Most of us assume that aging equals illness. To be honest about it, we don’t usually put it that bluntly and we often deny it, even to ourselves, and yet we tend to assume that unless we are struck down suddenly – an unexpected automobile accident, a sudden pneumonia, a fatal heart attack – we […]

Telomerase does not cause cancer. The statement is accurate, but it’s not that simple nor is it a naïve concern. Telomerase and cancer are clearly linked – telomerase has been called “the two-edged sword” with aging being one edge and cancer the other – and the question thus deserves a more complete and more sophisticated […]

As of 2013, we can neither cure nor prevent a single age-related disease. Even at our absolute best – and then only questionably and in one or two cases – can we even slow the unrelenting progress of any of our myriad age-related diseases. Trying for an optimistic view of current medical interventions, and even […]

The notion that telomeres play a central role in both age-related disease and aging itself is generally misunderstood and is often criticized without an actual understanding of either disease or telomeres, yet there is a growing sense of the obvious about the role of telomeres in human aging and disease. More and more people – […]

Reversing Human Aging was the first book in history to describe how aging works, how to reverse it, and the consequences of doing so. Originally published in 1996, it has largely passed the test of time. On October 1st, I published an electronic edition of this book on Amazon.com and made it available for those […]

What is aging? The question has always been hard to answer, making it difficult to change the process, let alone to reverse its clinical progress. Unfortunately, much of the problem derives from the way we look at aging in the first place. Making the wrong assumptions, we arrive at the wrong conclusions. While human beings […]

Almost twenty years ago, I gave a talk at the National Institutes of Health and had the audacity to title it “Reversing Human Aging”. Looking up at a packed audience, I said the following: When I’m done, anyone who leaves this room thinking we can reverse human aging is a fool. Likewise, anyone who leaves […]

Looking back on aging Until quite recently, the notion of reversing human aging was mere fantasy, absent any scientific support. Throughout history, going as far back as the Epic of Gilgamesh 4,700 years ago, we have dreamed of being able to cure aging and the diseases that accompany it, but every claim of a “fountain […]

Telomere lengths can serve as useful clinical biomarkers. Several of us have suggested this point since the mid 1990’s and my 2012 article on this potential (Use of telomere length as a biomarker for aging and age-related disease) clarified the pro’s and con’s of this area. More recently (February 2013), an article in JAMA showed […]

Current Translational Geriatrics and Experimental Gerontology Reports. 1: 121-127, 2012.

My newest book, “Immortality Edge”, coauthored by Greta Blackburn and David Woynarowski is a combined look at diet, exercise, lifestyle, meditation, and other approaches. It is not intended to give advice on how to lengthen telomeres, so much as to slow down their loss; not so much aimed at reversing aging, as slowing the process […]

Dr. Michael Fossel, M.D., Ph.D., gave a presentation on “Reversing Human Aging” at the National Institutes of Health’s Natcher Center on April 16, 1996. The presentation was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution’s Smithsonian Associates. LES members and subscribers were notified of the talk, and a number of LES members attended. For years, Dr. Fossel has […]

Science may soon be able to slow, stop, or even reverse the aging process in humans. What will happen when people can live on and on for centuries? Within the next two decades we will extend the healthy human life-span indefinitely and, in doing so, alter human culture forever. Our maximum life-spans will not have […]

Rejuvenation Research 12:333-340, 2009.

The most common causes of death and suffering, even in most underdeveloped nations, are age-related diseases. These diseases share fundamental and often unappreciated pathology at the cellular and genetic levels, through cell senescence. In cancer, enforcing cell senescence permits us to kill cancer cells without significantly harming normal cells. In other age-related diseases, cell senescence […]