1. Lacking Telomeres May Make
You Age Faster
By Dana Berger and Clay Walsh

2. Researching Telomeres
-Scientists at the University of Leicester might have discovered
why some people look older than they actually are by
researching Telomeres
Telomeres= are pieces of DNA at the ends of chromosomes
that protect the chromosome from damage.
- As cells divide telomeres shrink, and scientists think that is the
cause of biological aging.

3. Whats the difference between
biological and chronological aging?
-Biological aging is the physical state of your cells
after they split
-Chronological aging is how long you have actually
lived
-scientists say that someone who is 40 years old
who has small telomeres may have a biological age
of a 50 year old

4. Variations in Telomeres Length
- Scientist Nilesh Samani studied 500,000 genetic variations to
find telomere length difference in the variations
- Scientists did in fact find a variant that causes some people to
have shorter telomeres
- The variant is genetic

5. Tests on animals
-Scientists examined animals with shorter telomeres and these
animals showed faster biological aging
-Scientists say that on average people with one copy of the
variant are 4-5 biological years older then the same
chronological age without the variant
-They also say that on average people with 2 copies of the
variant are 6-8 biological years older then the same
chronological age without the variant

6. Concerns with shorter telomeres
- Samani is also a cardiologist and brought up concerns about
how shorter telomeres can bring up early heart disease
-He says people who are chronologicaly older may have better
health then someone chronologicaly younger
-This is dangerous because someone can think they are
healthy but can actually be at risk

7. Can you tell from looks who is
bilogically older?
-Scientists are interested in seeing if you can identify people
who are biologically older by appearance
-At this point in time, the scientists are unsure if you can, and
are trying to develop a way to test that

8. Acknowledgments
1. Scientific American for posting the original article
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=aging-telomere