It’s one of those photos that make you do a double-take. Dr. Jeffry Life stands in jeans, his shirt off. His face is that of a distinguished-looking grandpa; his head is balding, and what hair there is is white.

The older we get, the less able we are to filter out distractions while performing mental tasks, a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience showed.

A daily puff of a compound like marijuana, the plant blamed for ruining potheads’ recall, might help maintain memory in old age, researchers who tried it on rats reported today at a neuroscience meeting.

More than 50 percent of Taiwan’s senior citizens said they suffer from at least three professionally-diagnosed chronic diseases, with hypertension topping the list, a Department of Health poll has revealed.

China has denied permission for Catholic bishops to travel to Rome for a Church meeting, a Vatican spokesman said on Friday, in a sign of new strains between Beijing’s communist government and the Vatican.

Kathy Leeds grows animated as she describes the courses she is taking this fall, including classes in current events, art and literature.

In view of a growing number of dementia patients in Taiwan, several government agencies and social groups launched various events nationwide yesterday to raise public awareness and understanding of dementia in observance of Sept. 21 World Alzheimer’s Day.

Octogenarians who walk an hour or more each day are less likely to die and or be prone to serious illness compared with less active counterparts, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Interior Minister Liao Liou-yi said yesterday that the government knows the problems faced by the families of people suffering from dementia and will provide better care to sufferers to ease this burden.

Elderly people have a higher risk of becoming addicted to alcohol or medicine and this can often go unnoticed by people in their surroundings.