Live Longer

Cancer: The Final Frontier

Landmark breakthroughs in cancer treatment and a policy structure where those advances can flourish have given fuel to the ambitious “Moonshot” to cure the disease. But is it really possible?

• Vann R. Newkirk II
• April 21, 2016

Running Into Old Age

A growing number of seniors are completing marathons and triathlons, shedding new light on how exercise affects the elderly body.

• Ian McMahan
• April 22, 2015

The Smartest Age

A new study looks at the peaks of different types of cognitive abilities over a lifespan.

• Olga Khazan
• March 17, 2015

Boomer Grannies: Soccer Moms 2.0

They were instrumental in determining elections during the 90s—and will play a key role in 2016.

• Tanya Basu
• February 19, 2015

Can Your Job Help Your Brain Age More Gracefully?

A new study looks at whether retired surgeons have better memory skills than retired painters.

• Bourree Lam
• November 24, 2014

Where Age Equals Happiness

In the U.S., well-being tends to be highest in a person's earliest and latest years. But elsewhere, new research shows, quality of life follows a very different pattern.

• Cari Romm
• November 6, 2014

How Retirement Was Invented

The earliest schemes for financial support in old age were pegged to life expectancy.

• Sarah Laskow
• October 24, 2014

Battling Ageism With Subliminal Messages

When seniors were led to subconsciously absorb positive stereotypes about old age, their physical health improved along with their self-esteem.

• Cari Romm
• October 22, 2014

Generations Are an Invention—Here's How They Came to Be

Europeans created the idea that individuals share something important with, as one lexicographer put it in 1863, "all men living more or less at the same time"

• Sarah Laskow
• September 11, 2014

Making Aging Positive

Many of my older-adult patients wanted to make a difference in the world but, finding no role for themselves, were treated as socially useless. Having created a new stage of life, the next step is to make it meaningful.

• Linda P. Fried
• June 1, 2014

America Is About to Get Really Old

The rest of the developed world is about to get even older.

• Derek Thompson
• May 6, 2014

The Rich Live Longer: So How Much Money 'Buys' 1 More Year of Life?

Climbing America's income ladder today is truly a game of life and delayed death—and thousands of dollars are separating the rungs.

• Derek Thompson
• April 23, 2014

Why Don't Older Americans Want Time Machines?

Aging changes our relationship with technology, both real and imagined.

• Adrienne LaFrance
• April 17, 2014

When Your Hearing Aid Is an iPhone

A company is trying to remove the social stigma associated with hearing loss.

• Megan Garber
• April 15, 2014