How is that going to help prevent aging? Aging is a massive and complex process, bone marrow isn't going to do much except fix one or two issues. Maybe if we clone, create, and replace every part for every human, but that would be horrendously expensive.
Marrow is a wellspring of stem and progenitor cells that support a number of systems, like blood, bone, and the immune. It won't be a panacea, but if the procedure can significantly improve quality or extend life, then it won't take much of an effect to make it worth the costs.
Highdea: What if the immune system (stem cell pool) ages similarly to other parts other systems/organs and becomes more "sloppy" with time (supplies the body with sloppy mature immune cells), allowing the aging cells to survive longer than they would if the immune system is "fresh" or young. And by introducing "young" stem cells into an aging system, the immune system would overreact to the older systems/cells/organs and cause their death/apoptosis? For whatever reason, this is making sense right now
That's a lot of money, that could potentially lead to discoveries applicable to many fields, no? Couldn't the research you are doing apply?
IMO, all research funding dedicated to fundamentally understanding and eliminating/preventing degenerative diseases is a good thing; regardless of the egos involved.
I was under the impression that the initial explicit mission of Calico had nothing to with degenerative diseases and was simply about studying the "disease" of aging using genomics-like technology, so it's nice to see them change course and get real. I'm still skeptical about their approach, but they haven't elucidated much about that yet. I guess if you already can own a Porsche/Tesla by the age of 30, your mid-life crisis is gonna look pretty different from what mine will probably look like.
Interesting how they've completely ignored de Grey and the SENS Research Foundation. de Grey. A. de Grey mentioned Calico during his AMA: http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/28e4v3/aubrey_de_grey_ama/cia4g1z