More On Centenarian Studies

(From the New York Times). Centenarians and centenarian studies are popular topics in the media this month; one would hope that this indicates an increasing interest in the prospects for future healthy life extension. "From the approximately 50,000 centenarians counted in the 2000 census, demographers expect the number to soar; one census estimate is that there will be about 800,000 by the middle of the century. Whatever the number, Mr. Olshansky said, centenarians are going to seem less extraordinary as improvements in medicine and other factors make it easier to live longer. 'Centenarians today had to survive an incredible array of environmental insults and infections that make them a much more highly selected group of individuals than we're going to see in the future.'"

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/weekinreview/30fountain.html