The Checkup: New Online Calculator Tells You How Long You’ll Live

• Screw palm readings, I want a life expectancy survey that asks me 40 questions and takes into account real-life factors like my nutrition, environment, family history, sleeping habits and work schedule. Lucky me, such a thing now exists. I present: Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator, made possible by the Boston University School of Medicine. (Unfortunately, the calculator has just informed me that I’ll only make it to 93. Mourn me as you would a brother.) The calculator is based off of findings from the New England Centenarian Study, the largest study of centenarians and their families in the world. Once your death age has been magically (morosely?) computed, it sweetly asks, “What would you like to work on to add years to your life?” Ah, if only life were truly so easy. But it’s worth a shot, isn’t it? Note: You will have to register an email address to get your results.

• Get this: As reported by The Telegraph, mathematicians found that the formula used to calculate body-mass index is inherently flawed. It’s made tall people believe they are overweight and short people seem “not fat enough.” The taller you are, the more space there is to fill, right? Right. Professor Nick Trefethen has since concocted a new formula to combat the old, outdated BMI calculation methods. We’ll thank him later, I’m sure.

• Australian researchers released a new study which found that taking one aspirin every week could hasten age-related vision loss. Read more (and cry yourself to sleep) here.

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