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Coastal (CTR) and inland temperate rainforests (ITR) in western North America share a rich oceanic lichen flora. The distinctive Methuselah’s beard lichen (Usnea longissima Ach.) is an exception to this pattern of shared distributions, with very few ITR locations. Does this absence reflect dispersal limitations or climatic intolerance? To answer this question, we transplanted U. longissima thalli from the CTR to three ITR locations, assessing growth rates against reciprocal CTR transplants. Canopy microclimate measurements provided concurrent data on growth conditions. Growth rate responses (length, mass, and area) were evaluated after summer and full-year transplants. Notwithstanding extended drought conditions during the summer period, annual transplants at two of the three ITR locations supported growth rates comparable to those at the CTR source U. longissima population, with summer dewfall and autumn rains being major ITR hydration sources. Thalli transplanted to a third ITR site (summer measurements only) in a location transitional to the drier interior plateau lost both mass and length. Based on these findings, we suggest that the absence of U. longissima from much of the ITR reflects the combined influence of dispersal limitations and requirements for stands with long site continuity and topographically induced summer wetting of thalli by dewfall.

Studies in multiple species indicate that reducing growth hormone (GH) action enhances healthy lifespan. In fact, GH receptor knockout (GHRKO) mice hold the Methuselah prize for the world's longest‐lived laboratory mouse. We previously demonstrated that GHR ablation starting at puberty (1.5 months), improved insulin sensitivity and female lifespan but results in markedly reduced body size. In this study, we investigated the effects of GHR disruption in mature‐adult mice at 6 months old (6mGHRKO). These mice exhibited GH resistance (reduced IGF‐1 and elevated GH serum levels), increased body adiposity, reduced lean mass, and minimal effects on body length. Importantly, 6mGHRKO males have enhanced insulin sensitivity and reduced neoplasms while females exhibited increased median and maximal lifespan. Furthermore, fasting glucose and oxidative damage was reduced in females compared to males irrespective of Ghr deletion. Overall, disrupted GH action in adult mice resulted in sexual dimorphic effects suggesting that GH reduction at older ages may have gerotherapeutic effects., Attenuation of growth hormone action in mice at a mature adult age (6‐months) extends lifespan, reduces protein oxidation and glomerulonephritis in females while improving insulin sensitivity and decreasing lipid peroxidation, glomerulonephritis, and neoplasms in males.

Insect G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been identified as a highly attractive target for new generation insecticides discovery due to their critical physiological functions. However, few insect GPCRs have been functionally characterized. Here, we cloned the full length of a methuselah-like GPCR gene (Ldmthl1) from the Asian gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar. We then characterized the secondary and tertiary structures of Ldmthl1. We also predicted the global structure of this insect GPCR protein which is composed of three major domains. RNA interference of Ldmthl1 resulted in a reduction of gypsy moths' resistance to deltamethrin and suppressed expression of downstream stress-associated genes, such as P450s, glutathione S transferases, and heat shock proteins. The function of Ldmthl1 was further investigated using transgenic lines of Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila with overexpression of Ldmthl1 showed significantly longer lifespan than control flies. Taken together, our studies revealed that the physiological functions of Ldmthl1 in L. dispar are associated with longevity and resistance to insecticide stresses. Potentially, Ldmthl1 can be used as a target for new insecticide discovery in order to manage this notorious forest pest.

Rice protein hydrolysates (RPH) prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis have plenty of bioactive functions. Herein, we investigated the antiaging effect of RPH on Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) and its mechanisms. According to the results, fruit flies reared on 0.2% and 3.2% RP-supplement diet prolonged their average lifespan, 50% survival days, and the maximum lifespan, together with increasing superoxide dismutase, manganese superoxide dismutase, and catalase activity compared to those reared on basal diet. Further studies showed the lifespan extending effect of RPH was regulated by the cooperation with the intrinsic stress protection system (Nrf2/Keap1), age-related signaling pathway (TOR, S6K) and the expression of longevity genes (methuselah). In conclusion, the lifespan extending effect of RPH makes it possible to be applied in food and healthcare industry. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: In previous studies, rice protein hydrolysates (RPH) have been found to have strong antioxidant properties. But so far, most researches focused on the preparation, identification and in vitro antioxidant experiments of RPH, and there is still a lack of researches on its effect on the antioxidant system of fruit flies and the antiaging of fruit flies. This report showed that RPH enhanced the antioxidant system and prolonged the lifespan of Drosophila, which might help us rationally use rice peptides in functional foods.

