L’Oreal, Nivea and Clinique move over. Mice may have been the first to experience the elixir of eternal youth! When we think about ageing we usually think of wrinkles, sagging skin, grey hair and feeling ancient after a spot of exercise – as the beauty adverts would say “the visible signs of ageing”.

If we take a journey beyond these visible signs, we can start to see what ageing looks like at a cellular level. It is in our cells, and not in a tub of expensive cream, that the secrets of eternal youth can be found.

When it comes to cells, ageing is a process of breaking down. One of the first signs of ageing comes from communication breaking down.

This causes a delay in signals reaching their destination such as those instructing our body to move or to fight disease. In addition to communication breakdown we also experience protein breakdown. Muscles take longer to repair, enzymes don’t work as well and the proteins that help to make sure our DNA works properly start to malfunction.

One of the most interesting areas of recent research has looked at the break down of things called telomeres.

Telomeres are like the plastic ends of your shoe laces – they coat the end tips of your chomosomes protecting your genes and stopping them from fraying.

Each time we are exposed to something that damages our DNA it chips away at those protective telomeres. There is a direct link between the condition of your telomeres and age – the worse their condition – the older you are.

The very good news is that scientists have successfully repaired the telomeres of mice reversing the signs of ageing. We are still a while away from creating this elixir of eternal youth for humans but it is certainly looking like a possibility.

There are hours of brow-furrowing debate to have about whether this is really a good idea and what it means for humanity but that aside, the science is undeniably intriguing. And research published just this week adds an interesting new wrinkle to the debate.

By looking at hundreds of markers on DNA, American scientists say they can measure the age of your different body parts.

It looks like the age on your passport is only superficial – within your body your different organs and tissues are aging at very different rates.

For example breast tissue ages more quickly than other tissues which gives us a new insight into breast cancer and why it can happen in people so young. On the other hand heart tissue of an average healthy person appears to be younger by a staggering nine years.

In terms of understanding and diagnosing disease this research could make a huge difference.

Before you toss out your night cream, pro-active eye gel and hair dye you have time to think about whether you would really want to be forever young.

While you do that, I am off to have a cup of tea and contemplate the age of my liver.