Would you want to live to 120? Our cover in most of the world this week takes a look at the scientific quest for a longer life. Though life expectancy across the world has been steadily rising for decades, the marvels of modern medicine have not been able to prevent the withering, both mental and physical, that often accompanies those extra years. As we explain in this week’s Technology Quarterly, this may be about to change.
Across eight chapters (plus a film and a podcast) we assess the many facets of the quest for a longer life, from gut microbes and blood to dangerous calories, decrepit cells and dodgy genes. Should the latest efforts to prolong life fulfil their potential, seeing your 100th birthday could become the norm; making it to 120 could become a perfectly reasonable aspiration.
Our cover in Europe argues that it is time to enlarge—and improve—the European Union. The talk now is of admitting as many as nine new members, including Ukraine. Joining the world’s most successful club of peaceful, prosperous democracies would set these countries on a new and promising path. For the EU itself it would complete a grand continental union—and mark the culmination of a process that started with victory over the Nazis. But for that to happen, there is work to be done. | 
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