Our commitment to 2030 is not arbitrary. It marks a demographic turning point for the United States because it’s the year when all baby boomers will be over 65. That means one out of five Americans will be retirement age. And, because of that aging population, it is the year that immigration will overtake new births as the leading driver of U.S. population growth. The U.S. Census estimates the nation’s population will exceed 355 million by 2030. About 77.1 million will be 65 and over; 75.7 million will be under 18.

LyGenesis, a Pittsburgh-based biotechnology company working to use a patient’s lymph nodes to grow functioning organs, will inject liver cells from a donor into the lymph nodes of sick recipients. The goal is to grow new miniature organs that will help compensate for an existing diseased one. The company has tested this approach in mice, pigs and dogs. Soon, we’ll find out if it works in people. LyGenesis hopes to save people who have serious liver diseases but are not eligible for transplants. If the science works, the treatment could be revolutionary. Donor organs are in short supply, and many cannot be used because they are too damaged. Similarly, some people in need of transplants often cannot get them because they simply may not healthy enough to benefit from them.

A new study in mice finds that adding grapes to the diet improves gene expression patterns, reduces fatty liver and extends the lifespan of animals that eat a high-fat western diet.The study, published in the journal “Foods,” found that the long-term addition of grapes to the diet of mice leads to unique gene expression patterns that turbocharge antioxidant gene expression. "Many people think about taking dietary supplements that boast high antioxidant activity,” said Dr. John Pezzuto of Western New England University, who led the research. “In actual fact, though, you cannot consume enough of an antioxidant to make a big difference. But if you change the level of antioxidant gene expression, as we observed with grapes added to the diet, the result is a catalytic response that can make a real difference.

“I look upon retirement as the enemy of longevity,” Tucker told the TODAY Show after his July 10th birthday. “I think that to retire, one can face potential shriveling up and ending in a nursing home. It’s fun staying alive and working … It’s delightful work. Every day I learn something new.” In 2021, the Guinness Book of World Records named him the world’s oldest practicing doctor. He has recently decided to slow down, cutting back to two days a week of working with residents. “I’m going to caution (people): If they retire from their work, they should at least do something as a hobby, whether it be communal work or self-hobbies,” he told the TODAY Show. “You need a stimulus for the brain daily.”

Since the 1990s, science has recognized the link between table tennis and mental ability. A 2014 study of women compared table tennis to other exercise, including dancing, walking and resistance training. It found that table tennis had a stronger effect on cognitive function. Fruge believes the benefits result from the fact that table tennis requires players to use several regions of their brains at the same time. During a game, you use the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in memory retention and recall, to plan your next serve or anticipate an opponent’s move. Using the brain this way can strengthen it, much as exercise strengthens a muscle. “There is evidence of something called neuroplasticity, where the brain actually gets used to and gets good at whatever you repeatedly do,” said Fruge. “By activating the prefrontal cortex with table tennis, you may actually boost memory retention and cognition.”

In their experiment, researchers stopped the heart in several pigs that had been anesthetized. An hour later, the researchers were able to restart the circulation using a Yale-developed system called OrganEx, which involves a special machine and a solution that carries oxygen and other components to promote cellular health and suppress inflammation. The solution slowed decomposition of the bodies and quickly restored some organ function, such as heart contraction and activity in the liver and kidney. “We made cells do something they weren’t able to do” when the animals were dead, said team member Zvonimir Vrselja, a neuroscientist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. "We were able to show that we can persuade cells not to die."

About 90,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant in this country. Nearly 5,000 die each year, waiting for that kidney. And yet, in 2020 more than 5,000 kidneys were discarded. That’s why Methuselah Foundation supports X-Therma’s work to extend the useful life of donor organs by developing new ways to preserve them.

Methuselah Foundation was a pioneer in the arena when we began to support longevity research in the year 2000. Since then, Google founder Larry Page has gotten involved. Jeff Bezos is doing it. Tech billionaires Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel have joined the effort.Saudi Arabia’s commitment ups the stakes. But, most important, it confirms the fact that aging is the most pressing medical issue confronting humanity today.

Though women tend to live longer than men, they are more likely to develop autoimmune conditions, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and age-related macular degeneration. For years, science has known that carotenoids, which are anti-oxidants, are good for people. But new research reviewed studies of carotenoids’ impact on women’s health and found strong correlation between their consumption and the prevention of conditions that tend to affect older women more than men: vision and cognitive loss.

The authors -- motivational speaker Tony Robbins; serial entrepreneur and XPRIZE founder Peter Diamandis, and neurosurgeon and serial entrepreneur Robert Hariri – produced a book that both educates and serves as a handy do-it-yourself guide to long health.

Studies suggest there are annually more than 2 million fragility fractures – those tied to age-related bone loss – that account for nearly $20 billion in health care costs. But new research suggests that use of senolytic drugs like desatinib and quercetin can enhance fracture healing, speeding recovery. Senolytic drugs effectively remove senescent cells that – for a variety of environmental, genetic, and epigenetic reasons – can no longer repair or replace damaged tissue. The most common bone senescent condition is osteoporosis, which weakens bones, leaving them more susceptible to breaks. When age-related senescence attacks the bone callus, it compromises the inhibits fractured bones from healing because the callus is what forms the bridge between broken segments, providing the framework for bone restoration.

Now we can see with much more clarity the far reaches of deep space we have yet to explore. And we are left more inspired than ever to accelerate food innovation for deep space travel and to help extend healthy life here on Earth through the Deep Space Food Challenge.

A new study expands on earlier research conducted by UTHealth Houston that suggested a link between the flu vaccine and a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The latest research analyzed a large sample: 935,887 flu-vaccinated patients and 935,887 non-vaccinated patients. Participants were assessed for four years. About 5.1% of flu-vaccinated patients developed Alzheimer’s disease while 8.5% of non-vaccinated patients did. “Flu vaccination in older adults reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease for several years,” the study’s first author Dr. Avram S. Bukhbinder, told the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. “The strength of this protective effect increased with the number of years that a person received an annual flu vaccine – in other words, the rate of developing Alzheimer’s was lowest among those who consistently received the flu vaccine every year.”