Aging & evolutionary biology
Josh Mitteldorf is best known for promoting the theory that aging is not “wearing out” but rather an evolved program that limits lifespan. The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. He began blogging about aging on this site in 2012. His guidance for a long life is at AgingAdvice.org. His two books on aging are available at Amazon and elsewhere.
Mitteldorf’s PhD is in astrophysics. Since about 2020, he has taken up a new challenge as curator and critic of science on the fringe, writing about promising science that the science establishment has unjustly neglected.
In other areas of life, Mitteldorf’s two daughters were among the first girls to be adopted from China in the 1980s. He has taught a weekly yoga class for fifty years. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. Follow his other writing at mitteldorf.substack.com, and listen to his poetry on YouTube.
Search Josh Mitteldorf’s columns only
Results stay inside this archive — not the rest of Science Blog.
Were I, like Adam, choiced by evil snake That fruit of knowledge I might free partake Or, spurning insight, might forever be, And dwell in vast, obscure eternity… By two such options I’d be sorely torn— ’Twas not for blind submission I was born.
Dec 4, 2017
“The way evolution works makes it impossible for us to possess genes that are specifically designed to cause physiological decline with age or to control how…
Nov 19, 2017
In the press this week High-profile, misleading “proof” that aging is inevitable Disappointing results from Alkahest trials NewYorker article on exercise in a…
Nov 10, 2017
Thank you, readers, for a lively dialog that has developed at the bottom of this page over the last few weeks, touching on some subjects that I have written about and many that I haven’t written about.
Oct 30, 2017
“Increased air pollution cuts victims’ lifespan by a decade, costing billions” blared the headline from Eurekalart last summer.
Oct 17, 2017
I sent a draft of this column to Thomas Seyfried, who was kind enough to edit it in detail and add references of which I was unware.
Oct 1, 2017
My August post on this subject stretched my readers’ patience with technical detail.
Sep 12, 2017
Since 2003, I’ve been saying that long telomeres are a path to long life. The opposing view says that nature allows our telomeres to shorten to protect us against cancer.
Aug 23, 2017
Last week, a new study came out fingering the hypothalamus as locus of a clock that modulates aging.
Aug 7, 2017
The once-popular mitochondrial free radical theory of aging proved to be too glib.
Jul 25, 2017
End of Part I. Next week, I will discuss some supplements and health strategies based on mitochondria.
Jul 14, 2017
Abating Risk of AD Dementia seems to appear out of nowhere. People feel like helpless victims of their genes.
Jun 18, 2017
