Aging

Genes delivered by a virus successfully mitigated the effects of age-related diseases, such as heart and kidney disease, in a recent mouse study. Following this success, a similar gene therapy treatment is in trial to prevent a certain form of heart…

Shorter lifespan in worms is linked to changes in gene activity that in turn alter sugar metabolism. This highlights the importance of gene activity rather than DNA mutations as a driving force of aging.

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – but maybe you can have an old brain grow new neurons. New research published in Nature Medicine has shed some light onto the debated topic of whether adult brains can create new neurons in the…

by Patrick Griffin figures by Abby Burrus There has been much talk in recent years about the disconnectedness of coastal elites, epitomized by Silicon Valley characters such as VC-mogul Peter Thiel and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Their…

Naked mole rats are a peculiar species in the animal kingdom for a number of reasons. These wrinkled rodents are immune to cancer, insensitive to pain, and capable of surviving for up to 18 minutes in zero-oxygen environments. Recently, researchers have…

by Paris Bentley figures by Michael MacArthur The immediate environmental effects of nuclear bomb testing during the Cold War era were undoubtedly devastating. Having left enormous negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts all over the world, it…

A team at UC Berkeley investigated the effects of transfusing blood from young mice into old mice and vice versa. They found that young blood only slightly improves some functions (e.g. brain cell development) in old mice, but old blood significantly…

by Gabriel Filsinger figures by Anna Maurer Can biological aging be slowed or reversed? Time is constantly passing. Given enough time, we change as people and move between stages of life, transforming from children into young adults and evolving from…

1950s-era morgue that has not been remodeled since it was built [Brook Ward under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license] Women now tend to live longer than their male counterparts in every country in the world, but anatomy alone cannot fully explain why.  Looking to…

"... several groups have previously demonstrated that circulating factors found in young mouse blood are capable of rejuvenating various organs in aged mice."