Wrinkle Creams Be Warned!
Book: La Machine a Rajeunir
In French
class, we are reading a book about a teenage boy who discovers that after
coming back from their vacation, his parents are growing younger! The parents, who are around 40 years old,
soon realize that they feel healthier and look thinner and better than they did
before. Their happiness turns to horror
as they realize that not only are they growing younger physically, but they are
growing younger mentally as well. They soon
begin to forget who their son is, and who they are to each other. Through a series of adventures, their son
realizes that they had sat through an age reversing machine that had been
marketed as a silly museum attraction.
The machine used microwaves to make his parents younger, and can do the
opposite as well. In the end, the son
manages to figure everything out, and all is well. This book is very basic, since we wouldn’t be
capable of understand much more.
Because of
the easy to follow nature of the book, the science in it is understandably
shaky, and is classified as science fiction.
Though the science in this book doesn’t even come close to
pseudoscience, and is used playfully, I found two interesting concepts in the
book that I wanted to look into a little bit further: microwaves and age reversing.
Microwaves
are a form of electromagnetic radiation, like visible light. They have a long wavelength, a low frequency, and are commonly used for communication devices and heating food
items. Microwaves are very functional,
but can they change us physically like they did to the parents in the
story? Microwaves heat food by making
the water and fat particles in the food to vibrate, causing friction. Recently, we had a discussion in science
class about cancer and its connection to cell phones. Generally, cell phone companies recommend
that users keep cellphones at least a few centimeters away from them while they
are talking on them. Cell phones use
microwaves, which are known to cause cataracts if exposed to them for too long.
The Food
and Drug Administration has approved microwaves, and has placed certain safety
standards on them that microwave oven manufacturers must meet in order to sell
their product in the US. On the FDA’s
website, it states that the long term effects of low exposure to microwaves
have not yet been determined, but that there is very good evidence to suggest
that the amount of microwaves you are exposed to while using a microwave oven
(a maximum of 5 milliwatts throughout its lifetime) is too low to do any
immediate harm. As a child, I had always
been told by others older than me to not stand too close to a microwave, and to
not look directly into them. By doing
this research I am able to clear up for myself some of the rumors and “mystery”
surrounding microwaves. Though these
people had my best interests at heart, I no longer am unable to show them proof
as to why looking at my food very often while it’s in the microwave (which, due
to my low level of cooking skills I need to do to ensure the food is edible),
will not cause my eyes to burn out.
Another aspect of the book I found interesting
was the age reversal of the parents.
This brings up many questions for me.
Though I know this is not yet possible in real life, are ideas being
tested? Scientists writing for the
Nature science blog have found an enzyme, telomerase, which strengthens the
telomeres: “junk” lines of DNA that are
found on the ends of chromosomes. By
controlling the telomerase activity, scientists were able to prematurely age
rats. They were also able to reverse
some of the effects of this aging by manipulating the telomerase again. Though this research is very interesting, it
will take a long time and a lot of hard work for scientists to be able to
transfer this knowledge onto humans.
During the testing phases, who will scientists test on? Will there be any long term effects of
becoming younger? Will people be able to
choose when they want the process to stop?
What if this process is used for harm?
With age reversing, many questions also arise in regards to managing
population. People will live longer and
have more time to reproduce, so the population of the world will drastically
increase. Also, managing people might be
a problem. It will be difficult for
governments to set legislation is regards to new age laws. For example, can a 40 year old who has become
15 legally drive? It is very interesting
to see how society reacts when new technology is invented. We have been through problems like this
before, and are currently going through them.
For example, the internet and computers aren’t very old yet, and many
governments and companies are having privacy issues, and intellectual property
issues.
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