MIT's Age Lab

CAMBRIDGE (FOX25, myfoxboston) - Let's face it, no one wants to get old, but what choice do we have? Researchers at M.I.T. want to help us understand the challenges that come with aging and they're doing their best to make sure our lives are as easy as they can be as we age.

Stepping foot into M.I.T.’s age lab meant stepping into a navy jumpsuit and yellow tinted glasses. It was not a fashion statement, but a science experiment allowing those who wear it to feel what it is like to be 70 years old. The suit is named Agnes, equipped with elastic bands, and a neck brace to restrict movement, in ways that mirror arthritis. The glasses are worn to diminish vision and gloves are worn to diminish touch. The shoes simulate Nueropathy or loss of feeling in a type two diabetic’s feet.

And as I quickly found out, old age is not easy. When doing simple tasks in the suit, the aches and pains felt very real. Though the idea here is that old age doesn't have to feel bad and 65 doesn't have to mean retirement. “Most people now think old age is a problem. We're thinking of it as an opportunity at the lab, which is how are you going to work live and play tomorrow,” Dr. Joseph Coughlin says. He created the Age lab 10 years ago. Now that we’re living 30 to 40 years longer than we did 100 years ago, Coughlin wanted to learn how we can live better lives in our later years. “Not just observe what certain loss of function might be, but to feel it. And until you feel it, real innovation is not about the new device, but solving a problem,” says Coughlin. When you consider the social security set is the fastest growing age group on earth, the information gained here is crucial. “Aging is really about all of us, by forty you lose your night vision, whereby you need 20 times more light to see as well as you did at age 20,” says Coughlin.

That all comes into play, when we get behind the wheel. At the Age Lab, subjects are wired to a million dollar car simulator named Miss Daisy and asked to drive through different situations while researchers track reactions, gauging responses to fatigue, new technology, and even effects of medication. Then researchers work to help develop safer cars with blind spot warning systems, for example, or others with computerized dashboard displays where drivers can choose a font making them easier to read.

The hope here is that we don't fear old age, but embrace it, as scientists work to make your car safer and your medication easier to open. “Stop looking at the calendar at the day you're going to retire, but rather the day I’m going to do something different,” says Coughlin.