Is there a “Methuselah” gene? It’s unlikely science will offer us a life span as long as the biblical character’s 969 years, but a Clemson University researcher is part of a circle of scientists making strides in understanding aging, and it is realistic to look forward to longer and healthier lives in the near ...

I am holding my granddaughter, not yet half a day old. Is it this stage of my life already? I'm scarcely middle-aged, surely. I'll have to do something reckless to reaffirm my youth. But I catch a glimpse of myself in the window against the darkening day, babe in arms. Don't kid yourself, granddad. We are all getting older, ...

(Crossposted from Depressed Metabolism) On September 6, 2007 we launched the blog Depressed Metabolism for a number of reasons. The most important one was to launch a blog with a strong emphasis on cryonics. Although there are a number of good blogs on aging and life extension, there was not such a blog for cryonics. Another reason was to ...

“Old and tired” is such a common phrase, it’s no surprise that a new study in the Journal of Gerontology has found that almost 1 in 5 senior citizens report they have so little energy that they spend most of the day sitting on the sofa. But even though a lack of energy is common in the elderly, the study’s authors ...

(Crossposted from Depressed Metabolism) Just a superficial look at the history of the life extension movement will suffice  to show the rise and fall of numerous fads and trends in ideas about the mechanisms and “treatment” of aging.  Psychological meliorism and simplistic visions of biochemistry create overly optimistic ...

Toxic proteins build up in organs over time

Researchers may have found a way to halt the biological clock which slows down our bodies over the decades. A US team thinks it may have found the genetic levers to help boost a system vital to cleaning up faulty proteins within our cells. The journal Nature Medicine reported that the livers of genetically-altered older mice worked ...

(Crossposted from Depressed Metabolism) This is the first in a series of interviews with individuals in the life extension and cryonics movement. We start off with an interview with Ben Best, president of the Cryonics Institute. What is your philosophy toward life? I think that “sense of life” or emotional involvement  ...

Aging insight: Scientists have found that aging in the microscopic worm Caenorhabditis elegans (shown here) may result in part from a developmental pathway gone awry. Credit: Yelena Budovskaya