News

A new paper from the Moffitt & Caspi Lab published in Psychological Medicine presents replicated evidence showing that people with schizophrenia exhibit a faster pace of whole-body biological aging compared with controls, as measured using a novel neuroimaging biomarker, supporting the hypothesis that schizophrenia is accompanied by accelerated aging.

As a student, Lauren Brinkley‑Rubinstein thought she might work in law enforcement, but she changed her mind when she saw biases in the legal justice system. Now an associate professor at Duke, her work focuses on how incarceration impacts a person’s physical and mental health.

Researchers at the Biodemography of Aging Research Unit (BARU) at Duke University have recently published three interconnected studies that shed new light on how our genes, environment, and history of infections collide to influence the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). By analyzing massive datasets from the UK Biobank, the Health and Retirement Study, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), this rigorous scientific work moves us closer to personalized prevention strategies for dementia.

Last week’s "Metabolism and Health Across the Lifespan" symposium at Duke highlighted a wide range of ongoing research aimed at understanding how metabolism influences aging, chronic disease, and overall health. Several speakers discussed methods for measuring biological aging, how factors like exercise, fat tissue function, and mitochondrial fitness affect health over time, and the biology behind GLP-1 drugs used in diabetes and weight-management therapies. Three of the featured presenters—Terrie Moffitt, Herman Pontzer, and Heather Whitson—are DUPRI scholars, bringing population science perspectives to metabolic and aging research.

A new article published by DUPRI Scholar Hannah Postel shows that the trajectory of Asian immigration to the United States has been uniquely and profoundly shaped by over a century of shifting federal policies.

A new publication in the journal Ear and Hearing by a team of authors from Duke and UNC, including DUPRI Scholar Jessie West, finds that faster epigenetic aging—especially GrimAge & DunedinPACE clocks—is tied to poorer hearing in older adults, linking biological age markers to age‑related hearing loss.

A new paper out in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, authored by David Silver (UC Santa Barbara) and DUPRI Scholar Jonathan Zhang, looks at the impacts of VA disability compensation for mental disabilities for veterans.

A new article authored by DUPRI student Zhe Chen and Hongchuan Wang (Tsinghua University) published in Social Policy and Society, explores how economic development affects healthcare utilisation and social equity.

From primate biology to modern weight loss debates, Herman Pontzer, PhD, traces how evolution shaped a metabolism built for movement, adaptation, and survival. Hint: Exercise isn’t the calorie-burning bonanza you think it is.

A new publication from a team of Duke researchers, including DUPRI Scholars Jessica West, Hanzhang Xu, and Matthew Dupre investigates whether hearing loss is associated with hospitalizations among adults managing heart failure.