Can we live beyond 150? Perhaps the human race is a species doomed to live its Biblical score of three score and ten years. Perhaps Methuselah never was. Perhaps dreams of immortality are like those of time travel: the stuff of science fiction. Results of a study by scientists from the Baylor College of Medicine in the US have dashed, at least for now, hopes of the many who expect scientific advances to eventually open the way for people to live to ages far beyond the current averages. Cancer and ageing may be complementary processes, it says. "Ageing may be a side effect of the natural safeguards that protect us from cancer."

The reason for the pessimistic hypothesis goes something like this. Scientists working on cancer at the college found that mice with an excess of a protein called p53, a tumour supressant, grew old and died earlier than normal mice. On the other hand, too little of the same protein can lead to cancer. The disease is essentially a malignant cell become immortal. The hypothesis, published in the latest issue of science journal Nature, says the body walks a tightrope between ageing and cancer.

This is not an entirely new hypothesis. For a few years now, scientists working on cellular senescence have noted that the cell's ageing process also acts as a cancer brake because a cell must divide many times before it can become a cancer cell. However, the study has raised new questions as to whether chemotherapy can lead to premature ageing.

That growing old is "in our genes" is a sad fact of life. Stem cell research has raised hopes that it might one day be possible to change worn out parts of the body and replace them with new. Whether this would help an individual live longer is another matter.

At least for now, the only sure method to prolong life remains the boring old one doctors recommend: leading a "healthy life". That means not smoking, not drinking much, diet control-specifically undereating-and exercise. Cynics joke that even if one doesn't live longer after doing all that it would feel like they had.

The Cup That Cures: The English have one good habit: tea. According to a paper presented at this year's Indian Science Congress, tea is an antidote to environmentally induced diseases. The beverage strengthens the body's defences, says former Central Drug Research Institute director B.N. Dhawan. It is being touted as something of a panacea-it helps in preventing diseases ranging from tooth decay to arthritis, a panel at the Science Congress agreed. So it's truly the cup that cheers.

Sweet Touch: There's more to honey than sweetness. A clinical study carried out on 345 patients in West Bengal reinforces the hypothesis that topical application of honey to wounds and burns helps heal them faster. The trials divided the patients into two groups. While one group was given sutures and bandages with a normal saline wash, the other group had honey applied on the affected parts. This second group showed quicker healing. The finding was reported at the Indian Science Congress in Lucknow recently. Ancient civilisations also used honey as a medicine.

The Long and Winding Road

Sir Paul Nurse's work on the process that controls cell division furthered the war against cancer and won him the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2001. In Delhi for the British Science Festival, he spoke to India Today:

Q. Where has mankind reached in the battle against cancer?

A. People underestimate how complicated cancer is. I like to combat headlines like "The breakthrough that leads to the cure for cancer" because there is no single cure. Having said that, there have been real advances already.

Work that is being applied today is built on things that were done 20-30 years ago. Take prevention. We now know, for example, that tobacco causes lung cancer but we did not know that before 1955-1960. There are millions of people dying, I'm sure, each year in India because they don't know or they don't appreciate it. So you could have a huge effect on deaths due to cancer by having proper public education.

With conventional treatment, in breast cancer for example, we now have improved chemotherapy, with drugs like tamoxifen, a drug that interferes with the growth of the breast cancer cell. It isn't a cure but it helps. But tamoxifen is built on research of the 1960s and 1970s. People fail to realise it takes 20-25 years to go from basic understanding to actual improvement. So the work I tell you about today, which is so exciting, will take 25 years to lead to a breakthrough.

-Compiled by Samarat Choudhury