NPR just posted a graphical timeline showing the longest lived organisms on Earth and when they were born in history. Lifespans range from King’s lomatia at 43,000 years to Galapagos tortoises at 150 years.

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The New York Times reported yesterday that drugs that simulate the effects of calorie reduction on aging are now under clinical trials. The drugs mentioned, resveratrol (the bioactive component in grapes and red wine) and small molecule activators of sirtuin are being tested in combination by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA. The article also describes [...]

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The news press (Wall Street Journal, New York Times) and blogs (WSJ’s Health Blog, Not Exactly Rocket Science) are all abuzz about Streptomyces hygroscopicus, a soil bacterium that secretes rapamycin. First discovered on Easter Island, rapamycin is an immune suppressant and an anticancer drug. But the reason people are talking about it today is because [...]

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Leonard Hayflick, discoverer of Hayflick’s limit (that cells in culture divide a limited number of times), discusses if and how scientists can solve the ‘aging problem’ in an interview with Technology Review. Hayflick offers a more detailed definition of aging: “There are four aspects to the finitude of life: aging, longevity determination, age-associated diseases, and [...]

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