This was a reversal of a previous study that demonstrated decline in younger mice injected with blood from elderly mice. What's fascinating is that scientists don't know why this happens but the possibilities for future memory and learning therapies once they find out are vast. Given the impending epidemic in dementia, these developments could provide profound insights.
The research also provides nice ideas for a some rather nasty child-harvesting science fiction scenarios!
Very interesting post and references. Retaining brain function and memory, and medications and therapies to address this, will indeed become increasing important as we see an increase in the older population. It'll be interesting to discover what's generating the improvements. The research has applications for life-extension in general.
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