Letter from the Editors – Volume 12 Issue 3, 2025

“Death is just another path, one that we all must take.”
– Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R Tolkien)

Ageing is a natural step in the adventure of life, yet it fills many of us with trepidation as it brings us closer to the final stop of our journey – death. To close out this volume of IMMpress Magazine, we take a deep dive into the ageing process and confront the taboo topic of death. While ageing is often synonymous with decline, improving our physical and mental wellbeing can ensure that we age well. Rather than hiding away our signs of ageing, we encourage readers to embrace these marks of living life, and to celebrate the experiences and wisdom we have gained along the way.

In this issue, we examine global (p.8) and sex-specific (p.20) patterns of changes in life expectancy, followed by a detailed look of how the immune system can contribute to the negative consequences of ageing (p.10), particularly in the brain (p.12). We spoke with Department of Immunology faculty Dr. Olga Rojas, who shares with us her expertise on neurodegeneration, brain health, and resilience (p.16). We also discuss how culture shapes our perception of ageing (p.26), and how the health and beauty industries can take advantage of negative perspectives to carve out an “anti-ageing” market of goods and therapies (p.22). Despite the prevalent fears surrounding death as the endpoint of life, death is an incredibly critical physiological process to an organism’s development and continued health (p.24). However, we also showcase special examples of how death can be hijacked to benefit parasites at the expense of the host (p.27). Finally, we explore how the healthcare system supports the ageing and dying population through commentary by Atul Gawande in his book It’s Never Too Early to Think About Retirement (p.29), as well as through an examination of palliative care (p.14) and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) legislature (p.18) in Canada.

As always, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude towards our team of writers, editors, and designers at IMMpress Magazine who have volunteered their time to put together another amazing issue. We wish all of our readers a happy new year, and here’s to growing older and wiser!