On which problems should we focus research in medicine and the biological sciences? There is a strong argument for tackling the diseases that kill the most people — diseases like malaria, measles and diarrhea, which kill millions in developing countries, but very few in the developed world.
Developed countries, however, devote most of their research funds to the diseases from which their citizens suffer, and that seems likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Given that constraint, which medical breakthrough would do the most to improve our lives?
If your first thought is "a cure for cancer" or "a cure for heart disease," think again. Aubrey de Grey, chief science officer of SENS Foundation and the world's most prominent advocate of anti-aging research, argues that it makes no sense to spend the vast majority of our medical resources on trying to combat the diseases of aging without tackling aging itself.
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