Health & Wellness
Aging & Longevity Science Quiz
Telomeres, Blue Zones, and the science of living longer — explore the biology of aging
Telomeres, Blue Zones, and the science of living longer — explore the biology of aging
Jeanne Calment of France holds the record as the oldest verified human ever, living 122 years and 164 days before her death in 1997. Global life expectancy has surged from roughly 30 years in prehistoric times to about 73 today, and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to scientists who discovered how telomeres and telomerase protect chromosomes.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll explore the five Blue Zones identified by Dan Buettner, the science behind caloric restriction and its lifespan-extending effects in animal studies, the frontier drugs being tested as geroprotectors including rapamycin and metformin, and Shinya Yamanaka's four reprogramming factors that turn adult cells back into pluripotent stem cells.
Blue Zones are five regions identified by Dan Buettner where people routinely live past 100: Okinawa, Sardinia, Nicoya (Costa Rica), Ikaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (California). Residents share habits like plant-forward diets, natural daily movement, strong social ties, and a clear sense of purpose.
Telomeres are protective DNA caps at the ends of chromosomes that shorten with each cell division. When they become critically short, cells stop dividing or die, contributing to tissue aging and age-related disease.
Leading candidates include rapamycin (an mTOR inhibitor that extends mouse lifespan), metformin (subject of the TAME trial), NAD+ precursors like NMN and NR, senolytics that clear zombie cells, and partial cellular reprogramming using Yamanaka factors.
Last updated: April 2026