Abstract
All major United States institutional advocates for research on the biology of aging and for the leading causes of death assert that aging is the greatest risk factor for these deaths. Nevertheless, all fail to support research on the etiology of aging despite having mechanisms to do so. Aging is a problem in physics and not biology. It is a multibillion dollar miss-understanding to believe that the resolution of any or all age associated diseases will reveal information on the underlying aging process. The goal in research on the etiology of aging is to use the new revolutionary methods to study single molecules and their constituent atoms to uncover the qualitative and quantitative status of molecules in old cells that differ from that in young cells. These differences are the conditions that can explain why a common cause may exist for the risk factor for all age-associated diseases. The tyranny of the phrase “research on aging” could apply to almost any human institution. In the absence of a strict definition when used it has become a costly error in gerontology communication. Research on the biology of aging has become its greatest victim. Because aging is a universal manifestation of the fate of all matter, it is the provenance of the National Science Foundation because its stated purpose excludes research in the medical sciences.
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This work was supported by “The Foundation for Mediocrity in Research on the Physics of Aging” to L. H.
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Hayflick, L. The greatest risk factor for the leading cause of death is ignored. Biogerontology 22, 133–141 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-020-09901-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-020-09901-y