Focus on Aging: Feature Index

The global population is aging. By the end of the 20th century, “many countries, especially in the more developed regions, had already achieved population structures older than any ever seen in human history,” says a report, World Population Ageing: 1950-2050, from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the United Nations. Worldwide, the number of older people has tripled over the past 50 years and will more than triple again over the next 50 years; 80 and older will be the most rapidly growing group, the report says.

This brings new challenges as our societies grapple with the issues of how to adequately provide and care for growing numbers of senior people. “Population aging will lead to profound changes in economic growth prospects for countries around the world, alongside heightened budgetary pressures from greater age-related spending needs” such as pensions and health care costs, says U.S.-based financial consulting firm Standard & Poor’s in its Global Aging 2010: An Irreversible Truth report.

In recent years, governments have begun to recognize the impact of an aging population -- and the benefits of keeping people healthy. In 2008, Research Councils UK, for example, funded the creation of three new research centers dedicated to healthy aging.

Helping aging populations stay healthy and independent for longer is a challenge that researchers in many different disciplines are now taking on. Science Careers got a peek into the professional lives of scientists studying healthy aging from the perspectives of genetics, sociology and psychology, engineering, and neurology.

Science writer Mitch Leslie talks to postdoc Liz Cirulli about her work on a study that takes a whole-genome approach to finding clues to longevity among centenarians.

Science Careers Contributing Editor Elisabeth Pain finds out how social and behavioral scientist Nardi Steverink helps older people stay well and happy longer through her studies of psychological well-being.

Freelance science writer Lisa Seachrist Chiu talks to engineer Bryan Reimer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AgeLab about his work designing innovative systems to monitor and improve drivers' performance behind the wheel.

Science Careers Contributing Editor Elisabeth Pain profiles neuroscientist Sara Burke and her research in how aging affects the plasticity of neuronal networks and, ultimately, behavior.