Fight Aging!

The identity clinic Carl Elliott argues that happiness has become the goal of medicine - and it will make us miserable

The Red-Green Divide Over Human Enhancement Over the coming decades both demographic and technological trends will turn America's current red-blue divide into a red-green divide -- "red" for those religious Hispanic, blacks and evangelical whites who will want to stop human enhancement, and "green" for those more secular Hispanics, blacks and whites who will want to go forward with it.

Bioethics Group Urges Infertility Scrutiny Bioethics advisers to President Bush are urging more scrutiny of the nation's infertility industry, including research on the long-term health of test-tube babies. The President's Council on Bioethics also wants Congress to ban experimental procedures that might mix human and animal embryos.

Thou shalt not make scientific progress Medical research is poised to make a quantum leap that will benefit sufferers from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and other diseases. But George W. Bush's religious convictions stand in its way.

MIT Helps Unlock Life-extending Secrets Of Calorie Restriction Shedding light on why drastically restricting calorie intake prolongs life span in some organisms, MIT researchers report in the Jan. 1 issue of Genes and Development that lowering the level of a common coenzyme activates an anti-aging gene in yeast

Anti-Aging Gene Most of us think aging is inevitable. But Cynthia Kenyon has committed her career to proving us wrong.

'Designer babies' on the NHS Six ‘designer babies’ could be created in the Midlands by the end of the year - on the National Health Service.

Cogniceutical Improves Verbal Memory in Older Men Nature reports on a new cogniceutical based on a liquorice extract that improves memory in older men. The substance works by blocking the activity of a brain enzyme that boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone is thought to be responsible for eroding memory with age.

The Limits of Medicine Washington Post op-ed: "Why has our huge investment in health care left us so unhealthy? Partly it is because so many promised "miracle cures," from Interferon to gene therapies, have proven to be ineffective or even dangerous. Partly it's because health care dollars are so concentrated on the terminally ill and the very old that even when medical interventions "work," the gains to average life expectancy are small."

Unlikely nomads: Senior single women take up life on the road With spouses out of the picture and their children grown, hundreds of senior women are hitting the road for good, leaving retirement communities, shuffleboard tournaments, and the snow far behind.

Elderly's value realized in times of crisis "Yet we still treat the oldest old as either a messy problem to be solved or as an ancient scroll to be decoded. That's all wrong. We should be treating them like national treasures and security blankets in these anxious times."

Eating less at any age prolongs life: mouse study Although studies have shown that mice put on a reduced-calorie diet early in life live longer than normal mice, this is the first study to show that calorie restriction can have the same effect when started late in life.

Strokes or Sleeplessness? One Woman's Hormone Quandary I have tried, unsuccessfully, to wean myself off estrogen.

Did Meat Make Us Live Longer? Theory links dietary changes to the development of beneficial genes

Cutting Calories at Any Age Could Lengthen Life Caloric restriction can prolong lifespan in mice regardless of when they reduce their food intake, suggesting that humans could achieve the same benefits and that drugs could be created that have the same effects.

Altered genes let roundworms wiggle longer If humans are like worms, we may be closer to living considerably longer lives than most people realize.

Calorie Restriction Lowers Breast Cancer Risk Study Offers Clues About the Role of Early Diet in Disease

FDA Warns Manufacturers To Stop Distributing Products Containing 'Andro' HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a crackdown on companies that manufacture, market and distribute products containing androstenedione, or, “andro,” which acts like a steroid once it is metabolized by the body and therefore can pose similar kinds of health risks as steroids

'Oldest Old' Still Show Alertness Recent Mayo study finds that half of nonagerians studied were perfectly alert; finds that about 12 percent had significant memory problems, but were clearheaded enough to live independently

Women No Longer Define Aging Gracefully in Looks Alone As women age, 50 percent actually look forward to getting older and wiser, and many are less likely to define "aging well" as looking 10 years younger than their true age. In fact, according the surprising results of a new survey, 66 percent of women over 35 are unafraid of aging.

Valley tycoon disputes NIH study John Sperling founded the University of Phoenix, cloned a cat and made a kind of alfalfa that grows in salty water. Now the 83-year-old billionaire is putting up $14 million to try to show that hormone-replacement therapy is safe for women entering menopause.

Youth Experiences May Be Large Factor in Men’s Longevity The social settings of early life have far-reaching consequences, affecting the risk of death even decades later, according to a study of more than 5,000 men born between 1906 and 1921.

More on the President's Council on Bioethics controversy ...
Bioethics and the Political Distortion of Biomedical Science Elizabeth Blackburn comments on her dismissal in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Case Against Perfection [cover story of this month's Atlantic Monthly, not yet online] What's wrong with designer children, bionic athletes, and genetic engineering: a prominent political philosopher, and Council member, Michael Sandel investigates the false promise of human mastery.

Zero-Sum Bioethics A critique of Michael Sandel's article expressing qualms about enhancement

Should Moral Vertigo Make Biotech Fall Over? Ronald Baily of Reason also critiques Sandel's case; How disgust for the new rapidly turns to acceptance

The Meaning of 'Human' in Embryonic Research A review by the NYT of Being Human: Readings from the President's Council on Bioethics

In other news ...

Ovaries may lay new eggs Possible stem cells in ovaries prompt fertility boosting ideas

Baby boomers pay dearly to be wrinkle-free The anti-aging product market shot up 13 percent in 2003, more than double the previous two years' 4 percent to 5 percent growth rate

Prevalence of hearing impairment mushrooms with baby boomers There is a 26 percent greater hearing loss among those now ages 46 to 64 than in previous generations. The prevalence of hearing impairment in adults nearly doubled from 1965 through 1994.

Breeding the Future If we could figure out ways to honor adults who contribute to the world without reproducing biologically, I would feel a lot more hopeful about the
next century.

Is Modifying Genes Playing God? If the future is like the past then there will be a few pioneers in one part of the world or another who will use genetic engineering for enhancement purposes.

Genetic Engineering Is Next Doping Threat Now the big fear is that muscle-directed gene transfer will be used for performance enhancement

Reversing cells' aging is seen as formula for youth In laboratories the world over, scientists bent on turning back our biological clocks are looking past harvesting human embryos and cloning in their quest for disease cures.

UCLA scandal raises questions over cadaver market A lurid scandal over the sale of cadavers from the University of California at Los Angeles has ignited a debate over the lucrative but shadowy body-parts market and its ethical questions, among them who, if anyone, should make money off the sale of donated bodies.

Study finds fewer, but more advanced, colon cancers in postmenopausal women on hormone therapy

Can more babies save Boomers' benefits? To keep Social Security solvent, we need more young workers paying Social Security taxes. And if you want more young workers, you need a bigger supply of young people

Life surpassing old expectations Age: The average life expectancy in the United States has reached 77.4 years. By century's end, could it hit 150? How about 1,000?

Calorie Restriction Lowers Breast Cancer Risk New research shows that restricting calories early in life can help decrease breast cancer risk later on.