Within every aging body, cells that have stopped dividing but refuse to die accumulate quietly, releasing a slow chemical tide of inflammation linked to heart disease, cancer, and neurological decline. Researchers at Mayo Clinic and Sanford Burnham Prebys have now traced this inflammatory output not merely to the cells' existence, but to a precise metabolic mechanism inside their damaged mitochondria — one that, crucially, can be interrupted without destroying the cells themselves. The discovery suggests that the burden of aging may be less about eliminating its cellular remnants and more abou