07 / RESEARCH AREAS
Methods & evidence
The tools of careful inquiry. Study design, causal reasoning and uncertainty.
Research in this area
Newest published first
13–22 of 22 articles
Can a Softer Environment Restore Regeneration in Aged Cells?
Whether aged cells become active again can depend on their surroundings. For oligodendrocyte progenitor cells involved in myelin repair, the stiffness of a culture material, the matrix they contact…
- Rodent cells and lesion modelsModerate
- Lasting regeneration and human functionNot yet determinable
Mitochondrial Damage: What Tissue Averages Can Hide
If only a small fraction of mitochondrial DNA in a muscle sample carries a large deletion, does that mean every part of the muscle is functioning normally? The answer depends on where those deletions…
- Human local distributionModerate
- Human age associationLimited
- Function and overall consequencesNot yet determinable
More Autophagy: Faster Clearance or Blocked Processing?
More cellular “cleanup vesicles” can mean two very different things: a cell may be moving more material, or processing further along the pathway may have slowed and vesicles are accumulating. A…
- Measurement and mechanismStrong
- Animal lifespanModerate
- Human carrier readoutsLimited
- Human health and longevityNot yet determinable
Can a blood test measure the age of individual organs?
A blood sample can provide information about organ state and future disease risk. Today's “organ ages,” however, are statistical readouts produced jointly by selected proteins, a model and a…
- Disease-risk associationsModerate
- Organ origin and functionLimited
- Comparability of individual readoutsLimited
- Intervention and life extensionNot yet determinable
When T-cell numbers persist, can immune recognition still narrow?
T-cell numbers, receptor sequence diversity and actual antigen responses are related but different quantities. Existing cells can expand to maintain a population while a few clones occupy more of it…
- Human molecular diversityModerate
- Composition and samplingModerate
- Mechanistic attributionLimited
- Function and lifespanLimited
Can lowering blood pressure protect cognition?
Randomized trials support benefits for some cognitive outcomes, but fewer cognitive diagnoses, better test performance and prevention of dementia are different findings. Certain blood pressure…
- Clinical cognitive outcomesModerate
- Mean cognitive scoresLimited
- Vascular mechanismsLimited
- Specific safety outcomesModerate
Do species that accumulate mutations more slowly live longer?
In a 2022 comparison of mammalian intestinal crypts, the reported annual somatic substitution rate in mice was about 17 times the human rate. Longer-lived species had lower annual rates. That…
- Cross-species associationModerate
- Lifetime burden and mechanismLimited
- Perturbation and health outcomesLimited
Does blocking IL-11 extend life? Mouse survival, function and human evidence
Blocking IL-11 extended survival in one study of naturally ageing mice and improved frailty and body-mass-normalized grip in a separate cohort. Reanalysis of the individual mouse records supports the…
- Mouse survivalModerate
- Autopsy and mediationLimited
- Mouse functionModerate
- Mechanism attributionLimited
- Human translationNot yet determinable
Can treating hearing loss slow cognitive decline?
ACHIEVE did not detect an overall cognitive benefit across its 977 participants over three years, but it found a signal in the prespecified ARIC recruitment subgroup. Three questions need separate…
- Overall RCT cognitionModerate
- Recruitment subgroup and risk enrichmentLimited
- Measurement and retestingLimited
- Disease and pathologyLimited
When an Aging Clock Turns Back, What Has Actually Changed?
A lower clock reading can be a biological signal worth investigating. Interpreting it as a younger body, less disease or a longer life requires further evidence. We reanalyzed published CALERIE blood…
- Clock readings can moveModerate
- What a reversal meansNot yet determinable