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What Makes a 'Wellderly' Person?

Sep 19, 2008

This Wall Street Journal article says that certain sets of genes lead people to live longer. Teams of researchers are studying elderly people in Georgia, Holland, Okinawa, and New York to look for what is keeping them from succumbing to the usual foibles of old age. So far, one gene variant of FOXO3A seems to double or triple a person's odds of seeing their 100th birthday. The Scripps Research Institute is recruiting 2,000 healthy people over 80 years old to compare their genomes to those of people who died of age-related illnesses before reaching 80.

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.