March 11, 2013 | News | In the Press

The number of 110-year-olds continues to grow

An article in the newspaper “Tagesspiegel” looks at longevity research at the MPIDR. It poses an important question that we have yet to fully answer: Why do we keep getting older?

Are humans reaching very high ages because of their genes? Or are environmental factors, such as better medical care and improvements in living standards, responsible for the ongoing rise in the number of 100-year-olds? Perhaps a bit of both.

To gain a better understanding of why we are getting so old, and where the natural limit to aging might lie, MPIDR researcher Heiner Maier focuses in his work on people ages 105 and above. An article that appeared in the newspaper “Tagesspiegel” explains why.

More Information

Höchstens elf Jahrzehnte - Original Article published by Adelheid Müller-Lissner in the "Tagesspiegel" (in German)

The Book "Supercentenarians", Springer, May 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-11519-6 (Print) 978-3-642-11520-2 (Online)), is available for free download.

Auf der Suche nach dem modernen Methusalem (PDF File, 743 kB) Popular science article about the launch of the International Database of Longevity from the quarterly "Demografische Forschung Aus Erster Hand" (in German)

www.supercentenarians.org – website of the International Database of Longevity (IDL)

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