Humans could become 'immortal' thanks to new lobster discovery

dailystar.co.uk:

Scientists are exploring whether humans might one day live as long as many lobsters, who have been known to reach 140 years old.Like the majority of species on our planet, humans grow, develop and repair damage to their bodies until a certain stage in adulthood.From that point, the human body gradually loses its ability to repair itself and begins to accumulate damage.READ MORE: Jupiter to swing closer to Earth than it has for 59 years next weekLobsters, however, do not die from old age – they're either served up as Surf 'n' Turf for our pleasure or they perish from exhaustion during the process of moulting when they replace their shell as they grow bigger – with the eldest of the crustacean creatures capable of weighing 9kg.The secret behind lobsters' incredible lifespans is the 'telomerase' enzyme found in many of their cells.

Known as the 'immortality enzyme', telomerase increases the number of divisions a cell can make before it dies or becomes inactive – the point when human bodies begin to break down and ultimately stop functioning.Our bodies only have active telomerase in certain cells, most notably stem cells, which can keep renewing themselves over significantly long periods – but other cells in our bodies have a much shorter lifespan.The natural assumption, therefore, is the key to a longer life for ourselves and slowing down of the biological clock is finding some manner of increasing the number of cells in our body that contain telomerase.To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.But, frustratingly for humans, it has been discovered that there is a connection between telomerase activity and cancer, with Dr Lindsay Wu, head of the Laboratory for Ageing.