Featured series 
Tag: Aging
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Health
Partial reversal of aging achieved in mice
Harvard scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute say they have for the first time partially reversed age-related degeneration in mice, resulting in new growth of the brain and testes, improved fertility, and the return of a lost cognitive function.
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Health
Probing the golden years
In an aging society, Harvard researchers are plumbing the depths of what it means to have a larger proportion of the population elderly — and figuring out how to keep them healthy.
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Health
Insights on healthy aging
New research from Harvard scientists shows that exercise and caloric restriction rejuvenate synapses in laboratory mice, illuminating a reason for the beneficial effects of these regimens on aging.
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Health
Exercise, calorie restrictions can rejuvenate older synapses
Harvard researchers have uncovered a mechanism in mice through which caloric restriction and exercise delay some of the debilitating effects of aging by rejuvenating the connections between nerves and the muscles that they control.
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Health
A long look at growing old
The Glenn Laboratories hosted the annual symposium on aging, reviewing new developments in understanding the mechanisms of growing old.
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Campus & Community
Stem Cell Experiment Reverses Aging In Rare Disease
The team at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute were working with a new type of cell called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which closely resemble embryonic stem cells but are made from ordinary skin cells…
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Science & Tech
National Institute on Aging funds two new “Roybal Center” programs at Harvard
Harvard Medical School professor Nicholas Christakis, whose work focuses on social networks, and economics professor David Laibson, who examines how and why people make the decisions they do regarding savings…
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Health
Blood tells old cells to act young
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center (JDC) have taken a major step toward eventually understanding — and perhaps slowing — the aging process. In a series…
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Arts & Culture
The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50
Sociologist Lawrence-Lightfoot’s inspiring book says that ages 50-75 are prime time for adventure. Forty interviews with people living in their “third chapter” show how fulfilling life can be then.
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Campus & Community
Telomerase work wins Szostak Nobel Prize in medicine
Jack W. Szostak, a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for work on cellular structures called telomeres, which protect chromosomes from degradation.
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Health
Researchers learn how mutations extend life span
In the sense that organisms existing today are connected through a chain of life – through their parents, grandparents, and other ancestors – almost a billion years back to the…
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Health
DFCI cancer research highlights age-related treatment effectiveness, patient cost concerns
New research from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute highlights age-related responses to colon cancer treatment and patient attitudes toward cost of drugs to manage side effects. Research presented at the American…
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Health
Lack of sleep is easier on older adults than others
In a recent sleep study testing alertness and performance in sleep-deprived adults, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) determined that healthy older adults handle sleep deprivation better than younger adults. The findings appeared online on May 3, in an advance online edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
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Health
Older adults found to fare better under sleep deprivation than younger adults
In a recent sleep study testing alertness and performance in sleep-deprived adults, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) determined that healthy older adults handle sleep deprivation better than younger…
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Health
Waist size predictor of heart failure in men and women
Adding to the growing evidence that a person’s waist size is an important indicator of heart health, a study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has found that larger waist circumference is associated with increased risk of heart failure in middle-aged and older populations of men and women.
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Health
Defibrillators may have little benefit for older, sicker patients
Defibrillators are commonly recommended to patients with heart failure to prevent sudden cardiac death, but beyond having heart failure, there is a lack of criteria to identify the appropriate patients…
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Campus & Community
Concentration in human development, regenerative biology added
Inviting a new generation of scientists into the study of human development, disease, and aging, Harvard University will offer a new undergraduate concentration in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology (HDRB) starting this fall.
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Health
The third chapter can be the best in the book
There may be something to the adage about growing older and wiser. A lot, in fact, according to the new book by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, “The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50,” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009). The work explores the trend of learning and development for adults who are…
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Health
End-of-life conversations associated with lower medical expenses
Few physicians are eager to discuss end-of-life care with their patients. Yet such conversations may result in better quality of life for patients and could lower national health care expenditures…
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Health
Vitamin B and folic acid may reduce risk of age-related vision loss
Harvard Medical School (HMS) researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that taking a combination of vitamins B6 and B12 and folic acid appears to decrease the risk of…
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Health
Anesthetic causes changes in mouse brains
For the first time researchers have shown that a commonly used anesthetic can produce changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of living mammals, confirming previous laboratory studies. In their Annals of Neurology report, which has received early online release, a team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators shows how administration of the gas…
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Campus & Community
Eleven HILR students honored for dedication
University Marshal Jackie O’Neill honored 11 members of the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement (HILR) last week for their dedication to lifelong learning. The April 4 ceremony was held at the Harvard Faculty Club and was attended by friends and family of the honorees, who are all near or actual nonagenarians. Also in attendance…
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Health
Brain systems less coordinated with age
Some brain systems become less coordinated with age even in the absence of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from Harvard University. The results help to explain why advanced age is often accompanied by a loss of mental agility, even in an otherwise healthy individual.
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Health
1.8 million veterans lack health coverage
Of the 47 million uninsured Americans, one in every eight (12.2 percent) is a veteran or member of a veteran’s household, according to a study by physicians from Cambridge Health Alliance who are also Harvard Medical School researchers. The study is published in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Approximately 1.8…
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Nation & World
Labor and management, together at last
Harvard University hosted “The Future of Labor Forum” last week (Oct. 2), a first-ever conference that brought together prominent voices from the sometimes adversarial worlds of management, unions, government, and the academy.
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Health
Harvard researchers find longevity, restricted diet link
Researchers believe they’ve found the cellular link between extremely restricted diets and dramatically lengthened lifespan and hope to use the knowledge to develop new treatments for age-related diseases.
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Campus & Community
New leadership fellowship program established
A core of 13 faculty members is collaborating across disciplines to create a new Harvard fellowship program they say will harness a largely untapped universe of leadership skills.
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Health
Brain implants relieve Alzheimer’s damage
Genetically engineered cells implanted in mice have cleared away toxic plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
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Health
Broken hearts found to mend themselves
Stem cells apparently try to mend hearts damaged by heart attacks or high blood pressure. But they do not refresh hearts run down by aging. Evidence for this heartening and disheartening news comes from experiments with mice done at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
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Campus & Community
HILR to hold symposium on ‘Perspectives from the Future’
The Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement (HILR), a leader among academic institutes for retirees, will present a daylong symposium titled “Perspectives from the Future: A Symposium on Tomorrow’s World as Defined by Today’s Research and Planning” on April 20 as part of its 30th anniversary celebration.