Selenium, a mineral, is an important trace element in immune system function. It has been found in experimental animals to act as an anti-carcinogen and anti-mutagen (can prevent DNA mutations—undesired alterations of your DNA master blueprint in the presence of some mutagenic agents). Selenium is an essential part of your enzyme called glutathione peroxidase, which […]
… all diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured, not excepting that of old age, and our lives lengthened at pleasure even beyond the antediluvian standard. —Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to English chemist Joseph Priestley The same molecules that serve us well by keeping us alive and healthy can, if they fail […]
Read more Molecules of Life and Life Extension: An Introduction to the Cast I
Old age must be resisted and its deficiencies supplied. —Cicero We know that as we grow older, our chances of continued survival decline. How does aging kill us? The answers to this question lead directly to the big payoff—how to slow or partially reverse these deadly processes. The accumulated result of the unrepaired or imperfectly […]
We cannot retard senescence or reverse its direction, unless we know the nature of the mechanisms which are the substratum of duration [basis of longevity]. —Alexis Carrel, Man the Unknown, 1935 In this set of posts, we take an overall view of what we are up against in the way of aging mechanisms. There are […]
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful; for thou art not so…. And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die! —John Donne (1573-1631) The consequences to ourselves and our society of greatly extended human life span are sure to be far reaching. An extended life span does not […]
“Cheshire Puss,” she [Alice] began . . . “would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland There isn’t just one aging process, and there isn’t just one way to retard […]
In human females, menopause occurs after a period of steadily increasing probability of defective reproduction (the chances of a woman bearing a Down’s Syndrome baby, for example, increases sharply after age thirty-five). The shutdown of reproduction in humans does not mean the end of life, however. Evolutionary factors which may have resulted in this extended […]
There are many virtues to growing old. [long pause] I am just trying to think what they are. —Somerset Maugham at the age of eighty As much as we may wish otherwise, old age is an unpleasant and unattractive affliction. Some people, it is true, have been active and productive into very old age—among them […]