Richard Miller, a professor at the University of Michigan, thinks scientist could develop“an thentic anti-ageing drugs” by working out how cells in larger animals such as whales and human resist many forms of injuries. He says:“It’s is now routine, in laboratory mammals, to extend lifespan by about 40%. Turning on the same protective systems in people should, by 2056, create the first class of 100-year-olds who are as vigorous and productive as today’s people in their 60s”

Aliens

Conlin Pillinger ,professor of planerary sciences at the Open University,says:”I fancy that at least we will be able to show that life didi start to evolve on Mars well as Earth.”Within 50years he hopes scientists will prove that alien life came here in Martian meteorites(陨石).

Chris McKay,a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center.believes that in 50 years we may find evidence of alien life in ancient permanent forst of Mars or on other planers.

He adds:”There is even a chance we will find alien life forms here on Earth.It mightbe as different as English is to Chinese.

Priceton professor Freeman Dyson thinks it “likely” that life form outer space will be discovered defore 2056 because the tools for finding it, such as optical and radio detection and data processing,are improving.

He ays:”As soon as the first evidence is found,we will know what to look for and additional discoveries are likely to follow quickly.Such discoveries are likely to have revolutionary consequences for biology, astronomy and philosophy. They may change the way we look at ourselves and our place in the universe.

Colonies in space

Richard Gottprofessor of astrophysics at Princeton,hopes man will set up a self-sufficient colony on Mars,which would be a “life insurance policy against whatever catastrophes,natural or otherwise,might occur on Earth.

“The real space race is whether we will colonise off Earth on to other worlds before money for the space programme runs out.”

Spinal injuries

Ellen Heber-Katz,a professor at the Wistar Institude in Philadelphia,foresees cures for inijuries causing paralysis such as the one that afflicated Superman star Christopher Reeve.

She says:”I believe that the day is not far off when we will be able to profescribe drugs that cause severes(断裂的) spinal cords to heal,hearts to regenerate and lost limbs to regrow.

“People will come to expect that injured or diseased organs are meant to be repaired from within,inmuch the same way that we fix an appliance or automobile:by replancing the damaged part with a manufacturer-certified new part.”She predict that within 5 to 10 years fingers and toes will be regrown and limbs will start to be regrown a few years later. Reparies to the nervous system will start with optic nerves and,in time,the spinal cord.”Within 50years whole body replacement will be routine,”Prof.Heber-Katz adds.

Obesity

Sydney Brenner,senior distinguished fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center in California,won the 2002 Noblel Prize for Medicine and says that if there is a global disaster some humans will survive-and evolition will favour small people with bodies large enough to support the required amount of brain power.”Obesity,”he says.”will have been solved.”