It is sometimes very profitable to go back to The Greats to crystalise our thinking about something new. This year, in writing about longevity, I have been struck by the paucity of thinking about a philosophical approach to old age. Gerontologists know a lot about the body as it ages, but we sometimes forget that […]
Aristotle and Longevity Read More »
Checking the facts Throughout this website I have tried to be as rigorous as any scientist might be in writing a clinical paper. You will find major assertions, as well as facts and figures justified by reference to reliable texts. Statistics are the language by which scientific information is communicated. Statistics help us distinguish between
A short guide to evidence Read More »
Why bother? When it comes to statistics, scientists need to define their terms very accurately. There are two terms that we see again and again in reports and studies. Those words are average and risk. Just being able to understand what mathematicians mean when they refer to these two terms, will give you a far
A short guide to statistics Read More »
All day, every day, our cells are performing a metabolic balancing act. In fact, every cell, in every living thing, performs the same task. Nature is wonderful. Our metabolic rate isn’t regulated by just one system. The human body possesses trillions of metabolic clocks, ticking away within every single cell in the body. Each cell
Homeostasis Life’s balancing act Read More »
The scientists that changed our thinking about longevity It used to be that childhood was the most dangerous stage of life. That means that throughout history, up until modern times life expectancy for most people was between 35-45 years. That doesn’t mean that older ages were unheard of. Life expectancy was low – on average
Famous Scientists: Ancel Keys Read More »
When Liam Thorp, Political Editor of the Liverpool Echo tweeted on Wednesday that his doctor had mistakenly classed him as morbidly obese by recording his height as being 6.2cm instead of 6ft 2in we all had a good laugh. No harm done! But this simple clerical error at the GP surgery highlights a national issue
We tend to think that ageing starts somewhere in late middle age. Who has not scrutinised their own reflection for signs of grey hair or the first wrinkle? But the reality is far more complex than that. Your chances of enjoying longevity starts with your grandparents. During WWII the Germans invaded the Low Countries, precipitating
Environment matters Read More »
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Bronze Age Peoples, describing how the archaeological evidence indicates that people lived then almost as long as we do today. The Bronze Age is considered the beginning of civilisation. By civilisation we mean a stable society, with towns and villages, with a system of commerce and agriculture, a
Famous Scientists: Adolphe Quetelet Read More »
I’ve been discussing dementia care with some experts this week, and the advice that comes to me again and again as I research this topic is to have the important conversations early. I think we all tend to put off thinking about old age, because we are deep down scared of what might happen. And
Longevity shouldn’t feel like a life sentence Read More »
Before we can plan for a long life, we must first examine what governs living. We all know that the heart beats, that we breathe, that we eat, sleep, think and move. But what actually governs this miraculous process? The engine of life is our metabolism. Simply put, metabolism is the bio-chemical transformation of food,
The engine of life Read More »
