It turns out that a big part of the condition associated with old age is due to accumulation of the "ballast" cells at the end of their useful life. The immune system does remove them, but not quickly enough, so the longer you live, the more of those you keep. They secrete various chemicals and impede the function of your organs.
Now someone has shown a relatively simple way to get rid of them (in mice), and the results are interesting. Treated mice don't live longer, but their tissues stay younger.
The blogs are buzzing about this piece of research today. The claims, understandably, have gone a bit wild. Here is an article that provides some perspective:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/11/02/extending-healthy-life-by-getting-rid-of-retired-cells
In short, a treatment like this won't make you live longer as many seem to claim, but it will make you stay in better shape longer and let you get more out of your years. Which is a big deal, so all the people who dismiss it as "irrelevant" are missing the point.
I hope this gets out of lab and into human tests soon.
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