My favorite chapter in Colleen T. Murphy’s marvelous How We Age is Chapter 10: Dracula and Wolverine: How DNA Repair and Cell Replacement Can Help Us Live Long. Murphy discusses the latest research on DNA repair and Cell Replacement that may end up extending our lives and stalling the aging process.
I admit, Murphy sometimes gets deep in the research weeds with some of her descriptions of cutting-edge investigations into the mechanics of aging. But clearly, a lot of research dollars are funding all these exciting projects.
Most of my interest in How We Age centered around how can I affect the aging process so I can have better quality of Life in the years ahead. Murphy’s chapters on diet and longevity suggest some strategies. There’s also this: “…the widespread use of statins has already helped extend lifespans. One could make a similar argument for diabetes drugs, as metabolic disorders rise with age, and anti-diabetes treatments (like metformin) are some of the best candidates for systemic longevity drugs.” (p. 339-340) Bring on Trulicity, Wegovy, and Ozempic!
You can’t read How We Age without coming away with excitement because of the many new treatments and drugs being developed. If we can just hang in there a little longer, our lives can be a whole lot better! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Acknowledgments — ix
Abbreviations — xi
Introduction — 1
1. Ethics and Economics of Longevity: Is It Right to Study Aging? — 6
2. Why Do We Age? — 15
3. Studying the Genetics of Human Longevity: Centenarians and What We Can Learn from Them — 37
4. Long-Lived Species and Longevity Mutants of Model Organisms — 51
5. What Is Aging (and How Can We Measure It)? Biomarkers of Aging and “Quality of Life” Metrics — 71
6. Insulin Signaling, FOXO Targets, and the Regulation of Longevity and Reproduction — 87
7. Dietary Restriction: Nutrient and Genetic Regulation of Longevity and Reproduction 8. Taking out the Trash: Molecular Homeostasis in the Regulation of Longevity — 107
9. Powering Longevity: Mitochondria’s Role in Aging and Longevity — 152
10. Dracula and Wolverine: How DNA Repair and Cell Replacement Can Help Us Live Long — 173
11. Use It or Lose It: Reproductive Aging, the Germline, and Longevity — 193
12. Sex, Flies (and Worms), and Videotape: The Battle of the Sexes — 214
13. I See Dead Flies: Neurons and Sensory Regulation of Longevity — 237
14. Don’t You Forget about Me: What We Are Learning about Cognitive Aging and How to Slow It — 250
15. Lamarck’s Revenge? Transgenerational Inheritance, the “Molecular Clock,” and the Epigenetic Regulation of Longevity — 279
16. Gut Feelings: The Microbiome and Aging — 303
17. Long Life in a Pill? The Future of Longevity: From Bench to Biotech — 319
Notes — 349
Index — 417
We’d be better off spending some of those billions to improve survival odds for people stuck in famine, drought, pestilence, war, and displacement. But what do I know.
Fred, you know a lot and I agree with you on the spending priorities.
But how much good is any of this going to do us if Trump is elected President?
We’re doomed.
Jeff, the latest polls show Trump ahead of Biden. Could this be a replay of 2016?
Probably not. Though Biden’s campaign isn’t making the best case for him as yet, it probably won’r be as inept as Clinton’s. And Mein Drumpf continues to display his malignant narcissism, increasing senility and blithe criminality on a daily basis.
Polls tend to be wrong.
Todd, many of my friends told me “Polls tend to be wrong” in 2016 when I warned them about the probability that Trump could win.
What’s appalling to me is that anyone could vote for him, now or ever. Are you really that stupid that you don’t know what he stands for? In that case, you should be disqualified from voting as Just.Too.Stupid.
Jeff, the Supreme Court just okayed Trump to be on the ballot in Colorado. Mitch McConnell has a lot to answer for. If Mitch had voted for Impeachment the second time for the January 6th Insurrection, we wouldn’t be in this fix!
George, if everything does go to hell in a handbasket, I’m pretty sure that future historians will point to McConnell — with his blind devotion to power and party over country — as one the main reasons democracy faltered.
Jerry, even though Mitch McConnell is leaving his Senate leadership post, his legacy of packing the Supreme Court with conservatives and filling the Federal Courts with mediocre minions will haunt us for decades.
Most of the reason Drumpf “won” (even though he lost) in ’16 was the Electoral College, which has no reason to exist, and the remarkable amateur hour that was the Clinton campaign.
He’s consistently lost on every level since, at least in terms of general elections.
Todd, the much loathed Electoral College was instituted to placate the Southern states and give them leverage that the Popular vote would strip away. In the past 20 years, the GOP only wins the Presidency because of the Electoral College vote…they lose the Popular vote consistently.
Well, not quite, but the DP has been the only party to “lose” elections to it (with the arguable inclusion of John Quincy Adams over Mass-Murderer Jackson)…John Kerry’s campaign was also almost as inept as Clinton’s, and managed to lose both to Baby Bush and his Veep, the Smarter Version of Trump.
The FRONTLINE episode about McConnell was pretty fascinating…he began his career as a centrist Republican, and was soon schooled how that would not fly in Kentucky, and has indeed pursued all things right-wing since. His loathing of Trump has had one or two benefits, such as his not allowing Trump to shut down the government a second time, but damn he has been an albatross around the neck of the nation even when he hasn’t been abetting folks too-similar to Me in Drumpf.
Todd, Mitch McConnell may loath Trump…but he just endorsed him. What a hypocrite!
I remain confident that I am not getting any older. My bones and my body, however disagree.
Aging may be bothersome, but I can’t see that it is something to get worried or upset about. There is still too much beauty and wonder in the world to appreciate. I’d much rather concentrate on that.
Jerry, I love your attitude towards aging! I have friends who are obsessed with aging: getting cosmetic surgery, taking supplements, embracing radical diets, etc. I’m like you: I’ll go with the flow!
Metformin isn’t a fountain of youth, but I am still here.
Todd, I know a dozen people who are on Metformin and love it. It seems to be one of the drugs that addresses multiple problems.
The main problem I see and don’t know if there is a solution for is:
Cognitive ageing or losing your bain function, giving up thinking, forgetting so much …
Is there a way to help people there?
Among our friends and acquaintences there are many that have reduced brain functions – some died already from Alzheimer’s or other forms of dememtia.
So sad…
PS:
I’ve always been kind of forgetful – now it’s getting worse but we still manage.
Wolf, I’m convinced that good sleep habits can help with aging problems. But many of my friends have insomnia and chronic fatigue.
And family history/genetics plays its role. My parents have died mostly of three flavors of dementia between them.