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"A study published in this month's Nature suggests that scientists have found a region of the brain that controls aging. Turn it off, they theorize, and you could add 20 years to your life \u2014 presuming it works in humans, that is.\nThe research, conducted by the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York, injected mice with a substance that inhibits a particular molecule in their brains. The hormone is related to inflammation and stress, and was found to increase in the hypothalamus as the mice got older. \nThe fact that inflammation and stress makes us look and feel older \u2014 indeed, that it helps kill us \u2014 isn't news. What is disturbing to learn is that the brain is deliberately initiating this reaction. Now, at least, we may have found how to turn it off. \nNot only did the mice who got the inhibitor live 20% longer \u2014 which would translate into a couple of decades in human terms \u2014 but their quality of life stayed the same. Muscle strength, bone density and skin remained the same. The experiment even worked if the mice were middle-aged when the injections began.\nSEE ALSO: Why Your Mind Is the Most Powerful Thing in the Universe\n\nIf the research translates to humans (a big if), scientists think the elderly among us should go first, particularly patients with brain-related illnesses such as Alzheimer's. \u201CIf we\u2019re going to translate this research into medicines that can help people, clearly we cannot start very early in life,\" Harvard molecular biologist David Sinclair told Nature.\nHomepage Mashable composite, image via iStockphoto, Junos\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/05/07/brain-experiment-extra-20-years/>