I Have A Super USB Drive

"Human life is limited, everyone will grow old, sick and die, but who knows, why do we grow old, sick and die?"

On the podium, the young professor spoke slowly, and his voice echoed in the spacious large classroom through the sound.

"As we all know, the unit of life is the cell, and every one of us here is split from a small fertilized egg cell."

"One becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight..."

Beneath the podium, Chen Chen leaned on his chin and turned a gel pen in his right hand, staring at the projection screen boredly.

"Cells also age and die, and new dividing cells keep replacing apoptotic cells, and that's the secret to our constant growth."

"However, this division is not infinite."

"In 1965, Professor Hayflick of Stanford University discovered that it is impossible for a human cell to replicate itself more than 57 times, and each cell dies after 56 replications."

"It's like, there is a counter in the cell, which determines when the cell will stop dividing and when the person will grow old..."

"Theoretically, human cells can divide up to 56 times. Calculated by the cell division cycle, the limit life expectancy of a person should be around 120 years old, and this theory is called..."

"Clap!"

Just when he was fascinated, Chen Chen suddenly slid his fingers and threw the gel pen out and fell under the table.

Chen Chen immediately bent down and reached out to touch the ground.

"Um?"

Just when his head was lowered below the table bucket, inadvertently, a lacquered light came into his eyes.

Don't ask why the light is still black, the moment he bent down, Chen Chen did see a black light.

He looked subconsciously.

It was a long strip, completely black, stuck under the table bucket and embedded in a hidden groove.

So, after Chen Chen picked up the pen, he stretched out his arm again and pinched towards that position.

With Wei Wei's force, only a click was heard, and the dark object was successfully pulled down.

"The classmate who drilled under the table over there, you answer—"

But at this moment, the professor's voice suddenly came from the podium.

"Pfft!"

There was a low laugh from the dorm buddies behind him.

Chen Chen hurriedly got out from under the table, his face flushed with embarrassment.

He glanced at the professor who was still smiling, then lowered his head and glanced at the textbook before he stumbled, "Hay, Hayflick limit?"

"Please sit down."

The professor pressed his hand and let Chen Chen sit down.

Lecture continues.

"At both ends of the DNA, there are things called 'telomeres', things that play a crucial role in cell division."

"It's responsible for keeping chromosomes intact, and each time a cell divides, telomeres get shorter, and when telomeres are too short to protect the genetic structure, the cell inhibits growth, stops replicating, and ages."

"This is the Hayflick limit."

Speaking, the professor turned around and quickly wrote the words "Hayflick Limit" on the blackboard.

Chen Chen, who sat down again, breathed a sigh of relief. Taking advantage of the professor's turn to write, he quickly picked up the things in his hands and glanced at them.

emmmmm...

At this glance, Chen Chen was completely disinterested.

It turned out that the black thing was nothing but a U disk.

Different from the USB flash drive on the market, this USB flash drive is much longer than the ordinary USB flash drive, it is twelve or three centimeters long, and it looks like a carbon rod.

Only the USB interface exposes the fact that it is just a USB stick.

In addition, the entire U disk is integrated, pitch black, and even the trademark and memory logo do not exist.

But looking at the shape is still cool,

In the end, Chen Chen put the USB flash drive in his trousers pocket and waited to go back to the dormitory to study it.

At this time, the professor continued to lecture: "With the current level of technology, it is impossible for cells to break through the Hayflick limit, but we can also bypass this problem in other ways..."

Speaking, the professor wrote five words on the blackboard again:

Eternal Hela.

"You must be thinking, if there was a way to keep telomeres from wearing down, would our cells be immortal?"

"The answer is yes!"

The professor excitedly added the words "Hella cell line" under "Eternal HeLa".

"The HeLa cell line is a cell line isolated from human cervical cancer tissue in 1951, and its contributor is Henrietta Lacks."

"The researchers found that instead of dying, the cells harvested from Lux showed signs of growth, doubling in number every 24 hours."

"It was later found that the reason why these cells did not die was the RT tumor virus that causes cervical cancer. The gene of this virus can change the 'switch' of normal cell lifespan, so that the cells can live forever and proliferate indefinitely."

"In the years that followed, HeLa cells were provided to research institutions across the Commonwealth, where they helped scientists achieve cell cloning, were used to investigate the effects of nuclear radiation on the human body, and were used in space rockets to study weightlessness. Cell proliferation in the state…”

"According to the data of the medical and biological database, as of this year, there have been more than 65,000 papers related to HeLa cells, and more than 50 million tons of HeLa cells have been cultivated..."

"So, there is a common sense that everyone in later generations knows that cancer cell lines are 'immortal', and as long as there is a suitable culture environment, they can divide indefinitely."

Speaking of this, many students in the audience began to spontaneously applaud, which is a tribute to the contributor.

"Of course, if we humans use this 'switch', it is the way to die!"

The professor changed the subject and suppressed the applause.

"After all, if the division cycle of cells in our body is disrupted and cannot age on time, it will turn into a malignant tumor, threatening our lives!"

"We humans are constantly advancing on the road of pursuing truth. As early as in the period of clan society, the average life expectancy of human beings was less than 20 years old, and in the Middle Ages, the average life expectancy of human beings has increased to 40 years old..."

"With the advent of science, human civilization has completely entered a period of rapid development. In just a few decades, the average life expectancy of the Earth Federation has approached 80 years old!"

"But is that enough?"

"Even if human beings develop to the extreme, they are only 120 years old as stated by Hayflick's limit, which is far from the level of immortality. What should we do?"

After a pause, the professor continued.

"So, the turnaround came..."

"In 2002, this 'switch' was finally found, and three people including John Sulston, a professor at the University of Cambridge, discovered a genetic regulation mechanism called 'programmed cell death'."

The professor wrote the words "programmed cell death" on the blackboard again and redrawn a circle.

With a click, the chalk broke suddenly because the fingers were too hard.

"This discovery shocked the entire medical community, because it believes that cell death is a physiological and active 'suicide', like a program that has been programmed in the dark!"

The professor opened his hands, "In other words, we think aging is a natural process, but in fact it may be a genetic defect! If we can repair this defect, we can hope to defeat aging and gain immortality!"

There was a low cry from the audience.

As if a brand new door had been opened, Chen Chen's pupils shrank, and in a voice that only he could hear, he kept repeating those two magical words.

"eternal life?"

"eternal life……"

"Therefore, as a major in the biological sciences, you are the most promising generation to repair genetic defects."

The professor showed an expectant smile on his face, "Or it can be said that you are the generation closest to immortality in human history!"

The course is now nearing its end.

The silver-haired professor picked up the handkerchief to wipe his sweat, and concluded with expectation and sigh:

"I have to say that we humans still know nothing about the vast sea of ​​truth. Perhaps even the unreachable dream of immortality is only the first step in the pursuit of truth..."

"But anyway, the future belongs to you..."

"Okay, get out of class!"

clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap...

The audience suddenly burst into warm applause.