Sue Armstrong is a science writer and broadcaster based in Edinburgh. She has worked for a variety of media organisations, including New Scientist, and since the 1980s has undertaken regular assignments for the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, writing about women's health issues and the AIDS pandemic, among many other topics, and reporting from the frontline in countries as diverse as Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Thailand, Namibia and Serbia. Sue has been involved, as presenter, writer and researcher, in several major documentaries for BBC Radio 4; programmes have focused on the biology of ageing, and of drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, AIDS, CJD, cancer and stress. Her book p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, also published with Bloomsbury Sigma, was highly commended by the BMA Book Award.

• PrologueChapter 1: A question of definitionChapter 2: Wear and tear?Chapter 3: Telomeres: the ticking clock in our cellsChapter 4: Down but not out: senescent cellsChapter 5: Old before their timeChapter 6: Ming the mollusc and other modelsChapter 7: It’s in the genesChapter 8: Eat less; live longer Chapter 9: Epigenetics and stem cellsChapter 10: The ageing immune systemChapter 11: The sting in the tail of HIV/AIDSChapter 12: The Big D – familial Alzheimer’s diseaseChapter 13: Broken brains Chapter 14: Turning back the clock

Engrossing questions throng science writer Sue Armstrong's round-up of research on the biology of ageing. A rich, timely study for the era of 'global ageing'.

Sue Armstrong is a science writer and broadcaster based in Edinburgh. She has worked for a variety of media organisations, including New Scientist, and since the 1980s has undertaken regular assignments for the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, writing about women's health issues and the AIDS pandemic, among many other topics, and reporting from the frontline in countries as diverse as Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Thailand, Namibia and Serbia. Sue has been involved, as presenter, writer and researcher, in several major documentaries for BBC Radio 4; programmes have focused on the biology of ageing, and of drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, AIDS, CJD, cancer and stress. Her book p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, also published with Bloomsbury Sigma, was highly commended by the BMA Book Award.

• PrologueChapter 1: A question of definitionChapter 2: Wear and tear?Chapter 3: Telomeres: the ticking clock in our cellsChapter 4: Down but not out: senescent cellsChapter 5: Old before their timeChapter 6: Ming the mollusc and other modelsChapter 7: It’s in the genesChapter 8: Eat less; live longer Chapter 9: Epigenetics and stem cellsChapter 10: The ageing immune systemChapter 11: The sting in the tail of HIV/AIDSChapter 12: The Big D – familial Alzheimer’s diseaseChapter 13: Broken brains Chapter 14: Turning back the clock

Engrossing questions throng science writer Sue Armstrong's round-up of research on the biology of ageing. A rich, timely study for the era of 'global ageing'.

Sue Armstrong is a science writer and broadcaster based in Edinburgh. She has worked for a variety of media organisations, including New Scientist, and since the 1980s has undertaken regular assignments for the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, writing about women's health issues and the AIDS pandemic, among many other topics, and reporting from the frontline in countries as diverse as Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Thailand, Namibia and Serbia. Sue has been involved, as presenter, writer and researcher, in several major documentaries for BBC Radio 4; programmes have focused on the biology of ageing, and of drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, AIDS, CJD, cancer and stress. Her book p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, also published with Bloomsbury Sigma, was highly commended by the BMA Book Award.

• PrologueChapter 1: A question of definitionChapter 2: Wear and tear?Chapter 3: Telomeres: the ticking clock in our cellsChapter 4: Down but not out: senescent cellsChapter 5: Old before their timeChapter 6: Ming the mollusc and other modelsChapter 7: It’s in the genesChapter 8: Eat less; live longer Chapter 9: Epigenetics and stem cellsChapter 10: The ageing immune systemChapter 11: The sting in the tail of HIV/AIDSChapter 12: The Big D – familial Alzheimer’s diseaseChapter 13: Broken brains Chapter 14: Turning back the clock

Engrossing questions throng science writer Sue Armstrong's round-up of research on the biology of ageing. A rich, timely study for the era of 'global ageing'.