Photo: Alamy
I am as much a sucker for a cool sound-byte as the next person. Â So much so, in fact, that I nowadays make it a practice to drill back to the original research on any article I genuinely find an interesting idea. Â (The science fiction I write tends to be “hard sci-fi” so there’s a certain amount of informed research in there.)
While the idea that sitting = short telomeres is sexxy and makes for a great Twitter statement, it’s a bit broad of a conclusion to draw.  As far as I know, telomeres don’t “regrow” once they are lost without direct intervention (which is why stuff breaks permanently when they are gone).  So the reporting on this seems flawed (which would not be unheard of).
