(CBS) 

Not all mice are created equal – at least not in the laboratory of Dr. Christian Sell, a research scientist at Drexel University in Philadelphia. In a separate facility, his mice come in two sizes – ‘regular’ and ‘midi’. The midi mice are 40 percent smaller than regular mice because one gene has been altered.

The altered gene, one that all mammals including humans have, regulates a hormone called IGF-1 that affects an animal’s size. If the gene is active, a lot of the hormone is produced and the animal grows large. A less active gene produces less of the hormone and a smaller animal. Dr. Sell hopes to prove that the gene also affects longevity. If he’s right, his smaller mice, with less of the hormone, will live longer than the two- to two-and-a-half year average of their larger cousins.

"Small seems to live longer, within your own species. Across species, small is shorter. Mice live shorter than elephants," says Sell. "But within mice, the smaller mice seem to live longer. Within dogs, smaller dogs live longer."

Could one conclude that this hormone produced by this gene is the longevity hormone?

"Why don't we say it's a longevity gene?" says Dr. Sell, laughing. "Because there's certainly more than that."

Three years into his research, Sell’s midi mice are living longer than the control group, but it’s too soon to tell if one of them will break the record of almost five years and win the Methuselah prize.

Is the prize stimulating longevity research?

"It's stimulating discussion," says Dr. Sell, "and whether one agrees with the idea that one will be able to intervene to radically extend life span or not, well, that's a good point for discussion."

Dr. Sell doesn't think that a fairly radical change in human longevity is a real possibility in the near term.

But it’s human nature to want to live as long as possible in reasonable health, and Olshansky says there are plenty of snake-oil salesmen out to cash in on that desire. For them he has his own prize: the Silver Fleece Award.

"This was a Silver Fleece Award for my favorite product. You know, I have my favorite, and this one was called 'Longevity.' It says here 'it drastically slows the aging process.' The person who invented it and many of the people who were listed as having used it, including John Wayne, Yul Brenner , Anthony Quinn, Russian and German party leaders and many other worldwide dignitaries, all share one common characteristic. They're dead. They have all died," says Olshansky.

So what does Olshansky say about guys like de Grey, legitimate scientists?

"What I like about Aubrey is, he's not selling anything except ideas. He's set forth a series of testable research hypotheses, which is what science is all about, and he said ‘test them’. I love that. That is what we should be doing in the world of science," Olshansky says. "I just wouldn't hold out immortality or 5,000-year life expectancies as the end result or the promise of what you're going to get from this."

But what if de Grey’s vision really does come to pass? Are we prepared to deal with a whole new set of problems?

"We're talking about saving 100,000 lives a day. And it takes a lot of problems to match that," says de Grey.

De Grey acknowledges that some people will say those 100,000 lives lost a day are just in the nature of things. "But, you know, it didn't stop us from using treatments for infectious diseases when we found out how to develop them," de Grey responds.

What about the social issues, like overpopulation, that would come with longevity?

"Sure, it will be difficult," de Grey says. "All I say is that this is a choice that the society of the future that has these therapies at its disposal is entitled to make for itself."

By Bruce Ferguson © MMV, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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