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People die, but one part of them, at least in principle, is immortal. In the germline cells that produce eggs or sperm, biological time stands still. This is why babies are all born with the same age, the clock set to zero, regardless of the age of their parents. A little piece of the germline’s immortality, it now seems, can be acquired by the ordinary cells of the body, and used to give the organism extra longevity. This is the conclusion of a research group at the Massachusetts General Hospital led by Sean P. Curran and Gary Ruvkun. Their studies...

The oldest survivor of the First World War, Henry Allingham, is celebrating his 113th birthday with a party organised by the Royal Navy. The veteran soldier also holds the record as the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service and the last surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force.

A man's chances of dying early are cut by a fifth if their bride is between 15 and 17 years their junior. The risk of premature death is reduced by 11 per cent if they marry a woman seven to nine years younger. The study at Germany's Max Planck Institute also found that men marrying older women are more likely to die early. The results suggest that women do not experience the same benefits of marrying a toy boy or a sugar daddy. Wives with husbands older or younger by between seven and nine years increase their chances of dying...

Want to live to a ripe old age? By far the most important factor in life expectancy is wealth; richer people tend to eat healthfully and smoke and drink less. They also have access to the best health care. Affluent countries also tend to have low rates of violent crime and civil unrest. The following countries have the highest average life expectancies in the world. In case you're wondering, the United States, with an average life expectancy of 77.85, ranks 48th. Get started now and see the list of countries with the highest life expectancy. 1. Andorra: 83.51 Years Located...

Watch Video Poem. (Short parody about atheists' "transhumanism" movement.) Doctor came in sad faced Said he had bad news for me "Cancer's spread throughout you It's metastasized, you see?" "Doc, I got it covered I don't need this old body. Know a friend on Venus Who can make a trade with me. I'll have a new body And outlive my grand baby. Don't you call it crazy. Call it transhumanity." Tell me would you want to Live beyond two hundred years? Still feel like you're twenty And escape an old man's fears? You'll stay young and happy And forget all...

A woman in Kazakhstan who officials said was the oldest in the world at 130 has died after slipping on the bathroom floor of a new flat she was awarded by the state because of her great age. Sakhan Dosova - a mother of ten - said she never visited a doctor nor ate sweets. She was addicted to cottage cheese and put her longevity down to her sense of humour. She received worldwide publicity in March after her alleged age came to light in a census in the former Soviet republic. Demographers were astonished to find that she was...

Too bad Ponce de Leon didn't live in 21st century New York City. He may not have found the Fountain of Youth, but he would have at least gotten a book deal. It seems that every time a Baby Boomer finds a gray hair, another tome is written promising to teach people how to stave off the effects of aging. This year, dozens of self-help titles are set to hit the shelves, all offering tips to extending youth.

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Nov. 27) — Edna Parker, who became the world’s oldest person more than a year ago, has died at age 115. UCLA gerontologist Dr. Stephen Coles said Parker’s great-nephew notified him that Parker died Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville. She was 115 years, 220 days old, said Robert Young, a senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records. Parker was born April 20, 1893, in central Indiana’s Morgan County and had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest person since the 2007 death in Japan of Yone Minagawa, who was four months her...

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. - Edna Parker, who once taught in a two-room schoolhouse and became the world's oldest person more than a year ago, has died at age 115. UCLA gerontologist Dr. Stephen Coles said Parker's great nephew notified him that Parker passed away Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville. She was 115 years, 220 days old, said Robert Young, a senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records. Parker was born April 20, 1893 in central Indiana's Morgan County and had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest person since the Aug. 14, 2007, death in...

A woman celebrating her 105th birthday says that celibacy and staying single has been the key to her long life. Clara Meadmore, a retired secretary, who still has her own hair, teeth, and sharp wit, never had time for a family and lived alone until going into care. She said: "I've always had lots of platonic friendships with men but never felt the need to go further than that or marry." "When I was a girl you only had sex with your husband and I never married. I grew up in an era where little girls were to be seen...

