Elizabeth Blackburn, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for Physiology or Medicine, for her team's discovery of "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase" (Nobelprize.org) partnered up with a health psychologist, Elissa Epel, to understand the effect of lifestyle choices on aging at the genetic level. What they discovered was an epic intersection of various lifestyle choices, from everything from avoiding processed meat and soda to not living in dangerous neighborhoods, where the shape and size of telomeres were affected positively (or negatively) depending on the behavior chosen. But what exactly are telomeres and telomerase?
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AuthorBetty Lynn is an writer, educator, artist, illustrator and yoga teacher living in the suburbs of New York City. Archives
October 2019
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