Male age may directly or indirectly affect the fitness of their female mating partners and their joint progeny. While in some taxa of insects, old males make better mates and fathers, young males excel in others. Males of most social Hymenoptera are relatively short lived and because of testis degeneration have only a limited sperm supply. In contrast, the wingless fighter males of the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior live for several weeks and produce sperm throughout their lives. Wingless males engage in lethal combat with rival males and the winner of such fights can monopolize mating with all female sexuals that emerge in their nests over a prolonged timespan. Here, we investigate if male age has an influence on sperm quality, the queen's lifespan and productivity, and the size and weight of their offspring. Queens mated to one-week or six-week-old males did not differ in life expectancy and offspring production, but the daughters of young males were slightly heavier than those of old males. Our data suggest negligible reproductive senescence of C. obscurior males even at an age, which only few of them reach. This matches the reproductive strategy of Cardiocondyla ants, in which freshly emerging female sexuals rarely have the option to mate with males other than the one present in their natal nest.

One of the major criticisms of creation science is the assertion that creation sci-ence is not a knowledge production system but rather a collection of rhetoric and discourses based on the Bible. This means that creation scientists are not produc-ing new evidence or data but are only reinterpreting the evidence and data pro-duced by other scientists to make them fit in with the Bible. However, some crea-tion scientists have received academic degrees through methodologies required by traditional science and are conducting research in secular organizations, including universities and government institutions. Creation scientists reject the common notion that personal faith and research need to be separated. How should we un-derstand these creation scientists? In this context, this study analyzes the decade-long Methuselah Project, led by Professor Lee Eun-il (Yi Ŭnil) of Korea Universi-ty in the early 2000s. Regardless of the research team‘s belief that the Bible is an uncompromisable record of scientific and historical fact, the water canopy theory, one of the theories that the Methuselah Project aimed to verify through research, was a hypothesis derived from the Bible. Therefore it was able to play a mediating role between the immutable truth of the Bible and dynamic science. By examining the research activities of creation scientists from this perspective, it is possible to explain how creation scientists can conduct research for an already fixed conclu-sion. Moreover, this study shows us how creation scientists resolve the conflict between their personal faith and their identity as scientists.

Aging is the largest risk factor in many diseases and mortality alike. As the elderly population is expected to increase at an accelerating rate in the future, these phenomena will pose a growing socio-economic burden on societies. To successfully cope with this challenge, a deeper understanding of aging is crucial. In many aspects, the companion dog is an increasingly popular model organism to study aging, with the promise of producing results that are more applicable to humans than the findings that come from the studies of classical model organisms. In this preliminary study we used the whole-genome sequence of two extremely old dogs – age: 22 and 27 years (or 90–135% more, than the average lifespan of dogs) – in order to make the first steps to understand the genetic background of extreme longevity in dogs. We identified more than ∼80 1000 novel SNPs in the two dogs (7500 of which overlapped between them) when compared to three publicly available canine SNP databases, which included SNP information from850 dogs. Most novel mutations (∼52000 SNPs) were identified at non-coding regions, while 4.6% of the remaining SNPs (n∼1600) were at exons, including 670 missense variants – 76 of which overlapped between the two animals – across 472 genes. Based on their gene ontologies, these genes were related – among others – to gene transcription/translation and its regulation, to immune response and the nervous system in general. We also detected 12 loss-of-function mutations, although their actual effect is unclear. Several genetic pathways were also identified, which pathways may be tempting candidates to be investigated in large sample sizes in order to confirm their relevance in extreme longevity in dogs (and possibly, in humans). We hypothesize a possible link between extreme longevity and the regulation of gene transcription/translation, which hypothesis should be further investigated in the future. This phenomenon could define an interesting direction for future research aiming to better understand longevity. The presented preliminary results highlight the utility of the companion dog in the study of the genetic background of longevity and aging.

