BREAKING THE GRIP OF TIME The Cutting-Edge Science of Slowing Aging
Over the last century, vast improvements in public health have led to nearly doubling the average human lifespan. Now, researchers are targeting even greater gains to slow the aging process and prevent dementia. At Columbia University, one research team is using animal models to explore techniques to change brain activity in areas that coordinate circadian rhythms. By improving sleep, scientists believe they may be able to reduce the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Other researchers are analyzing lab data from patients’ medical records to calculate biological age and assess its value in predicting health risks and improving care planning. At Yale University, scientists are studying rodents that live long lives to determine the metabolites that may slow the aging process. Researchers are also looking at how to slow the organ damage caused by inflammation or changes in blood supply, which are common problems in old age. New technologies such as genome sequencing and machine learning have helped spur advances in aging research. At the Buck Institute
for Research on Aging near Novato, California, scientists are analyzing large data sets from fruit flies and humans to identify the central metabolites that shape the lifespan in both species. They have identified one metabolite, threonine, as a potential therapeutic for interventions in aging. Artificial intelligence and systems biology enabled these researchers to skip testing mice, which is usually essential in determining whether discoveries apply to humans. Aging research has evolved in both scope and purpose. The latest efforts bring together scientists from many fields who have seldom collaborated. The initiatives reflect a growing awareness that disease is not necessarily part of the aging process. Rather than simply increasing people’s lifespan, scientists focus on improving the “health span,” or years lived free of disability and disease. The goal is to keep older people around longer and maximize seniors’ natural generativity — the natural human desire at later stages of life to improve the world and support younger generations. Researchers also hope to reduce the burden of disease, as people over 65 are on track to outnumber those 18 and younger within the next decade.
Trailblazers in Law
WOMEN WHO REFINED THE BENCH
With March being Women’s History Month, I’d like to honor and spotlight the first two women to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Their stories of persistence and the pursuit of justice will continue to serve as examples for future generations. Justice O’Connor’s Landmark Legacy In September 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor made history as the first woman nominated to serve on the Supreme Court. This honor, bestowed upon her by President Ronald Reagan, followed her groundbreaking stints as the Assistant Attorney General of Arizona and the majority leader of the Arizona State Senate. She served on the Supreme Court from the fall of 1981 until her retirement in 2006. During her tenure on the bench, her influence was felt in some of the most controversial cases in U.S. history. She co- wrote the joint opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), reaffirming Roe v. Wade.
Additionally, she was 1 of 5 judges who denied a recount in the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Justice O’Connor passed in 2023 at 93. Justice Ginsburg’s Groundbreaking Glory Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, followed Justice O’Connor’s extraordinary trail. Born in 1933, she had a history of paving the way for women in the legal profession long before she became the second woman on the bench of our nation’s highest court. While a student at Harvard Law School, she was 1 of only 9 female students in a class of 500. Despite facing gender discrimination at various points in her career, her tenacity paid off when President Jimmy Carter nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980.
Ginsburg’s time on the Supreme Court, which lasted well into her 80s, was marked by her fierce defense of women’s rights. In addition to writing the court’s opinion in United States v. Virginia (1996) — which protected the admission rights of qualified women at the Virginia Military Institute — she worked with President Barack Obama on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 to address gender-based pay disparities in the workplace. Justice Ginsburg passed away in 2020 at 87.
–Kevin Mottley
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