Motherboard — March 7, 2013 | Austin Considine

This is a summary. Read original article in full here.

Another day, another step towards that elusive fountain of youth thanks, this time, to a new study that claims scientists have effectively reversed the effects of aging in neurons. Just last week, a study out of Italy revealed that neurons, specifically mouse neurons, could live much longer than usual when transplanted into a longer-living organism.

Or, as we put it here at Motherboard, that “Brain Cells May Live Longer When Not Tied to Their Weakling, Mortal Flesh.” Brain cells, the study suggested, don’t have built-in expiration dates like the rest of our cells. It was promising news, we quipped, for those of us who hope to live forever as brains in a jar.

Aside from what this does to advance Ray Kurzweil’s theory that human immortality is only 40 years away, the research has more promising, immediate implications. Discoveries like this may lead to advances in how we help recovering stroke victims, for example, whose brains could use some extra connective ability. […]