Emerging evidence suggests that prolonged stress exposure can accelerate the ticking rate of an internal cellular clock. By doing so, stress can contribute to faster ageing and body deterioration.
A telomere age test kit from Telomere Diagnostics Inc. and saliva.
collection kit from 23andMe.
Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock.com
Genetic testing companies are offering tests that analyze the ends of your chromosomes – telomeres – to gauge your health and your real age. But is there scientific evidence to support such tests?
Are space twin Scott and Earth twin Mark no longer identical?
Robert Markowitz/NASA
Before sending humans to Mars or the moon, scientists need to understand what long-term space living does to the human body. Now results are coming in from the Kelly brothers in the TWINS Study,
Bright sun and fatty foods are a bad recipe for your DNA.
By Tish1/shutterstock.com
Scientists have long thought that regions of DNA called telomeres control how long you live. We are now learning that it is your diet and lifestyle that shape your telomeres, not the other way around.
Cells must repair the thousands of bits of DNA damage they incur every day. These cellular mechanisms fend off cancerous tumors, and cancer researchers are working to harness their power.
Use-by dates: human chromosomes with their telomeres highlighted.
NASA