Life expectancy USA: Century-long lifespans present challenges - by Barbara Peters Smith

The expectation that most American children younger than 14 today will live to see their 100th birthdays is beginning to seem a lot less far-fetched to many researchers who study worldwide longevity trends.

Even now, one prominent scientist says the “life expectancy revolution” is giving us “roughly a 10-year postponement” of death.

“Mortality is being shifted outward,” said James Vaupel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. “All you have to do is look at the historical change in the start of old age, the point when your chance of death rises above 1 percent. For Swedish women in 1950 this happened at age 57; in 1960 it was age 63, and in 1970 it was 68.”

The prospect of living to 100 stirs up lots of emotions, but it is especially daunting for actuaries — the folks who juggle sophisticated math equations to set the prices and payouts for pensions, annuities, life insurance and long-term care policies.

If they bet wrong on when baby boomers will die, the insurance and financial services industries could be in turmoil. 

Lately, their normally quiet and careful profession has experienced a dramatic upheaval: In the last 10 years, according to best estimates, the number of people over the age of 110 appears to have doubled.

Read more: Century-long lifespans present challenges | HeraldTribune.com

Cure coming against aging? Senescent Cells Are Linked to Diseases of Aging, Study Finds - by Nicolas Wade

In a potentially fundamental advance, researchers have opened up a novel approach to combating the effects of aging with the discovery that a special category of cells, known as senescent cells, are bad actors that promote the aging of the tissues. Cleansing the body of the cells, they hope, could postpone many of the diseases of aging.

The findings raise the prospect that any therapy that rids the body of senescent cells would protect it from the ravages of aging. But many more tests will be needed before scientists know if drugs can be developed to help people live longer.

For more: Senescent Cells Are Linked to Diseases of Aging, Study Finds - NYTimes.com

How the Brain Benefits With Aging

We all worry about getting old. We all worry about getting sick. But we really worry about losing our minds. Will we forget to tie our shoes or zip our flies? Will we fumble our words and fall into our soup? Are our brains on an inevitable slide?  The quick answer is no.


Yes, the brain at middle age has lost a step. Our problems are not imaginary, and our worries are not unreasonable. But neuroscientists have found that the middle-aged brain actually has surprising talents. It’s developed powerful systems that can cut through the intricacies of complex problems to find concrete answers.

It more calmly manages emotions and information and is cheerier than in younger years. Indeed, one new series of fascinating studies suggests that the way our brains age may give us a broader perspective on the world, a capacity to see patterns, connect the dots, even be more creative.

“From what we know now,” says Laura Carstensen, PhD, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity at Stanford University, “I’d have to say that the middle-aged brain is downright formidable.”

For more: How the Brain Benefits With Aging | Reader's Digest Version