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The Telomerase Revolution: What the Latest Science Reveals About the Nature of Aging and the Potential for Dramatic Life Extension

Science is on the cusp of a revolutionary breakthrough. We now understand more about aging — and how to prevent and reverse it — than ever before.

In recent years, our understanding of the nature of aging has grown exponentially, and dramatic life extension — even age reversal — has moved from science fiction to real possibility.

Dr. Michael Fossel has been in the forefront of aging research for decades and is the author of the definitive textbook on human aging. In The Telomerase Revolution, he takes us on a detailed but highly accessible scientific journey, providing startling insights into the nature of human aging.

On first examination, aging appears inevitable and straight-forward. Everything, after all, from mountains and galaxies, to plants and animals, ages, doesn’t it? Not exactly. With deeper consideration, aging turns out to be complex, and surprising questions emerge:

Is aging something that happens within our cells or in the organism as a whole?

Why do some cells age every time they reproduce, while others can reproduce indefinitely, without signs of aging?

How close are we to being able to dramatically extend life-spans and cure age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, and strokes?

Instead of the common idea that “we accumulate damage, therefore we age,” the reality is the opposite: our cells age and so we begin to accumulate damage. The latest research shows so-called “ageless” cells contain “telomerase” — an enzyme that maintains telomeres and adds back segments lost during replication. Essentially, it is the telomere that controls how well our cells repair themselves over time.

The Telomerase Revolution explains simply how we came to understand the ways aging and age-related diseases work, what we can do about them now, what we will be able to do to cure and prevent these diseases — and why we are now on the brink of a revolution in human medicine.

  • Format
  • hardcover
  • Pages
  • 312
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781941631690
  • Genres
  • science, biology, health
  • Release date
  • 2015