Outdoor Science Talk: Long Life in the 21st Century

Please join us for Stanford’s acclaimed Summer Science Lecture Series on the lawn adjacent to Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center on four Thursday evenings. You are invited to come early and wander through the art museum, buy dinner in the Art Center’s Cool Café or bring your own picnic, and then settle on the lawn outside to hear informal lectures about cutting-edge research from four of Stanford’s most esteemed professors.

We promise that all of the talks will be delivered in terms understandable to the lay public. So bring your entire family (high school age and up) and enjoy! The Outdoor Science Series is sponsored by the Stanford Office for Science Outreach, the Cantor Arts Center, and Stanford Continuing Studies.

Outdoor Science Talk 4: Long Life in the 21st Century

We are approaching a watershed moment in human history. By 2030, the number of people over 65 will surpass the number of children under 15. By the time today’s children reach old age, living to 100 will be commonplace. Rather than perceiving this as good news, most people respond to extended longevity with discussions about coping with or halting the aging process. Yet, to the extent that people arrive at old age mentally sharp, physically fit, and financially secure, long-lived societies will thrive. Laura Carstensen believes that among the most pressing needs of the modern world is the development of “longevity science.” Her talk will focus on the ways science and technology offer alternatives to catastrophic predictions about societies that are overburdened by frail elders. She will discuss advances in science that can form the basis of a culture in which we improve quality of life at all ages.

LAURA L. CARSTENSEN
Professor of Psychology; Director, Stanford Center on Longevity; Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy
Laura Carstensen is founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and the former chair of the Psychology Department. She has published well over 100 scientific articles on life-span development. She is a distinguished member of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Gerontological Society of America. The recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, she was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow in 2003. Carstensen received a PhD in clinical psychology from West Virginia University.

Thursday, August 13
7:00 – 8:30 pm
Lawn outside Cantor Arts Center
FREE; no registration required
Open to the public