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A look at aging and longevity in this “unprecedented” time in history

Keynote talks and presentations from the 2015 Big Data in Biomedicine conference at Stanford are now available on the Stanford YouTube channel. To continue the discussion of how big data can be harnessed to improve the practice of medicine and enhance human health, we're featuring a selection of the videos on Scope.

Life expectancy dramatically increased in the 20th century and has reached an all-time high in the United States. At this year's Big Data in Biomedicine conference, Laura Carstensen, PhD, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, called this point in history "unprecedented" in terms of longevity. She told attendees, "Our ancestors in the 20th century added more years to life expectancy than all years added across all prior millennia of human evolution combined." She also noted that for the first time in the history of our species, "the vast majority of babies born in the developing world have the opportunity to grow old."

In the above talk, she explains the changes that led to this "stunning achievement" and presents data to explore what aging now looks like - and what it might look like in the future.

Previously: Parents turn to data after son is diagnosed with ultra-rare disease, Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt explains why "biology is information rich" at Big Data in Biomedicine, At Big Data in Biomedicine, Stanford's Lloyd Minor focuses on precision health, Experts at Big Data in Biomedicine: Bigger, better datasets and technology will benefit patients and On the move: Big Data in Biomedicine goes mobile with discussion on mHealth

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