The Slow Shift in Mainstream Aging Research
I think that this news is illustrative of a slow shift that is taking place in the culture of aging research. It now acceptable - and more importantly fundable - for researchers to talk openly about slowing or reversing aspects of aging: "Leading neuroscientists gathered in Dallas last week to discuss recent major findings about the aging brain and to celebrate the launch of the UT Dallas Center for Vital Longevity ... The Center for Vital Longevity is a research center focused on understanding and expanding the capacity of the aging mind. Center researchers use cutting edge brain imaging technologies and advances in cognitive science to understand (a) how the brain changes from young to old adulthood; (b) the consequences of neural aging for everyday function; and (c) what interventions show promise for slowing cognitive aging. ... Denise Park, Ph.D. focuses her research program on understanding how the mind changes and adapts as we age. She is interested not only in the function of the mind and brain, but in determining whether stimulation can maintain the health of the aging brain." The mainstream will slowly catch up to where advocates of the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence have been for a decade: that working to defeat aging is plausible, possible, and what we should be doing.