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Mild disruptions to mitochondrial function can lead to the activation of an adaptive program that extends animal lifespan. The mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) is associated with such conditions that prolong lifespan. We previously discovered that methionine restriction, resulting from the genetic loss of methionine synthase in C. elegans, activated the UPRmt and extended lifespan. Here, we demonstrate that methionine restriction activates the UPRmt and delays aging within the...

Researchers have uncovered a surprising hidden function of a protein that may hold the key to repairing damaged muscles and treating muscular dystrophy. Known for protecting chromosomes, TRF2 also helps muscle stem cells maintain their identity and regenerate injured tissue. When scientists removed the protein in mice, muscles struggled to repair themselves, and muscular dystrophy progressed dramatically faster.

A surprising new study suggests that where men get their protein may be linked to their testosterone levels. Researchers studying more than 2,500 men found that higher animal protein intake, particularly from dairy, was associated with lower testosterone, while plant protein was linked to higher levels. The findings raise intriguing questions about how everyday food choices might relate to male hormone levels.

Stanford researchers have discovered that children who struggle persistently with math may have underlying differences in how their brains manage problem-solving strategies. Children with developmental dyscalculia were slower to switch strategies, less responsive to changes in difficulty, and less able to improve their approach over time. Distinct patterns of brain activity were linked to these difficulties and could even predict certain math-related abilities.

Crows may be even smarter than we thought, and their brains are astonishingly fast. Researchers at the University of Tübingen discovered that crows can make visual decisions twice as quickly as humans and monkeys, taking just 235 milliseconds on average to identify the direction of moving dots while maintaining remarkable accuracy.

Colorectal cancer is making an alarming comeback in the United States after more than 20 years of declining rates, and the increase is no longer limited to younger adults. A major new study found rising rates across nearly every age group under 70, including older Americans who have historically benefited most from cancer screening.

Scientists have developed an AI-powered approach that makes experimental bionic vision technology more precise, helping predict the flashes and shapes of light perceived by a blind man with a brain implant. By learning how an individual's brain responds to electrical stimulation, the technology could bring researchers closer to restoring some degree of sight to people with blindness.

Healthy aging is shaped by the exposome-the accumulation of exposures experienced across the life course arising from intersections of the natural, physical, social, community and policy environments in which people age. This Consensus Statement reports recommendations from the Gateway Exposome Coordinating Center to accelerate life-course research on the exposome's impacts on healthy aging, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Recommendations centered on five themes are...

Aging is a complex biological process often characterized by increased vulnerability to disease, infection, and death. This increased vulnerability is mechanistically linked to a progressive and functional decline of the immune system. In humans, aged T cells lose their ability to effectively surveil complex microenvironments, thereby decreasing their capacity to clear infections, eradicate diseases, and maintain physiological homeostasis. However, specific mechanisms by which aged T cells lose...

Circulating non-cellular factors, such as plasma proteins, contribute to various features of aging. To determine the impacts of endogenous circulating factors on human age-related bioenergetic decline, we treated primary human fibroblasts with serum samples representing the adult life-course. Our results demonstrate that the maximal mitochondrial bioenergetic capacity of fibroblasts treated with serum is negatively correlated with the chronological and epigenetic age of the serum donor. Using...

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Social and economic conditions shape healthy aging, but it remains unclear whether policies that modify these conditions change aging-related biomarkers or later-life functional trajectories. The growing availability of biomarker data in longitudinal cohorts, together with the wider use of experimental and quasi-experimental designs in social policy research, creates new opportunities to evaluate how social conditions become biologically embedded. We argue that policy experiments can strengthen...

Social gradients in health and aging are well documented in human societies: individuals who experience low social status, loneliness or early-life adversities show accelerated biological aging, an increased burden of chronic diseases and a lower survival rate. However, how these exposures become biologically embedded remains incompletely understood, and causal inference remains limited. Here, we discuss emerging natural and experimental animal models of the social determinants of aging, which...

Social determinants of health, the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, shape brain aging and dementia. Yet evidence is dominated by Global North populations and often relies on single indicators (for example, education or income), limiting risk characterization and generalizability across settings. This Perspective provides a global, integrative overview of multidimensional, multilevel and life-course approaches to social determinants of health and exposome research in...

Across global contexts, proportions of older people living in rural places are increasing. Given that place of residence and rurality have both been identified as potential determinants of health inequity, it is important to understand how, and in what circumstances, rural living affects healthy aging. This foundational review examines the academic literature to identify and critique specific rural social determinants that drive health inequities for older people and to examine how these have...

Population aging has widened the gap between life expectancy and healthspan. Yet aging trajectories remain strikingly heterogeneous even among populations facing comparable harmful environmental exposures, including air pollution, extreme temperatures, toxic metals, unsafe water and sanitation, noise and poor housing. Why similar environmental risks produce divergent patterns of multimorbidity, disability and functional decline is a central research question. This Review proposes environmental...

There is accumulating evidence that social isolation has a serious impact on the health and well-being of older adults, with this concern endorsed by the US Surgeon General, the World Health Organization Commission on Social Connection report, and other national and international policy forums. Social isolation can be viewed as part of the broader agenda of the social determinants of healthy aging. Evidence from higher-income countries on the relationship of isolation with poor health outcomes...