This seems like it’s only the start of a story, but it’s intriguing. Evidently researchers have found that there’s a falling-off in the aging process after a certain point in humans, and those of us who make it that far reach a stage they call late life, where the wear and tear of aging no longer occur. This has been observed in other species, but although the data have been there for humans, it sounds like this is the first time anyone has taken them seriously. The headline says something about evolutionary explanations, about which I’m very curious, but there’s not much detail, just the statement “The authors posit that late life arises after the forces of natural selection affecting both fertility and mortality cease to have an impact.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051205163133.htm
