The secret to long life? Castration

An inflatable banana emerges from the crowd during Manchester City's football match against Wigan Athletic on September 19, 2010.

Its' the ultimate "would you rather" dilemma. Researchers at Korea University have looked into the life-spans of eunuchs through history and discovered they tended to live considerably longer than men with testicles, according to a fascinating piece in Wired.com.

It has long been observed throughout the animal kingdom that females live longer than males, which has led the scientists to an interesting hypothesis: "This 'life fast, die young' effect could be mediated by testosterone, a hormone involved in testes growth, muscle development and aggression, but that also seems to have an immune system-weakening effect."

In other words, forget cryogenics, expensive face creams and macrobiotic diets, if you want to live longer the answer is (painfully) simple.