Technology & Society
More than 200 scientists and longevity activists gathered at UCLA recently to discuss advancements in repairing humans. New technology is making it possible to imagine a world with ever greater life spans, but old world issues pervaded the discussions. The
In case you haven’t noticed, life expectancy is growing. According to the US National Center for Health Statistics, “Life expectancy at birth hit a new record high in 2006 of 78.1 years, a 0.3 increase from 2005.” Here is their
This should be an interesting conference. The invite says: “At Aging 2008 you will engage with top scientists and advocates as they present their findings and advice, and learn what you can do to help accelerate progress towards a cure
Last week, GlaxoSmithKline announced it will buy Sirtris Pharmaceuticals for US$720 million, giving weight to the claim that antiaging biotech firms can be a good bet. This is good news for Americans, given that a recent Harvard-affiliated study showed that
Here is a recent Congressional Budget Office report on how wealth and education are linked to life expectancy.
While life expectancy is going up overall, there are some areas of the US where it has actually decreased. It is difficult to pinpoint a single reason, but regions affected include the deep south, along the Mississippi river, in Appalachia,
In case you wanted proof of this, here is a NYT report on an HHS study. The NYT says it’s a new study, but a web search brings up the same data that was published two years ago. I’ve emailed
This article summarizes research by Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. He has found that a mutation that causes a decrease the activity of insulin-like
Here’s an interesting story from the LA Times. Many of these drugs have been around for a long time, yet the LAT is reporting on them as if they are news. Well, there is some news here — the news
New data released this week shows that human evolution is speeding up — an interesting development given that many in the scientific community are hopeful that humans can take greater control over the process. At a recent conference in San
This is a very interesting op-ed by history professor Stephanie Coontz. She argues that historically government was not as involved in marriage as it is now and that marriage licenses are “no longer the chief determinant of which obligations a
This week, Dr. Gordon Lithgow, associate professor at the Buck Institute, showed up in San Francisco and spoke to a packed house on aging, new technologies and why interdisciplinary connections are helping to unravel the mysteries of growing old. While
Well, except for the part that contains his apolipoprotein E gene, which predisposes a person toward Alzheimer’s disease. Maybe he thinks he will get the disease. I saw him on Charlie Rose a few months ago and he said, “Right
UK aging expert Professor Peter Piper recently spoke out against what he believes is a major health problem. It seems that the sodium benzoate used to preserve soft drinks may also be responsible for DNA damage. When Piper applied the
HSBC released a new study yesterday called “The Future of Retirement,†showing that early retirement is no longer very popular. They interviewed 21,000 people in 21 countries, and in the US, the study says that, “older people contribute $19.2 billion
Want to know which countries have the longest life expectancies? Take a look at this chart.
A Chicago divorce lawyer recently paid for a billboard ad that said, “Life’s short. Get a Divorce.” It caused a huge storm of controversy, but when you think about it, the lawyer actually got it wrong. It’s not that life
Researchers in La Jolla, CA recently announced that they have “identified a critical gene that specifically links calorie restriction (CR) to longevity.” We already know that massively limiting the amount of calories one eats (caloric restriction) can extend life, but
I don’t normally watch Charlie Rose, but this series is pretty good.
I went to an event hosted by the Alliance for Aging Research today in SF. Speakers included Dr. Karen Bandeen-Roche who discussed how to measure aging with biomarkers; Dr. Leonard Guarente who discussed resveratrol and the sirtuin genes that regulate