Aging Matters
Darwin’s legacy, his gift to science is the idea of a creative competition that selects the strong, the robust, the fertile, and thereby ratchets the complexity of life. But does this contest take place one individual against another? Or more collectively, species against species? Do whole ecosystems compete with other ecosystems, or is it “every … Read more
For decades, we have been treating cancer by hammering away at cancer cells with radiation and chemical poisons. Fearful that even one surviving cell can seed a recurrence, we routinely apply the maximum tolerable dose, with side-effects ranging from nausea and hair loss to permanent impairment of the immune system. Is there a better approach? … Read more
Dr. Harold Katcher of the University of Maryland believes that signals in our blood tell our stem cells how old to act, and that some key disabilities of old age might be reversed by serial transfusions of blood plasma from a young donor. Plasma transfusion is a routine medical procedure, established to be safe for … Read more
Deprenyl is a neuro-protective drug discovered in Hungary more than 30 years ago. It has prolonged life span in many rodent studies, and also in dogs. In the 1990s, under the brand name Selegiline(also Eldepryl and Zelapar) it became a standard treatment for Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s patients who take Selegiline live longer than matched patients … Read more
A study this week helps to establish a relationship between resveratrol (the anti-aging tonic refined from red wine) and a family of genes known as SIRT, which seems to extend life span in some lab species by turning genes off. But the results may be moot if resveratrol cannot be shown to extend life span … Read more
The thymus is a thumb-sized organ just above the sternum where our immune cells are trained to recognize self from other. It is fully developed by the time we are 10 years old, but after that it begins gradually to shrink. By age 25, it has already lost 30% of its mass, and by age … Read more
When cold-blooded animals are exposed to a cold environment, their metabolisms slow and they live longer. When warm-blooded animals are exposed to a cold environment, their metabolisms speed up (to maintain body temperature) and they live longer. In a new study from University of Michigan, both responses are traced to a common genetic mechanism that … Read more
How does the body know how old it is? Our metabolisms change as we get older, even though our DNA doesn’t change. Different genes are activated at different times of life, and the timing of gene expression is what controls growth, development, sexual maturity, and perhaps aging as well. The body keeps accurate track of … Read more
The China Study used a broad comparison of different diets and living styles across diverse regions of China to answer questions about diet and disease. The authors’ bottom line is that eating animal protein leads to the high rates of cancer and heart disease, and many other afflictions of the Western world as well. They … Read more
The “declining force of natural selection” is the foundation of two classical theories of aging. The phrase means that what happens when an individual is young contributes more to its fitness than what happens later in life. A new study seeks to test whether aging tends to evolve in the direction predicted by this theory, … Read more