Aging is a biological, psychological and social process, as four researchers explained at Health Journalism 2009. Aging research is important to learn how to slow down the process. At age 50, humans have about 62 years left of their lives, according to Matt Kaeberlein, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Pathology, University of Washington (or we might if we learned how to slow down the aging process).
One of the biggest factor of aging is smoking, which affects reproduction, cardiovascular, pulmonary, skin, bone and neoplasia. Genes actually play the biggest role in lifespan. Kaeberlein noted that there is no reason that the human body has to wear out with time, and aging must be “programmed.”
Independent journalist Laura Gater writes about the panel – links to the speakers’ presentations are included.
