Ageing (British English) or aging (American English) is the process of becoming older. In the narrow sense, the term refers to biological ageing of human beings, animals and other organisms. In the broader sense, ageing can refer to single cells within an organism (cellular ageing) or to the population of a species (population ageing).
In humans, ageing represents the accumulation of changes in a human being over time, encompassing physical, psychological, and social change. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Ageing is among the greatest known risk factors for most human diseases: of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds die from age-related causes.
The causes of ageing are unknown; current theories are assigned to the damage concept, whereby the accumulation of externally induced damage (such as DNA point mutations) may cause biological systems to fail, or to the programmed ageing concept, whereby internal processes (such as DNA telomere shortening) may cause ageing.
The aging of wine is potentially able to improve the quality of wine. This distinguishes wine from most other consumable goods. While wine is perishable and capable of deteriorating, complex chemical reactions involving a wine's sugars, acids and phenolic compounds (such as tannins) can alter the aroma, color, mouthfeel and taste of the wine in a way that may be more pleasing to the taster. The ability of a wine to age is influenced by many factors including grape variety, vintage, viticultural practices, wine region and winemaking style. The condition that the wine is kept in after bottling can also influence how well a wine ages and may require significant time and financial investment. The quality of an aged wine varies significantly bottle-by-bottle, depending on the conditions under which it was stored, and the condition of the bottle and cork, and thus it is said that rather than good old vintages, there are good old bottles. There is a significant mystique around the aging of wine, as its chemistry was not understood for a long time, and old wines are often sold for extraordinary prices. However, the vast majority of wine is not aged, and even wine that is aged is rarely aged for long; it is estimated that 90% of wine is meant to be consumed within a year of production, and 99% of wine within 5 years.
Aging is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access medical journal published by Impact Journals (Albany, New York), a publisher listed by Jeffrey Beall as a "Potential, possible, or probable" predatory open-access publisher. The journal covers research on senescence, gerentology, and the molecular mechanics of aging. It is abstracted and indexed in Index Medicus/MEDLINE/PubMed,BIOSIS Previews, and the Science Citation Index Expanded.
[Music: Valnes/Eviga, Lyrics: Eviga]
Was zieht her von welken Nächten ?
Fühl' nun selbst, was diese Dir brächten,
Was sie Dir bringen ... sie schon brachten.
[Das Ich nimmt wahr]
Stummes Dunkelsehen ... stolpernder Dunkelblick ...
[Die Natur vernimmt dies selbst]
Ein menschähnlicher Riß in welker Nacht Gewand ...
[Ich]
Tapfere Töne tummeln sich ... in dunkelwellenden Unbehagen ...
Schattengroße Schwebeklänge ...
[Natur]
Ein menschähnlicher Lauschepflock ...
In welker Nächte Schlummertanz...
[Ich]
Blauschwere Süße ... gekostete Traumschleier ...
[Natur]
Ein menschleiser Sog in welker Nächte Himmelhauch ...
[Ich]
Nahegleitende Lauerlüfte ... hautzüngelnde Schlotterschergen ...
Knochenströmendes Kältewehen ...
[Natur]
Ein menschähnlicher Zittersplitter in welker Nächte grauem Wind ...
[Das Ich erkennt]
"Ich bin fassende Ungeduld
Und oft erdachtes Zögern.
Sagbar Ich,
Ein Mensch von welker Nacht Gestalt,