Monthly Archives: November 2009

I became fascinated with l-carnosine about ten years ago.  Back then, this substance seemed capable of doing more or less what telomerase activators are hoped to be doing now – greatly extending the replicative life spans of certain body cells.  … Continue reading →

Light metals may not lengthen lives but heavy metals can certainly shorten them.  Toxicity due to heavy metals can inadvertently come about many ways: drinking slightly acid water that has passed through lead pipes, eating too much mercury-containing tuna and … Continue reading →

A few hours ago a dear friend of mine asked me to review the supplements he was taking before he flew away to live in Germany.  To provide a context for that review I came up with a simplified explanation … Continue reading →

The flow of weekly news items related to telomeres and telomerase has grown from a trickle to a steady stream.  Here is a selection of some recent items.  Centenarian Ashkenazi Jews A recent study of centenarian Ashkenazi Jews found that … Continue reading →

If you are an old timer like me you may remember the World War I marching song:  It’s a long way to Tipperary, It’s a long way to go. It’s a long way to Tipperary, To the sweetest girl I … Continue reading →

Maria Blasco heads the Telomeres & Telomerase Group at the Spanish National Cancer Center in Madrid.  She and her group have produced a number of important papers over recent years contributing to our understanding of telomere/telomerase science. A November 2009 … Continue reading →

An important approach to retarding aging that I have not discussed explicitly so far is hormesis, challenging cells and body systems by mild stress resulting in them becoming stronger and resistant to aging(ref).  The stress can be physical, chemical and … Continue reading →

The home run reported this week was in a practice game in a minor league.  But nonetheless the results are impressive and lead to hope for those suffering from certain forms of congenital blindness and vision impairment.  The report leading … Continue reading →

Senesco is a small research-based company specializing in “genetic technologies designed to regulate cell death.”  A company that started out with focus on commercial agriculture, it has been exploring a proprietary gene, Factor 5A1, that might well also have a … Continue reading →

If you want to live a very long life and are tired of the highly technical stuff in this blog, you might want to appeal to one of the traditional longevity gods or goddesses.  Some of these gods and goddesses, … Continue reading →