Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. By July 1925, Popular Science writer John E. Lodge even suggested that humans might soon be able to extend their life expectancy to 1,000 years. The June 1925 issue of Popular Science questioned death. Now, scientists have begun to piece together the mystery of metformin’s versatility by mapping how it works at a cellular level. We’ve added decades to average life expectancy, transformed once-fatal diseases into manageable conditions, and dramatically improved the quality of life in later years.