. i brought you a little cake for us to all share. - oh, look at that.

this is my boyfriend, eddie. - she's 11 months older than i am. i like older women. - i have arthritis and i have all the aches and pains that elderly people get but somehow, it just doesn't seem as bad. i try not to let it deter me from doing what i want to do. a matter of fact, i'd like to take you to the park and perhaps show you how i exercise. - oh yes, please. i need some tips. more people are living to over 100 than ever before. while genetics and diet are important, some recent studies show other key aspects are at play as well. - on the road again. - what's the secret to staying young for your whole life? - i think really number one is attitude. i think if you have a good attitude and you think that today is going to be better

than yesterday that helps. - [maren] recent research backs up lillian's theory. scientists are finding that many centenarians have a positive outlook. they are close to their family and are extroverted. (motorcycle horn) - aw, shut it. - [maren] and to this list, one study even adds, this trait, being stubborn. - shall we? - okay. - what we got in here? - well, i do these. - nice. keep your arms strong. lillian you're so great. what a badass, if you don't mind me saying. - i do ten of these. i complained at first, i can't do those exercises. just, i don't have time. if you want to do them, you will make time. - that's good advice. - it was good advice. - lillian you've inspired me. i was just blown away by lillian in total, especially in her convertible.

seeing lillian with her boyfriend also made me think about my own relationship with my partner. we recently had the hopeful news that his cancer is in remission. this turn of events makes me so thankful for the medical advances of today, but still i want our lives to continue to be happy and healthy for as long as possible. it makes me wonder, is there actually a way to stop growing old? it turns out there's one scientist who's working to truly understand the biological clock and actually reverse the aging process. thank you so much for meeting with me here at the fountain of youth. - dr. steve horvath of ucla is a biostatistician who's invented an intriguing tool that could help us find a way to roll back the biological clock. steve created a blood test to determine biological age.

it's widely considered to be the most accurate in the world. so dr. horvath why is it important to have a test like that? - imagine we want to prove that this is the fountain of youth, right? somebody would have to dive into here. we do a before and after measurement, you know. we would want to convince ourselves that it actually rejuvenated the epigenetic age of that person. - so it's really useful to have this clock as the metric to use if you're thinking of a treatment. - it's essential. a test for biological aging is really quintessential in order to distinguish snake oil from therapies that actually have an effect. - [maren] dr. horvath's blood test measures something called dna methylation. methylation is a process that regulates how genes function. methyl groups get added to dna as we age kind of like rust on metal. using his test,

steve has worked out the average rate that this methylation happens throughout people's lives. - by looking at this methylation change at several hundred locations on our dna, wean very accurately measure the age ofhe tissue. some people inherit good genes and their epigenetic clock simply ticks more slowly. example are centenarians. we analyze blood samples from centenarians and their children, and sure enough, it was younger than expected. - they got lucky. dr. horvath collaborated with a team to see if they could replicate this effect with a drug therapy. over the course of 12 months, nine men took a diabetes drug known as metformin, along with two other kinds of hormones. steve tested the men's biological age both before anafter the trial and received some surprising results. - wh i first ran the statistical analysis on mcomputer

i was really blown away. i couldn't believe my eyes. this cocktail even seems to reverse aging. - by how many years? - by roughly two and a half years. - [maren] in effect, this mix of medications reverses that rusting of people's dna, leading to visible changes in the body. - there was one gentleman whose hair was entirely gray and after the treatment it was darker again. there was repigmentation. if we are really lucky, maybe this treatment, this cocktail, really has a holistic effect. it affects many organs of your body, but this treatment has to be carefully evaluated and replicated. - well, that's what makes me trust you, dr. horvath. although ts study was very small, the promise of reversing the course of aging cannot be underestimated. - it's my dream that people get an annual measurement

of their methylation and then the doctor would say, you know what, you age a little b too fast. why don't you take this antiaging treatment? - and do you think that could extend people's lifetimes to a healthy hundred years? - i am quite convinced that people live till 150. the question's only when. - [maren] with dr. horvath's approach added to the mix, i can more clearly see a path toward a future of extended life. - [announcer] in the future, an age reducing dna cleanse comes in a simple pill, taken yearly by people over 50. this therapy scrubs the methylation rust and rejuvenates the whole body at the cellular level. most peoples genetic codes can now be reformulated to the 97th percentile of optimal health, whether 50, 150 or 200 years old.

it's possible to feel like you have the body of somebody in their thiies. - [maren] as a scientist, i'm excited about these breakthroughs and the future that science is promising us. but as a human being, there are questions outside the laboratory that seem eqequally important to me. it seems that on many levels, our limited lifespan has defined who we are as humans, and i wonder how we change if we'd all live until 150 or even longer. just because we caextend our lifespan, should we? and who will benefit from these treatments? will only the privileged benefit from this extended life? whent comes to life expectancy in the future, it makes me wonder how class, race and geography might play an even greater role than they already do.

and how will the planet cope with human immorality? we're already struggling with over-population and resource depletion. but i do feel hopeful that science, technology and pure human ingenuity can claim solutions to these admittedly enormous problems. - i think by 2050, we'll probably have human beings that regularly make it to 120. i'm almost certain we're gonna have individuals that live to ages that we've never seen before. - [doris] i wanna make sure that no parent or no child has to lose someone they love. - there are always unexpected developments that nobody s foreseen. so there are these breakthroughs suddly, and if we get lucky, we will be able to reverse the ages of people.

- while developments in science are making extended human life an increasingly real possibility, it's clear that there are things we can all be doing today that may help slow the aging process like exercising, following a balanced diet, and even simply just keeping a positive outlook. i'm heading back tthe lab too, where as a microbiologist, i hope in small way i can also contribute to all of us living happier and healthier lives. oh man, if i could live like lillian, i would live to a hundred. if i could live like lillian to 120, i would live to 120. i don't think we can predict the effects of what's gonna happen to our world as a whole, as we all live longer lives, but i'm pretty excited to find out. (melodic music)

- vanessa daniel is the founder and executive director of groundswell fund, which is the only national foundation led by women of color and transgender people of color who come directly out of community, labor and electoral organizing. she also founded the groundswell action fund, the largest u.s. institution helping to fund women of color led 501c4 organizations, which also supports a women of color led integrated voter engagement training program. vanessa's and groundswell's work