| | Ms. Hewitt-Reid,
The Methuselah Foundation administers the Methuselah Mouse Prize, which aims to spur on the extension of the lifespan of mice from three to five years or about 180 mouse-years.
There are two prizes that the MF awards:
- a "Postponement Prize" (PP) for the oldest-ever Mus musculus (the common mouse);
- a "Reversal Prize" (RP) for the best-ever late-onset intervention (reversing aging in mice at the latest possible time).
There are algorithms to determine how these prizes are to be awarded to the researchers that extend the mouse lifespan in one of these ways. A more detailed explanation of them can be found at http://www.methuselahmouse.org/structure.php.
Five teams of scientists have already entered the race for the prize, and further donations will inspire additional entries and a more vigorous and intense effort to achieve the goal. Prizes like the MMP have been immensely successful throughout history. The MF website, for example, contains the following statement:
"We are inspired to use prizes as our primary means of encouraging scientific progress and innovation by the prize that was offered in 1714 for the first person to design a chronometer that could tell the time accurately during long sea voyages."
Other examples of historically successful prizes include the prize offered for the first expedition to reach the North Pole (claimed by Robert Peary), the prize offered for the first trans-Atlantic airplane flight (claimed by Charles Lindbergh), and the X Prize for private spacecraft, which, though the race still continues, has already resulted in the first private spaceship launch.
As a matter of fact, David Gobel, the Chairman and CEO of the Methuselah Foundation, estimates that, historically, prizes have yielded $50 of investment into the area with which the prize was concerned for every $1 directly invested into the prize. Thus, for example, my donation of $50 is likely to trigger another $2500 of investments into the general field of anti-aging research.
Demonstrating that anti-aging efforts can be successful on mice has several distinct advantages. 1) Mice have a fairly short lifespan, and we need not wait long to witness radical mouse life extension. 2) This type of life extension would be the first of its kind in mammals, thus demonstrating with clear empirical evidence the possibility for postponing and even reversing aging in mammals such as humans. This sort of life extension in mice is likely to spur on immense public interest and investment from a variety of sources. 3) The technologies tested on and proved successful in mice can be used as a foundation for developing similar technologies to defeat human aging.
Dr. Aubrey de Grey, the scientific advisor of the Foundation (and a Cambridge biogerontologist), estimates that, with proper funding, life extension in mice can be achieved in 7-20 years (10 years is his most likely target), and, after that point, dramatic human life extension can be reached anywhere from 5-100 years (15 years is his most likely target). If this effort receives sufficient donations, it may be possible to reach a condition in which the technology to extend life further and further progresses faster than people age, thus attaining a virtually indefinite lifespan for humans.
Recently, I have published a series of articles on The Rational Argumentator, in which Dr. de Grey explains the science, filosofy, and logistics behind the anti-aging effort using terminology easily accessible to the layperson. I include them here, should you wish to peruse them:
If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask. I hope that you will become convinced as to the worthiness of this endeavor.
I am
G. Stolyarov II
Editor-in-Chief, The Rational Argumentator
Proprietor, The Rational Argumentator Online Store
Author, Eden against the Colossus
Chief Administrator, Chicago Methuselah Foundation Fund
 
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