Living well beyond 100

Popular culture, as reflected in movies, fashion, and literature, is preoccupied with remaining young. A growing anti-aging industry offers myriad products and services to tap into the elusive fountain of youth, with plenty of hucksters and charlatans preying on our dreams. The quest for youth has been with us since antiquity. King Gilgamesh, who ruled parts of Mesopotamia around 3000 B.C., searched for immortality after a close friend died. To accomplish this divine goal,
he had to become a half-god, according to Babylonian legend. The first historical record of a treatment to reverse aging is an Egyptian papyrus dated around 1600 B.C. that describes an ointment for regaining youth (without evidence of success or a money-back guarantee). Youth concoctions are still produced and consumed daily, but thus far, the real fountain of youth has come from science and medicine.