Smartphones and other digital technology hold lots of promise for researchers pursuing ways to assist older adults. But are older Americans using the latest versions or are they keeping their phones well past their expiration dates? There is no reliable information to guide researchers. Nicholas Gray, the Institute for Successful Longevity’s post-doc researcher, hopes to fill this data gap with his study, now underway.

Neil Charness, Director of the Institute for Successful Longevity, is quoted in an article in MarketWatch about the need to be skeptical of many “longevity” products and how to separate valid data from outlandish claims.

Charness advised MarketWatch readers to look for well-designed studies that include participants randomly assigned to both the experiment group and a control group.

Conventional wisdom has it that older adults can’t figure out digital technology. Bo Xie, an expert on technology and older adults at the University of Texas at Austin, is having none of that.

Bo Xie of the University of Texas at Austin talks to the Institute for Successful Longevity about technology and stereot

The Institute for Successful Longevity has awarded its 2021 ISL Planning Grants to Bradley Gordon and Michael Delp, for their project to establish the contribution of specific genes to the loss of skeletal muscle in response to disuse, and to Jennifer Steiner and Ravinder Nagpal, for their study of the effects of alcohol use and associated gut microbiome decline on aging-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength.

Congratulations to Thomas Joiner, Ph.D., of the Department of Psychology and a Faculty Affiliate of the Institute for Successful Longevity, who received a Graduate Faculty Mentor Award from the Graduate School

Congratulations to Institute for Successful Longevity Faculty Affiliate Robb Tomko of the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine, who was honored with the Undergraduate Research Mentor Award

Aaron Wilber, a Faculty Affiliate of the Institute for Successful Longevity, has been awarded a $2.2-million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study sleep-related brain function in Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive disorder that affects memory and behavior in millions of Americans.

Wilber, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, will receive the grant, awarded through the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, over the course of the next five years.