Harvard Gazette (November 18, 2010): Probing the Golden Years
Publication Date:  Thu, 11/18/2010  In the basement of Harvard
Law School's Hemenway Gymnasium, a battle of ages is being
waged.  Twice a week, the thwack of a squash ball against the
court's walls signals a match between Goelet Professor of French
History Patrice Higonnet, 72, and opponents such as History
Professor Dan Smail, 30 years his junior. Higonnet, tall and
trim in his white uniform, holds his own, though he confesses
that Smail gets the better of him more often than not. Still, at
an age when people in past generations would have been content
to just watch such a contest, Higonnet is competitive and
sometimes, victorious.  Improvements in medical science and in
understanding healthy lifestyles have led to longer lives for
many people like Higonnet, who continue to enjoy not only more
days, but healthier and more active ones.  While there have
always been people with remarkable longevity and health, today
the ranks of the healthy old, as