Making sense of senescent

Take a good luck at this image. Which one is the healthy one?

Finished?

It's the little guy on the right. Would you have picked him?  

That's why I'm not a scientist, but a slave to the fashion magazines. I was certain that the sleek, okay gaunt one, was the epitome of healthy. Slightly hunch back, maybe because he's never gotten used to being tall.

Anyhow, want to know why the clearly chubbier one is the healthy one?

He's had his senescent cells zapped. Gone, out, finished, kaput. And what do these senescent cells do? They age us.

Three words that should never be in a sentence together.

Remove these cells and viola, age related diseases are eradicated.

In mice.

But scientists are working on this for us humans. If they can, during our middle years,  make these nasty cells go away, our knees might not creak, our eyes may remain clear, and our skin may remain supple.

Don't get too excited. It isn't happening in your lifetime. Or mine.

But if you know any aging mice, let them know there's hope.