Aging Is Reversible—at Least in Human Cells and Live Mice
New research suggests it is possible to slow or even reverse aging, at least in mice, by undoing changes in gene activity—the same kinds of changes that are caused by decades of life in humans. By tweaking genes that turn adult cells back into embryoniclike ones, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies reversed the aging of mouse and human cells in vitro, extended the life of a mouse with an accelerated-aging condition and successfully promoted recovery from
The Anti-Aging Pill
An anti-aging startup hopes to elude the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and death at the same time. The company, Elysium Health, says it will be turning chemicals that lengthen the lives of mice and worms in the laboratory into over-the-counter vitamin pills that people can take to combat aging. The startup is being founded by Leonard Guarente, an MIT biologist who is 62 (“unfortunately,” he says) and who’s convinced that the process of aging can be slowed by tweaking the
Rejuvenating the Chance of Motherhood?
Last April, Omar and Natasha Rajani rented a hall, invited 130 guests, and hired a magician to entertain the little ones. In Natasha’s family, first birthday parties are major celebrations. And the Rajanis, who live in Toronto, felt particularly enthusiastic because for a long time they weren’t sure they’d ever be able to throw one. Natasha, 35, struggled for four years to get pregnant. She and Omar, 40, tried naturally at first; then they used hormones, which led to an ectop
“Three-Parent Baby” Procedure Faces New Hurdle
A promising technique to prevent mothers from passing on devastating mitochondrial diseases was thrown a biological curve ball this week: A paper published Wednesday in Nature shows that such diseases can come back to sicken a child, even when 99 percent of the mother’s own mitochondria are eliminated. Click here to see the story on ScientificAmerican.com Mitochondria are the tiny power plants that provide the energy every cell needs to function. When a large percentage of th