This chapter presents facts about changes in the price-cost variables during the 1982–88 expansion and during preceding periods. If business cycle experts did the same for economic expansions, the 1982–1988 economic upswing in the United States would surely be called Methuselah. During the early part of the expansion of the 1980s, the gap was largest between 1984 and 1985 when productivity rose 1.4 percent, hourly compensation increased 4.2 percent, and unit labor costs advanced 2.8 percent. The economic consequences of annual productivity gains which were below compensation advances were sharp increases in labor costs per unit of output during the 1970s and early 1980s. An imbalance between labor cost increases and productivity improvements and the consequent push of unit production costs on prices is not a viable condition for prosperity without inflation. In August 1989, the expansion became the second longest in terms of the national bureau of economic research’s monthly chronology, which goes back to 1854.

In light of recently revised observational measurements of the radius and spectroscopic parameters of the extremely old and metal-poor Gaia benchmark star HD 140283—also known as the Methuselah star due to prior suggestions that its age is in tension with the age of the universe—we present new, best estimates for the star’s mass and age from stellar modeling. These are derived using 1D stellar evolutionary tracks computed with MESA and the most up-to-date measurements from CHARA interferometry. Excluding modeling variance from the uncertainties, we report a mass of 0.809 ± 0.001 M ⊙ and an age of 12.01 ± 0.05 Gyr (1σ). When dominant sources of modeling uncertainty are taken into account, we report 0.81 ± 0.05 M ⊙ and 12 ± 0.5 Gyr, respectively. These results are consistent with recent literature, and the best-fitting age is not in conflict with the currently accepted age of the universe (13.5 Gyr).

Rosemary extract has a potent antioxidant activity and is widely used in the food industry. In this study, the lifespan prolonging and antioxidant activity of rosemary extract was evaluated by high-fat-induced oxidative damage in Drosophila melanogaster. The results revealed that the lifespan and climbing ability of fruit flies was enhanced significantly by feeding rosemary extract. Furthermore, feeding with rosemary extract significantly increased the enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), and significantly decreased the level of malonaldehyde. The gene expression of SOD, CAT, and nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 was enhanced and that for methuselah was significantly reduced. The comet assay showed that high-fat diet-induced DNA lesion was significantly reduced in larvae treated with the rosemary extract. Our results suggest that feeding with rosemary extract is effective to the extended lifespan in fruit flies by strengthening of the resistance to high-fat-induced oxidative stress and by stimulating, at least in part, the endogenous antioxidant response.

Affecting lifespan regulation and oxidative stress resistance, the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) gene methuselah (mth) plays important roles in the life history of Drosophila melanogaster. Substantial progress has been made in elucidating the molecular pathways by which mth affects these traits, yet conflicting ideas exist as to how old these genetic interactions are as well as how old the mth gene itself is. Root to these issues is the complex gene family history of the Mth/Mthl GPCR family, which experienced independent expansions in a variety of animal clades, leading to at least six subfamilies in insects. Within insects, drosophilid flies stand out by possessing up to three times more Mth/Mthl receptors due to the expansion of a single subfamily, the mth superclade subfamily, which contains an even younger subfamily introduced here as the melanogaster subgroup subfamily. As a result, most of the 16 Mth/Mthl receptors of D. melanogaster are characterized by n:1 orthology relationships to singleton mth superclade homologs in nondrosophilid species. This challenge is exacerbated by the inconsistent naming of Mth/Mthl orthologs across species. To consolidate this situation, we review established ortholog relationships among insect Mth/Mthl receptors, clarify the gene nomenclatures in two important satellite model species, the fruit fly relative D. virilis and the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, and discuss the genetic and functional evolution of the D. melanogaster Mth GPCR.

Apple phlorizin has a lot of applications owing to its antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties. This study explored the antioxidant effects and life span-prolonging activity of apple phlorizin in Drosophila melanogaster. Treatment with apple phlorizin was found to significantly extend the life span and ameliorate the age-related decline of locomotor function. This life span-extending activity was associated with the increased activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, mRNA expression of glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit, cap-n-collar (cnc, homologue of mammalian Nrf2 gene), Keap1, and deacetylase sir2, as well as the downregulation of methuselah. Computational analysis suggested phlorizin could work as a Nrf2 activator and exert its biological activities by interfering with the Keap1 and Nrf2 binding. Therefore, it was concluded that the antioxidant and anti-aging effects of phlorizin might, at least in part, be mediated through the cooperation with the endogenous stress defense system. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Phlorizin, from apple peel, has been used as a nutrient for over 100 years. To date, despite extensive research on phlorizin, a report on its effect on the antioxidant system in fruit flies is yet lacking. This report demonstrates that phlorizin can exert a protective effect on antioxidant issues and prolong life in fruit flies, which is valuable in the rational utilization of phlorizin in functional foods.