ARLINGTON — He opened the jacket of his suit and braced himself."Hit me," he said.What?"Go on, hit me!" he insisted, his voice a mock growl.It’s not every day one is invited — instructed — to slug a man in the stomach on his 94th birthday, but then there is only one Jack LaLanne, the godfather of American fitness.Still remarkably fit, the tireless evangelist for preventive health celebrated his birthday Friday at the Arlington Convention Center, where he spoke at a wellness conference presented by the Parker College of Chiropractic.Practicing what he preaches, LaLanne declined a slice of the cake.His wife,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who want to live a long and healthy life might want to take up running. A study published on Monday shows middle-aged members of a runner's club were half as likely to die over a 20-year period as people who did not run. Running reduced the risk not only of heart disease, but of cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, researchers at Stanford University in California found. "At 19 years, 15 percent of runners had died compared with 34 percent of controls," Dr. Eliza Chakravarty and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Any...

Plan for long life, without pandemic NANCY STANCILL Should doctors let people older than 85 die in a flu pandemic? A Monday news story saying a U.S. task force recommends denying lifesaving care in a pandemic or other disaster to some folks -- including healthy people above 85 -- was unsettling. They're talking about my mother, soon to be 86. My friend Karen's father, who is 92. Another friend's grandmother, 102. These people live life joyfully, with their minds and hearts intact. My mother relishes foreign travel. Karen's father loves bird watching. The 102-year-old grandmother plays a mean hand of...

Scientists: 115-year-old's brain worked perfectly By ANRICA DEB , Associated Press WriterJune 13, 2008 Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, who died at age 115 in 2005, is seen in this May 26, 2004 photo at de Westerkim, home for the elderly, in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. Scientists say that Henrikje van Andel-Schipper's mind was probably as good as it seemed: a post-mortem analysis of her brain revealed few signs of Alzheimer's or other diseases commonly associated with a decline in mental ability in old age. "This is the first (extremely old) brain that did not have these problems," Professor Gert Holstege of Groningen University...

Henry Allingham, who was born in London on 6 June 1896, is also the last surviving original member of the Royal Air Force - formed 90 years ago... Now partially deaf and almost blind, Mr Allingham, who was born in Clapham, London, now lives at St Dunstan's home for blind ex-servicemen, in Ovingdean. His life has spanned six monarchs and has taken in 21 prime ministers. Mr Allingham is the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, and also fought at the Somme and Ypres where he was bombed and shelled. He joined the Royal Air Force when...

Take a look at this web page. Find out when you should DIE: http://www.abc.net.au/science/planetslayer/greenhouse_calc.htm Propaganda to brain wash Australian children. A questionnaire to calculate your carbon footprint and predict how long you will/should live on the planet.

Edna Parker was alert and eager to party on Friday morning as family, friends, dignitaries and their representatives gathered at Heritage House Convalescent Center to honor Shelbyville's own certified oldest person in the world as she turns 115 years old on Sunday. Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson announced at the party that the city has ordered signs that will promote Shelbyville as the "Home of Edna Parker, the world's oldest person." "It is a great honor to have Edna and her great family in Shelbyville," Furgeson said. Dressed in a new blue and white polka dot dress with a crisp, white...

In the courtyard of a low-slung convalescent hospital west of USC, Gertrude Baines was inaugurated Sunday into one of the world's most exclusive sororities. She turned 114 years old. There was cake. Singing. Proclamations. Superlatives. Because only two other people in the world are 114. There is no one older. A former college maid with a fondness for hats, bacon and Scripture, Baines is the third-oldest person on Earth, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which validates claims of extreme old age. A year ago she was No. 9. It's not hard to figure out what happened in the interim.

Study of long-lived Ashkenazi Jews may yield longevity genes galore A type of gene mutation long known to extend the lives of worms, flies and mice also turns up in long-lived humans. Researchers found that among Ashkenazi Jews, those who survived past age 95 were much more likely than their peers to possess one of two similar mutations in the gene for insulinlike growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R). The mutations seem to make cells less responsive than normal to insulinlike growth factor 1 (IGF1), a key growth hormone secreted by the liver. In past studies, IGF1 disruption increased the life...

Shorter Women May Have Very Long Lives: Gene Mutation FoundA gene linked to living a very long life -- to 90 and beyond -- is also associated with short stature in women. Daughters of centenarians were 2.5 cm shorter than female controls. (Credit: iStockphoto/Alexander Raths) ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2008) — A gene linked to living a very long life -- to 90 and beyond -- is also associated with short stature in women, according to new research. Mutations in genes governing an important cell-signaling pathway influence human longevity, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have...