On Younger Mothers and Longevity
One can draw a nice line between the Reliability Theory of aging developed by Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova and their present research reported in Forbes: "The odds of living to 100 and beyond double when a person is born to a woman under 25 years of age, compared to those people born to older mothers, according to one of the most rigorous studies on the subject yet conducted. The finding may also help clear up a statistical mystery -- three years ago, the same husband-and-wife team of researchers found that being the first-born child in a family also boosted longevity, although no one knew why." This would suggest that the accumulated cellular damage of aging leads to a greater initial load of damage in offspring born to older mothers - and hence differences in longevity. Exactly what form that damage takes remains to be discovered, but we can all hope that future biotechnology will render accidents of birth - and aging itself - moot.
Link: http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/04/17/hscout532170.html