Cranberry is an excellent source of dietary antioxidants. The present study investigated the effect of cranberry anthocyanin (CrA) extract on the lifespan of fruit flies with focus on its interaction with aging-related genes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), methuselah (MTH), insulin receptor (InR), target of rapamycin (TOR), hemipterus (Hep), and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK). Results showed that diet containing 20mg/mL CrA could significantly prolong the mean lifespan of fruit flies by 10% compared with the control diet. This was accompanied by up-regulation of SOD1 and down-regulation of MTH, InR, TOR and PEPCK. The stress resistance test demonstrated that CrA could reduce the mortality rate induced by H2O2 but not by paraquat. It was therefore concluded that the lifespan-prolonging activity of CrA was most likely mediated by modulating the genes of SOD1, MTH, InR, TOR and PEPCK.

The Methuselah/Methuselah-like (Mth/Mthl) family of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) is represented by 16 homologs in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Three of them have thus far been functionally characterized and found to play critical roles in cell adhesion, immunity, lifespan, and oxidative stress regulation. Evolutionary studies have shown that the large number of D. melanogaster Mth/Mthl GPCRs arose by at least two rounds of gene duplications. The first produced the "mth superclade" subfamily and was followed by the expansion of the "melanogaster subgroup" cluster within the "mth superclade" of Mth/Mthl GPCRs. The adaptive significance of the Mth/Mthl receptor repertoire expansion in Drosophila remains elusive. Studying the Mth/Mthl gene family content in newly available dipteran genomes, we find that the first expansion of the mthl superclade predates the diversification of schizophoran Diptera approximately 65 million years ago. Unexpectedly, we further find that the subsequent expansion of the melanogaster subgroup cluster was paralleled by independent mth superclade Mth/Mthl GPCR expansions in other schizophoran clades (Muscidae and Tephritidae). Our study thus reveals an even more dynamic diversification of mth superclade GPCRs than previously appreciated and linked to the emergence of schizophoran flies, the most dramatic radiation in the dipteran tree of life.

Gerontologists have long-sought genes for longevity, colloquially referred to as the “Methuselah” genes. Most of the quest has taken place in short-lived organisms, such as flies, worms, and mice partly due to the fact that studying longevity in long-lived organisms could mean that any one researcher might be outlived by the object of their study. However, the utilization of short-lived organisms has been fruitful and has led to the discovery and understanding of a whole host of genes and their products. One of most well-known Methuselah genes is Sir2 (silent information regulator 2), which was discovered in a yeast Methuselah in the laboratory of Dr. Leonard P. Guarente. Subsequently, this led to the exploration of a whole family of proteins called sirtuins (named for Sir2), which are found across yeast to mice to humans. Research involving sirtuins and their modifiers led to the discovery of resveratrol (RES), a phytochemical that is naturally occurring in the skin of red grapes and red wine, blueberries, dark chocolate, and peanuts and peanut butter. RES induces and activates sirtuins, thus prolonging the lives of laboratory mice that are fed laboratory chow. Calorie restriction, which has consistently been shown to increase life span in yeast and laboratory mice, also activates sirtuin activity, along with exercise. Therefore, investigators have pursued RES and other sirtuin activators as calorie restriction and exercise mimetics to combat weight gain, obesity-related diseases, and type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, the number of advertisements for RES as a life-extension supplement has significantly increased over the years due to the emergence of its reported health benefits. However, it should be noted that Dr. Guarente himself does not ingest daily RES as it has not been shown to work in humans in the same manner as it does in yeast, flies, and even mice. Here we will discuss the published data on the use of RES in aging and age-related conditions.

