Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon searched Florida looking for the “fountain of youth” in the early 16th century. He never found it and was killed by a poison arrow delivered by a tribe which was not interested in creating a Thanksgiving holiday.
Ponce de Leon was like everyone over 29 in America today. He didn’t find the elusive secret to youth, and five centuries later no one else has either.
Until now.
Harvard Medical researchers have found a cure for rapidly aging mice. The researchers injected the frail mice with a new form of estrogen, and lo and behold, the aging process was reversed in a month’s time. The mice got younger and fertile again as their brains and other organs grew.
Even though many scientific developments which work on mice fail to help man, there is great hope for this project, since mice and man age in a biologically similar fashion.
Although the project is meant to produce a treatment for rapidly aging people, the mass market potential is obvious to any one who has ever studied Marketing 101.
Almost everyone over 29 wants to be younger.
Think of Johnson & Johnson or Estee Lauder introducing a product which will actually peel the years away. In honor of the old explorer, we shall name it “Ponce.”
The following cartoons illustrate a few of the unintended consequences of a future Ponce.
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