Spaceflight is hard on the body, but, even so, a new study has found that the tiny nematode (or roundworm) Caenorhabditis elegans appears to age more slowly in space than on the ground. Whether the same is true of human tissue remains to be seen, although many genes in the millimeter-long worm have analogues in [...]

Whether or not you will live past 70 depends on a seemingly infinite number of small variables: genes, lifestyle, whether or not you are hit by a bus, etcetera. Tied into that prediction have long been race and location. Black males in southern cities, for example, typically have a shorter life expectancy than white males [...]

As I was editing David Stipp’s article “A New Path to Longevity” for the January 2012 issue of Scientific American, Stipp told me about some intriguing research into unusually long-lived mammals. Investigators are studying such animals to better understand why the adult human body deteriorates with age and how to intervene in the process. David [...]

A team of Boston University scientists reported last week that they had identified a large number of gene variants that were associated with exceptional longevity. Since that story grabbed headlines, however, some skeptics have voiced concerns about the data and the study’s conclusions. Newsweek reported Wednesday that the concern over the data stems from one [...]