Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/12/the-stated-goal-of-extending-healthspan-but-not-lifespan-was-always-a-little-strange/
Since around the time at which the goal of extending life through improvements in medical technology became a respectable goal, let us say somewhere a little after 2010, perhaps around the time that the first demonstration of clearing senescent cells in mice was conducted, the official message from the academic research community to the public and politicians has been that the goal of the field is to extend healthspan, but not lifespan. Extending the healthy period of life is great, but extending overall lifespan is shady and disavowed. Why did the prominent figures of aging research so enthusiastically embrace this public messaging?
Today’s open access paper provides one view on that question, but I don’t think that it touches closely enough on what seems the actual answer. It seems quite clear to those of us …
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/12/the-stated-goal-of-extending-healthspan-but-not-lifespan-was-always-a-little-strange/
Since around the time at which the goal of extending life through improvements in medical technology became a respectable goal, let us say somewhere a little after 2010, perhaps around the time that the first demonstration of clearing senescent cells in mice was conducted, the official message from the academic research community to the public and politicians has been that the goal of the field is to extend healthspan, but not lifespan. Extending the healthy period of life is great, but extending overall lifespan is shady and disavowed. Why did the prominent figures of aging research so enthusiastically embrace this public messaging?
Today’s open access paper provides one view on that question, but I don’t think that it touches closely enough on what seems the actual answer. It seems quite clear to those of us …
What Do You Think?
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