If you have ovaries, high-five. In addition to their reproductive function, ovaries

production of estrogen and progesterone helps keep bone, brain, and heart cells healthy. But there is a limit

on those benefits because for reasons we still don't fully understand, ovaries age faster even in

perfectly healthy people than the rest of our organs. But maybe they don't have to. From KERA in

Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd. The faster timeline of ovaries'

years of function makes them very interesting to scientists studying the mechanisms of aging

in humans. And some people think an immunosuppressant drug called rapamycin might have the

potential to keep them humming along for several years beyond the typical age of menopause,

potentially expanding the window of women's fertility and even the number of years of overall good health.

Celia Ford has been reporting on this.

She's a future perfect fellow at Vox, where you can find her article.

We have a drug that might delay menopause and help us live longer.

Celia, welcome to think.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

It's not just odd that ovaries age faster than other organs.

It's odd that it only happens in a handful of mammal species, right?

It is super weird.

Everybody that I spoke to about this said that

menopause is a very biologically strange thing, and we're not 100% sure why we do it at all.

But it really is just humans, maybe a couple of other primates, and a handful of whales, and that's it.

And, you know, it might seem like it's a factor of being a mammal that lives a long time,

but elephants live for many decades, and their females don't lose fertility early.

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