Category: Senescence

Tithonus the Cicada

October 5, 2025 By arne hendriks Off

Tithonus was a hero of the Trojan war and boyfriend of Eos, goddess of the dawn. Since Tithonus is mortal and she’s not, Eos convinces Zeus to grant Tithonus eternal life. Unfortunately, in the spur of the moment, she forgets to also ask for eternal…

The Hayflick Limit

January 20, 2014 By arne hendriks 0

In 1961 microbiologist Leonard Hayflick demonstrated that a population of human fetal cells in a cell culture will divide approximately 50 times before they stop. With each cell division in our body the ends of our chromosomes, the telomeres, get slightly shorter. This process continues until they shorten to a critical…