Machine Learning Clock Predicts Lifespan
Two new machine learning clocks can accurately predict age, lifespan, and the effect of lifespan-extending interventions in mice
Let’s talk about age
Aging, or as we’ll consider it here, the period after reaching sexual maturity, is marked by the ‘gradual deterioration of functional characteristics’.
(Growth is, of course, also a process related to the passing of time and age, but that process is not what we are interested in here.)
The key word above is deterioration. While functional characteristics can change according to different life stages, what sets aging apart is the decline of function — even for functions suited to the stage of life.
For most people, it stills feels unconventional to call aging a disease. The case, however, has been made a few times by now. Whether you agree or not, it suffices that we recognize that, in the vast majority of people, advanced age is a period marked by various health problems.
(If you follow me in calling age a disease, these various problems can actually be thought of as ‘symptoms’ of an underlying problem, i.e. age.)
