Does anyone my age have any chance of living for centuries?

Editor's note

Following on from our Curious Kids series, we found there were also many adults who had questions they’d long wondered about. So, we decided to launch a new product, I’ve Always Wondered, where experts answer questions from readers (of any age).

This week reader Adam Barclay wanted to know if any of his peers could live for centuries. Lindsay Wu, who researches the biology of ageing, says it theoretically could be possible – but we’re not quite there yet.

Got a question you want answered? Get in touch at alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.au.

And in case you missed it, our latest video explainer reveals how the different processes behind fusion and fission work in nuclear weapons.

Alexandra Hansen

Section Editor, Health and Medicine

Health + Medicine

How likely is it that someone alive today may live for centuries? Flickr/Santiago Sito

I've always wondered: does anyone my age have any chance of living for centuries?

Lindsay Wu, UNSW; Stefanie Mikolaizak, Robert Bosch Krankenhaus

Reader Adam Barclay, 44, wants to know if someone his age has any chance of living forever.

Frozen, dried and freeze-dried fruit are certainly convenient. But are they as good for you as fresh fruit? from www.shutterstock.com

Health Check: what's better for you, fresh, dried or frozen fruit?

Duane Mellor, Coventry University; Ekavi Georgousopoulou, University of Canberra; Nenad Naumovski, University of Canberra; Senaka Ranadheera, Victoria University

Dried and frozen fruit contain more sugar than their fresh equivalents. So, why do we think they're healthy?

Arts + Culture

Gil Birmingham (Cory) and Jeremy Renner (Martin) in Wind River: grieving fathers who come together in the realm of the dead. Production Co: Acacia Filmed Entertainment, Film 44, Ingenious Media

Friday essay: journeys to the underworld – Greek myth, film and American anxiety

Paul Salmond, La Trobe University

American cinema mines Greek myth most strongly at times of profound social anxiety. In the age of Trump, we are already seeing key political battlegrounds framed as underworld quests in film.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote Give Peace a Chance in a ‘bed-in’ in Montreal. Nationaal Archief/Wikimedia

Giving peace a chance? Music can drive us apart as much as it unites

Samantha Dieckmann, University of Melbourne; Jane Davidson, University of Melbourne

Ahead of International Peace Day celebrity musicians like Yoko Ono have released music for peace. But the same qualities that bring us together around music can also inflame conflict, from the Yugoslav civil wars to Northern Ireland.

Cities

A tiny house in the backyard appeals to some as a solution that offers both affordability and sustainability. Think Out Loud/flick

Interest in tiny houses is growing, so who wants them and why?

Heather Shearer, Griffith University

New research has found a marked increase in people, particularly among women over 50, who are building or want to build a tiny house. However, inflexible planning rules often stand in their way.

A drain carries water but does little else, but imagine how different the neighbourhood would be if the drain could be transformed into a living stream. Zoe Myers

More than just drains: recreating living streams through the suburbs

Zoe Myers, University of Western Australia

Drains take up precious but inaccessible open space in our cities. Converting these to living streams running through the suburbs could make for healthier places in multiple ways.

Politics + Society

Australia is way behind comparable countries on the marriage equality debate, thanks largely to a failure of leadership. AAP/Paul Miller

On marriage equality, Australia's progressive instincts have been crushed by political failure

Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University

Historically, Australians have been leaders rather than followers on progressing social issues. But more recently, our leaders have trailed behind public opinion.

Victorian MPs are about to debate an assisted dying bill. How can they sift through competing claims? Shutterstock

As Victorian MPs debate assisted dying, it is vital they examine the evidence, not just the rhetoric

Ben White, Queensland University of Technology; Andrew McGee, Queensland University of Technology; Lindy Willmott, Queensland University of Technology

There is now a reputable body of research evidence from places that have introduced assisted dying, and MPs must examine that evidence before deciding how they will vote.

Multimedia

Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Politics podcast: AGL chief economist Tim Nelson on what to do with Liddell

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

AGL chief economist Tim Nelson says preserving the Liddell power station may not be the best solution.

Education

The “feeling” of hitting a well-timed tennis shot is lost in exergames. Shutterstock

Exergames: good for play time, but should not replace physical education

Vaughan Cruickshank, University of Tasmania; Dean Cooley, Federation University Australia; Scott Pedersen, University of Tasmania

Exergames should be used to replace sedentary video games, not traditional physical education.

Early years settings, like preschools and kindergarten, are often the first place social difficulties are identified. Shutterstock

NDIS failing to catch children with late-onset difficulties

Alison M Marchbank, Charles Darwin University

Parents need support from early childhood educators to build capacity to claim for NDIS services.

Science + Technology

Australia worked closely with the UK, Europe and USA in developing space capability in the 1950s and 1960s. from www.shutterstock.com

Lost in space: Australia dwindled from space leader to also-ran in 50 years

Kerrie Dougherty, UNSW

Australia was a significant global space player during the 1950s and 1960s. Now we're one of only two OECD countries not to have a space agency. What happened?

The South American horned frog packs quite a bite. Shutterstock/Norjipin Saidi

Meet 'Jaws', the South American horned frog with a big bite

Marc Emyr Huw Jones, University of Adelaide; A Kristopher Lappin, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Sean Wilcox, University of California, Riverside

The South American horned frogs are ambush predators and use their powerful jaws to prey on large animals.

Business + Economy

Macquarie has created an open banking pilot program. AAP

What we can do once the banks give us back our data

Rob Nicholls, UNSW

Open banking will see customers use their data in a whole range of ways, including seeing how they are faring financially against people in similar situations.

Approximately 15% of employed people whose main job is in arts or recreation services industries have more than one job. www.shutterstock.com

Three charts on: who holds more than one job to make ends meet

Roger Wilkins, University of Melbourne

We can expect to see a rise in part-time employed people using second jobs as a solution to insufficient hours in their main job.

Environment + Energy

The window for staving off the worst of climate change is wider than we thought, but still pretty narrow. Tatiana Grozetskaya/Shutterstock.com

Keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees: really hard, but not impossible

Dave Frame, Victoria University of Wellington; H. Damon Matthews, Concordia University

It's still possible to hit the more ambitious of the two Paris global warming goals, according to a new estimate of the global carbon budget. But it sure won't be easy, and we need to start now.

A Vietnamese man attempts to shelter from Typhoon Doksuri’s rain. EPA/STRINGER

Vietnam's typhoon disaster highlights the plight of its poorest people

Chinh Luu, University of Newcastle; Jason von Meding, University of Newcastle

Vietnam has been hit by its fiercest storm in a decade, bringing home the reality of the risks faced by many poor and vulnerable people in flood-prone regions around the world.