The topic of aging is a widely-studied one -- presumably because everyone ages and it's one of the leading causes of death. There's no cure for aging just yet, but scientists are collecting more information on the process of aging. Once the process is understood more thoroughly, there might be ways to treat it and extend human lifespans. Here are just a few more links on the subject of aging and possible ways to prevent it.

• Generally, people are born with about 20,000 hematopoietic stem cells to generate blood cells. When Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper died at the age of 115, she apparently had only two active stem cells -- and researchers are investigating how stem cells might provide an upper limit to aging and extending the human lifespan. [url]
• Syndrome X is the name of the disorder that Brooke Greenberg was diagnosed to have in 2009, but since then, other people have also been found to have similar symptoms that seem to halt the normal aging process. Gabby Williams, Mackenzee Wittke, and another girl are having their entire genome sequences analyzed to try to gain some further understanding of the aging process and how these girls' bodies have altered it. [url]
• Longevity entrepreneurs from silicon valley are looking into the problem of aging and the biotech solutions that might be available. According to Human Longevity Inc (HLI), "aging is the single biggest risk factor for virtually every significant human disease." [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Lots of people say they'd like to live longer. So longevity has been studied extensively, and a vast number of correlations have been found. The list literally goes on and on and on. This doesn't mean anyone has discovered the cure for death, and these correlations often have no causation logic behind them whatsoever. Drink a glass of wine every day, eat no meat, restrict your calories drastically, and read some of these other correlations.

• Women who have kids later in life (33+yo) have a higher likelihood of living longer. The researchers note there is no causality here, but that women who are capable of having children in their 30s (and beyond) just seem to live longer as well. [url]
• Being short is not generally a desirable trait, but how about when height inversely correlates with longevity? Several studies show that short people live longer than tall people, and there are some reasons for this correlation -- but don't amputate your feet just yet.... [url]
• Serious coffee drinkers who ingest 4-5 cups of joe per day seem to live longer than people who drink just a cup or less. However, drinking more than 5 cups of coffee has diminishing returns, and the notable catch to this correlation is that non-coffee drinkers actually live longer than coffee lovers. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

There's an Isaac Asimov quote: "If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." But if there really were accurate predictions for a person's lifespan, how would people change? Maybe medical science is on the verge of creating a pharmaceutical solution for a fountain of youth. We seem to be a long way from a cure for death, but at least a few people think immortality will be available to humanity (eg. Aubrey de Grey, Ray Kurzweil, etc.) in the next few decades. Here are a few links to the study of aging and its causes.

• There is a curious correlation between body mass and lifespans for nearly all known species. There are a few exceptions, but generally, the bigger the animal, the longer it lives. (Maybe those exceptional species could point to genetic causes for longevity.) [url]
• Some rare genetic mutations can prevent people from aging normally. One 9yo girl has the body of an infant; a 29yo man looks like a pre-teen; a 31yo woman appears to be no older than a toddler. [url]
• Researchers are looking for genetic markers that correlate with aging -- finding thousands of indicators that could potentially predict an individual's natural lifespan. Some of the biomarkers suggest that men age faster than women, possibly explaining why women tend to live longer. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Several discoveries in biology could lead to treatments that reverse the effects of aging and prolong lifespans. There isn't quite a magic bullet, but it's not unreasonable to think that people could live longer and longer lives. The Methuselah Foundation has several monetary prizes for researchers in the field of life extension interventions. Here are just a few other interesting research studies on aging.

• Little worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) on the International Space Station are actually living longer in a micro-gravity environment than their earth-bound relatives. Researchers have identified several genes that contribute to this unexpected lengthening of longevity, but living on a space station isn't the fountain of youth. [url]
• The cost of sequencing the human genome has fallen dramatically from $3 billion for the first one... to a few thousand dollars. Having access to the information in our DNA could lead to lifespans of 150 years, but getting hit by a bus would still be a problem. [url]
• Certain kinds of exercise may extend your life more than others. Aerobic exercise is correlated with living a bit longer than non-aerobic exercise -- so expect a few more infomercials to start plugging exercise equipment with claims of helping you live longer. [url]
• Senescent cells can no longer divide, and they might bring down neighboring cells and create various symptoms of aging. Eliminating these senescent cells could lead to more age-resistant organs -- and people living longer (perhaps as undead zombies). [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.