Ageless : the new science of getting older without getting old
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages [289]-328) and index.

"In Ageless, computational biologist and gifted science writer Andrew Steele reveals an exciting effort among scientists to develop treatments for aging - a mission that could offer an astonishing extension of our lifespan and a vastly improved quality of life in our later years. Aging - not cancer, not heart disease - is the underlying cause of most human death and suffering. The same cascade of biological changes that renders you wrinkled and gray also opens the door to dementia and disease. We work furiously to conquer each individual disease, but we never think to ask: Is aging itself necessary? Nature tells us it is not: There are tortoises and salamanders who are spry into old age and whose risk of dying is the same no matter how old they are, a phenomenon known as 'biological immortality.' In Ageless, Steele charts the astounding progress science has made in recent years to secure biological immortality for humans: to help us become old without getting frail, to live longer without ill health or disease. Ageless introduces us to a new way of thinking that helps us see most illnesses as diseases of aging and shows us that most of them can be prevented by treating the aging process. Steele takes us on a journey through the laboratories where scientists are studying every bodily system that declines with age - our DNA, mitochondria, stem cells, immune systems - and developing therapies to slow or reverse the trends. With bell-clear writing and true intellectual passion, Steele shows us what aging actually is as he shines a spotlight on the revolution under way to thwart it."--book jacket.