4 10.3.2 10.3.6 10.4.2 10.4.7 Read the text and answer the questions. Discuss with your partner. 1. What physical change did the Boston scientists see in the mice in their experiment?
2. What problem is there with performing the Boston procedure on people?
3. What builds up in our cells as we age?
4. What did the New York scientists achieve?
5. What global problem does the writer mention that could be affected by anti-aging treatments?
6. How does eating tomatoes help us achieve younger-looking skin?
7. Why might reversing the aging process one day become a reality?
Текст:
1. The results of a recent experiment to slow the effects of the aging process in mice amazed scientists in Boston, USA. The scientists increased the amount of an enzyme called telomerase in the cells of the mice. Telomerase is an important enzyme because it repairs DNA. With increased telomerase in their cells, the mice's fertility improved, their fur began to look healthier, even their brains worked better. The scientists were hoping simply to slow the aging process in mice but, much to their surprise, they actually reversed it!
2. Could we use the same process to stop humans from aging? It's possible, but it wouldn't be without risks. Scientists believe increasing the level of telomerase in human cells would put people at greater risk of cancer. What's more, it's unlikely that simply increasing telomerase would be enough to keep us young because hundreds of enzymes are involved in the aging process.
3. Although scientists don't yet know exactly how and why we age, they have several theories. One theory is that as time passes, our bodies become less efficient at removing toxins from our cells. One way to try to stop the aging process is to keep cells as clean as possible. Scientists in New York successfully used this technique to restore the livers of old mice. The researchers bred special mice that did not lose their ability to remove damaged proteins from their livers. When chese special mice were two years old, their livers were as bealthy as the livers of ordinary one-month old mice. Although these special mice with youthful livers didn't live any longer than ordinary mice, scientists believe this study could eventually lead to ways of protecting humans from the diseases we get in old age.
4. Of course, if scientists ever do succeed in developing drugs that combat the aging process we will need to ask ourselves whether it is right to use them. For instance, should we keep people young and healthy artificially when, already, there are far too many people on the planet?
5. What if you can't wait for these future developments though? Well, scientists may not yet be able to stop you from aging, but they do know a way you can keep yourself looking younger - tomatoes! Tomatoes contain a substance called lycopene which helps prevent one of the main causes of skin aging: sun damage. Researchers in the UK asked a group of people to eat a serving of cooked tomatoes every day for 12 weeks. They then compared their skin to the skin of people who hadn't eaten any tomatoes. The skin of the people who ate the tomatoes was much less likely to burn in the sun. Eating tomatoes also increases the levels of procollagen in your skin. Procollagen helps keep skin firm, so the more you have in your skin, the less likely you are to get wrinkles. So while living forever is still just a fantasy, nature has at least provided a way for us to keep looking as young as possible, for as long as possible!
