THERE is a (in all probability apocryphal) story about Henry Ford sending brokers out to junkyards throughout the US seeking scrapped Mannequin Ts. The well-known industrialist wished to know which of the automotive’s important parts failed first, so he may do one thing about it. The brokers reported again that each little bit of the automotive was inclined to failure, however some have been extra inclined than others, apart from one – a part of the steering system known as the kingpin, which nearly by no means failed. They anticipated Ford to announce plans to increase the working lives of the weaker parts. As an alternative, he ordered his engineers to make much less resilient kingpins. No level losing good cash on a part that all the time outlived the others.
As in Mannequin T Fords, so, too, the human physique. All of our components are inclined to the ravages of time, nevertheless it seems that some age extra shortly than others. Precisely which components fail first is a little bit of a lottery. “Everyone’s ageing in another way,” says Michael Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford College in California. You may need a younger immune system however aged kidneys, for instance, or a decrepit metabolism however youthful liver.
Now, research have revealed that we are likely to age down certainly one of 4 totally different pathways. That is your “ageotype” – the precept manner wherein you, personally, are ageing. The unhealthy information is that the oldest a part of your physique could also be dragging the remainder of it down. The excellent news is that by understanding your ageotype, you would possibly be capable of goal it to stay more healthy for longer.
The invention of ageotypes has …