This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. In one of the movie versions of the Oscar Wild novel,

the picture of Dorian Gray, the actor Hurd Hatfield stares longingly at a painting of himself.

The picture shows a young man bursting with health and vitality. As Dorian Gray reflects on how

he is going to change with age, while

his picture will stay the same, a strange wish passes through his head.

If only the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now. For that I would

give everything. There's nothing in the whole world I would not give. I would give

my soul for that. In the story, Dorian Gray makes a pact with a devil. The painting starts to

age in his place. The physical degradation of the picture isn't only about the passing years.

The picture takes on the corruption of the character's many only about the passing years, the picture takes on the

corruption of the character's many misdeeds. Meanwhile, Dorian Gray himself stays eternally

youthful. Oscar Wilde wrote the story in the late 19th century. The movie came out in the middle of the 20th century.

The 21st century is not that different in its preoccupations from its predecessors.

Movies, TV shows, and the fashion industry still worship at the altar of youth.

People around the world spend billions of dollars on potions and injections and surgical interventions

to keep the signs of age at bay.

Clickbait ads on many websites show you what the youthful stars of yester years look like today.

The message couldn't be clearer.

Aging is a terrible thing.

Growing old is a horror show.

This week on Hidden Brain, astonishing new research about aging that could change the way everyone thinks about life.

Thank you. that could change the way everyone thinks about life. If you're short, you don't know what it feels like to be tall.

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