We examine inferences about old-age mortality that arise when researchers use survey data matched to death records. We show that even small rates of failure to match respondents can lead to substantial bias in the measurement of mortality rates at older ages. This type of measurement error is consequential for three strands in the demographic literature: (1) the deceleration in mortality rates at old ages; (2) the black-white mortality crossover; and (3) the relatively low rate of old-age mortality among Hispanics, often called the “Hispanic paradox.” Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men matched to death records in both the U.S. Vital Statistics system and the Social Security Death Index, we demonstrate that even small rates of missing mortality matching plausibly lead to an appearance of mortality deceleration when none exists and can generate a spurious black-white mortality crossover. We confirm these findings using data from the National Health Interview Survey matched to the U.S. Vital Statistics system, a data set known as the “gold standard” (Cowper et al. 2002) for estimating age-specific mortality. Moreover, with these data, we show that the Hispanic paradox is also plausibly explained by a similar undercount.

Methuselah (Mth) is associated with lifespan, stress resistance and reproduction in Drosophila melanogaster, but Mth is not present in nondrosophiline insects. A number of methuselah-likes (mthls) have been identified in nondrosophiline insects, but it is unknown whether the functions of mth are shared by mthls or are divergent from them. Five mthls have been identified in Tribolium castaneum. Although they have different developmental expression patterns, they all enhance resistance to starvation. Only mthl1 and mthl2 enhance resistance to high temperature, whereas mthl4 and mthl5 negatively regulate oxidative stress in T. castaneum. Unlike in the fly with mth mutation, knockdown of mthls, except mthl3, shortens the lifespan of T. castaneum. Moreover, mthl1 and mthl2 are critical for Tribolium development. mthl1 plays important roles in larval and pupal development and adult eclosion, while mthl2 is required for eclosion. Moreover, mthl1 and mthl2 silencing reduces the fertility of T. castaneum, and mthl1 and mthl4 are also essential for embryo development. In conclusion, mthls have a significant effect on insect development, lifespan, stress resistance and reproduction. These results provide experimental evidence for functional divergence among mthls/mth and clues for the signal transduction of Mthls.

Junjie Wang, Zhilong Wang, Zhenghong Zhang, Qiuhong Hua, Min Wang, Changjie Shi, Lei Xue, Ru Zhang, and Xin Xie Shanghai Key Laboratory of Signaling and Disease Research, Laboratory of Receptorbased Bio-medicine, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, the National Center for Drug Screening, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China

From Methuselah microbes to animals that survive without any oxygen, strange underground organisms are redefining what it means to be alive

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) plays important roles in the prevention of ageing and ageing-related diseases. In this work, the anti-ageing effect of Schizochytrium mangrovei (SM), a marine microalga with high contents of DHA was investigated for the first time. In vitro results showed that SM enhanced the vitality of healthy pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells, whereas it had no protective effect under H2O2-induced oxidative stress. Meanwhile, SM exerted neuroprotective actions in vivo: the supplementation of SM significantly extended the lifespan of both wild type and SODn108 mutant flies Drosophila melanogaster, and ameliorated the age-related decline of locomotor function. This lifespan-extending activity was associated with the mRNA up-regulation of endogenous stress-defense genes such as CuZn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) and Mn-superoxide dismutase (SOD2), as well as the down-regulation of Methuselah (MTH) gene. Therefore, it was concluded that the anti-ageing capability of DHA-rich SM was mediated through the cooperation with endogenous stress-defense system rather than the direct interaction with oxidative free radicals.

Precise editing of the human germline has been considered an unlikely and an unethical proposition. Recently, tools to edit the human germline have been developed and it is now a realistic prospect. Consequently, the ethical arguments around prohibiting human genome editing need to be re-evaluated. It is anticipatable that using it to eradicate disease-causing mutations will be acceptable if clinical risks can be shown to be sufficiently low. Some go further and advocate that genetically ‘enhancing’ humans will also be permissible. Here I argue that there are instances where human germline editing should be prohibited because harms can be anticipated from the results of studies of aspects of human psychology. The example I have chosen to illustrate this argument is prolongation of the human lifespan. Cohort and longitudinal studies demonstrate that a vital ingredient of human contentment and health is being integrated into a cohort of similarly aged people and experiencing life9s trials and tribulations contemporaneously. A person genetically engineered to live longer than their peers will experience the loss of their cohort and many from the generation following them—an established risk factor for discontentment and ill health. Since germline genome editing precludes obtaining the consent of the individual in question, and that such a predictable harm will be commonly encountered, it is questionable that human germline editing to extend lifespan can ever be considered an ethical practice.

