NY Times Series on Aging in the 21st Century

On January 3, 2007, the New York Times concluded its four-part "Science Times" series entitled, "The New Age: 21st Century Aging". The Times describes the Series: "Articles in this series look at the science of aging, and how humans are growing old in ways they never have before."

The Times indicates that all articles, along with their related video presentations, will remain available online at the Times' website, here. The videos can be viewed without subscription; but the archived articles require a subscription (obtainable free with one-time signup).

Following is an outline of the series videos, with their related articles as published in the Times on July 30th, August 31st, & October 5th in 2006, and finally on January 3rd in 2007:

• New York Times Series "The New Age: 21st Century Aging":

• Video: 21st Century Aging (July 30, 2006)
• Synopsis: The past 100 years has seen a change from small, sickly people to humans who are so robust their ancestors are almost unrecognizable.
  
• Core Story: Living Large and Healthy, but How Long Can It Go On?

• Video: The Genetics of Aging (Aug 31, 2006)
• Synopsis: Recent studies find that genes may not be so important in determining how long someone will live.
• Core Story: Live Long? Die Young? Answer Isn’t Just in Genes

• Video: Why Do Some Age Better? (Oct 5, 2006)
• Synopsis: A central issue only now being systematically addressed is why some people age well and others do not.
  
• Core Story: Data on Hispanic Immigrants Presents Puzzle on Aging

• Video: Old but Not Frail: A Matter of Heart and Head (Jan 3, 2007)
• Synopsis: The one factor that researchers agree is consistently linked to longer lives in every country is education.
• Core Story: A Surprising Secret to a Long Life: Stay in School

I compliment the New York Times for producing these videos and then making them available in an archive for future public reference without a subscription cost. At least for this important series, I wish that the Times had allowed direct access to the articles without requirement of a subscription process, which might be just too complicated for some readers who treasure their privacy or who fear transmitting data online.

The most recent article -- which correlates longer life most directly to education -- appears to confirm statistically & scientifically something I heard on television from Mr. T many years ago:

"Stay in School, Fool!"

In that 31-second public service announcement (available either at YouTube or Netscape Videos), Mr. T -- complete with a bowtie and horn-rimmed glasses -- told us why it's cool to stay in school. It really should be updated with this new finding.

"When I was growing up, my family was so poor we couldn't afford to pay attention."

- Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud, better known as Mr. T, was an actor mostly known for his roles in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer Clubber Lang in the movie, Rocky III. )

Update: 01/03/07:

I posted this article on the afternoon of Wednesday, January 3rd; and then sent an email message about it to Professor Gerry W. Beyer, who authors the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog.

He followed up with his own posting, entitled Mr. T Had the Secret to Long Life -- "Don't Be a Fool, Stay in School":

Decades ago, Mr. T made a public service announcement in which he extolled the virtues of staying in school. He did not, however, realize that his advice was the closest thing to the fountain of youth for which Juan Ponce de León searched. * * *

(I love the photo.)