Neurologica blog is a blog site maintained by the producer of my favorite podcast, "The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe." I read a lot of articles on their site, and one article last week just happened to relate to ageing.
Dr. Novella writes a brief introduction about what happens to the brain as we age, focusing on Alzheimer's Disease. This is essentially a degenerative disease in the brain that can happen in older people, and causes dementia. (Any disorder that impairs cognition and/or memory) Later on he talks about new, potential breakthroughs, in detecting Alzheimer's Disease without having to perform a biopsy.
This article reveals an interesting perspective on the prospect of extending the human lifespan. Even if we can develop techniques to slow the body's ageing, there are still numerous problems with the brain and ageing. Living to 200 years won't do us any good if we're only mentally cognizant for a little over half the time.