Audrey McNamara tackles the interwar years, when women were forced to return to household duties in order to free up the labour market for the men returning from the war, thereby negating the economic freedom these women had come to experience. While analysing Heartbreak House, Back to Methuselah, and Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress , McNamara posits that after World War I , Shaw realized the impossibility of returning to a pre-war society. He knew that marriage without society had no way of healing itself from the scars of war, but marriage in its pre-war form was equally intolerable. Shaw thus used his twin concepts of the Life Force and Creative Evolution to help people see beyond the present and to fashion a change that would make marriage—and the nation—stronger, and more independent.

We examine inferences about old age mortality that arise when researchers use survey data matched to death records. We show that even small rates of failure to match respondents can lead to substantial bias in the measurement of mortality rates at older ages. This type of measurement error is consequential for three strands in the demographic literature: (1) the deceleration in mortality rates at old ages, (2) the black-white mortality crossover, and (3) the relatively low rate of old age mortality among Hispanics — often called the “Hispanic paradox.” Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men (NLS-OM) matched to death records in both the U.S. Vital Statistics system and the Social Security Death Index, we demonstrate that even small rates of missing mortality matching plausibly lead to an appearance of mortality deceleration when none exists, and can generate a spurious black-white mortality crossover. We confirm these findings using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) matched to the U.S. Vital Statistics system, a dataset known as the “gold standard” (Cowper et al., 2002) for estimating age-specific mortality. Moreover, with these data we show that the Hispanic paradox is also plausibly explained by a similar undercount.

The present study investigated the anti-ageing activity of sesamin and its effect on gene expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), methuselah (Mth) and Rpn11 in Drosophila melanogaster. Results demonstrated that 0.2 % sesamin in diet prolonged the mean lifespan of OR wild fruit flies by 12 %, accompanied by up-regulation of SOD1, SOD2, CAT and Rpn11. Sesamin at 0.2 % in diet also attenuated paraquat-induced neurodegeneration with up-regulation of SOD1, SOD2 and Rpn11 in OR wild fruit flies. Supplementation of 0.2 % sesamin in diet increased the survival time of OR wild type flies and Alzheimer flies Aβ42 33769 when they were challenged with paraquat. Furthermore, sesamin-induced increase in the activity and expression of antioxidant enzymes also suggests that the longevity promoting activity of sesamin are possibly due to its action as a hormetin by inducing oxidative stress response-mediated hormesis. It was concluded that sesamin extended the mean lifespan and alleviated the neurodegeneration in Drosophila melanogaster at least mediated by its interaction with genes SOD1, SOD2, CAT, and Rpn11, but not with gene Mth.

The ageing is an indispensable component in the advancement of evolution. It enforces the retirement of all ‘out-of-date’ structures and in this way ageing itself will not be a burden in the process of evolution. At the same time, reproduction will guarantee the continuation and development of the most adaptable and durable structures, as survival and evolution are tightly linked. Therefore, reproduction and not longevity is nature's preferred method of survival and every function could be seen as if it had been designed to serve this process. Extreme longevity may have been tried in the past, as organisms, members of the genus Hydra are believed to be biologically immortal1 or when Methuselah allegedly lived for almost a thousand years, but this is no longer the norm. It looks therefore inevitable that the end of the reproductive period signals the commencement of an era in which ageing dominates. The timing of menopause onset has been linked to age-related mortality outcomes, and the net effect of a later menopause is an increased lifespan.2 Postmenopausal women with a late onset of menopause are epigenetically younger than women with an early onset of menopause, and the hormonal changes that accompany menopause accelerate biological ageing in women.3 Transplantation of young ovaries to old mice significantly increased lifespan in transplant recipients4 and restored cardioprotective …

The author discusses his doubts on why death cannot be defeated by science and the technology industry. Topics include companies that have invested in mortality research including software firm Oracle and online payment service PayPal, the importance of the second law of thermodynamics in the universe, and the problems associated with extrapolating trend lines into the future.