Japan happens to be a country with a rapidly aging population, not to mention having one of the highest number of senior citizens in the world. This is partly due to their relatively healthy diet a generation ago, not to mention those living in the countryside with a whole lot less stress to deal with. However, this has not stopped us humans for searching for the Holy Grail of life – the Fountain of Youth. Scientists in Japan might stumble upon Pandora’s Box with a way to counter the aging process – albeit in a flower, and not a human.
It seems that the scientists have managed to discover a method that slows down the aging process in flowers by up to half – enabling bouquets given to your other half to last a twice as long, theoretically speaking, and it might just help drive the sales of artificial flowers down. This is made possible by locating a gene that is believed to be responsible for the short shelf-life of flowers, although this has only been identified in just a single Japanese variety of morning glory.
It remains to be seen just how far we are from slowing down the aging process in humans, nigh impossible apparently, let alone reverse the aging process. It looks like the Japanese elderly will have better hope relying on robotic care in their golden years than for a magic formula to appear and reverse the clock by a couple of decades anytime soon.