Where do We Live?

Most of us who are motivated to extend human lifespan focus on the physical body, and, above all, the brain as the seat of our present awareness, the home of all that makes us gloriously, individually human. We are conditioned by the standard scientific understanding of brain, mind, and consciousness.  Our personalities and all that … Read more

Caloric Restriction, Hormesis, and what they teach us about Evolution

“If aging is driven by damage, then damage must accelerate aging. If hormesis induces damage and slows down aging, then aging is not driven by damage. So a straightforward explanation is that aging is not caused by accumulation of molecular damage.” —Mikhail Blagosklonny Last week, I wrote about hormesis*, which is the strange tendency of … Read more

What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Stronger

Most people over 50 have some kind of joint and back pain.  We think that when we gain weight, there is more pressure in every step, more strain on the joints, and it makes our arthritis worse.  But the truth is stranger than this.  In fact, exercise helps to prevent and to relieve arthritis [Ref1, Ref2, … Read more

Regeneration in Mammals–Ancient Capacity is Not Lost, but Actively Suppressed

It was 1995, and Ellen Heber-Katz ran a busy lab at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, at the top of a thriving career in auto-immunity.  Her lab used standard practice to identify individual mice with tiny holes punched in their ears.  In the midst of one experiment, she discovered some un-labeled mice, and she spoke to her post-doc … Read more