Essentially, everyone has two ages: a chronological（按时间计算的）age, how old the calendar says you are, and a biological age, basically the age at which your body functions as it compares to average fitness or health levels.

"Chronological age isn't how old we really are. It's merely a number," said Professor David Sinclair at Harvard University. "It is biological age that determines our health and ultimately our lifespan. We all age biologically at different rates according to our genes, what we eat, how much we exercise, and what environment we live in. Biological age is the number of candles we really should be blowing out. In the future, with advances in our ability to control biological age, we may have even fewer candles on our birthday cake than the previous one."

To calculate biological age, Professor Levine at Yale University identified nine biomarker(生物标志) that seemed to be the most influential on lifespan by a simple blood test. The numbers of those markers, such as blood sugar and immune(免疫的) measures, can be put into the computer, and the algorithm（算式;算法）does the rest.

Perhaps what's most important here is that these measures can be changed. Doctors can take this information and help patients make changes to lifestyle, and hopefully take steps to improve their biological conditions. "I think the most exciting thing about this research is that these things aren't set in stone," Levine said. "People can be given the information earlier and take steps to improve their health before it's too late."

Levine even entered her own numbers into the algorithm. She was surprised by the results. "I always considered myself a very healthy person. I'm physically active; I eat what I consider a fairly healthy diet. But I did not find my results to be as good as I had hoped they would be. It was a wake-up call," she said.

Levine is working with a group to provide access to the algorithm online so that anyone can calculate their biological age, identify potential risks and take steps to improve their own health in the long run. "No one wants to live an extremely long life with a lot of chronic（慢性的）diseases," Levine said. "By delaying the development of mental and physical functioning problems, people can still be engaged in society in their senior years. That is the ideal we should be pursuing."

Snowboarding genius Su Yiming made a name for himself by winning China's first Olympic gold in the sport on Tuesday. By cleanly stomping back-to-back 1800 tricks, the teenager landed the biggest prize so far in his young career—gold in the men's Big Air at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The notable achievement realized a childhood dream to reach the peak of the sport, which he began to learn at the age of 4.

Now with two shinning medals hung around his neck, the 17-year-old described his superb Olympic debut (首秀) as an unbelievable experience that has made all his sacrifices worthwhile. "This feels so surreal that I've finally accomplished what I've dreamed of since I was little," said an emotional Su.

Over the past four years, Su has combined his talent with hard work to produce one of the swiftest rises to prominence the sport has ever seen. When the Shougang Big Air venue hosted its first international event, Su was an unknown qualifier, who didn't even make the final runs. Just over two years later, Su is the name on everyone's lips at the venue s Olympic debut—drawing the whole nation's attention to the sport he loves.

"The biggest motivation (动力) for me is my love for snowboarding," Su said, when asked about the secret to his success. "In snowboarding, I feel like I can show my own style and creativity. Every time I ride my board, it's always a joyful moment. I hope through my experience, I can inspire more young people to get interested in the sport."

Su, a former child actor who featured in action movies, said the Olympic gold will encourage him to seek for more breakthroughs—even beyond his athletic career. "I enjoy snowboarding just as much as I enjoy acting," said Su, who turns 18 on Friday. "I think I still have a lot of possibilities to explore in my future career either in snowboarding or in acting. But now I just want to enjoy the moment and celebrate it as the best possible birthday gift."

I sent a message to my sister at 12: 30 p. m. during my lunch to ask her about my father's progress. He was having his second knee surgery and my expectations were the same as the previous successful surgery. My brother picked me up from school and we headed for the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, my first question was "How is he doing?" My father was connected to a breathing machine and his face was very swollen. I tried my best not to cry because 1 was supposed to interpret for him what was happening as the nurses did not speak Spanish. I had never seen my father this way. He looked so fragile and different from the strong man I knew. I asked him how he was doing and he said he was fine. I returned to the lobby and I was in a state where I realized that my hero, best friend, and love of my life was in a dangerous state and at this point anything could happen.

I recalled on when I was a child. "I'm going to the store" were always his words, and that was without a doubt my cue to follow him. We would walk to the car, and sometimes if I was lucky, I got away with sitting in the front seat. We would arrive at the store and he always said "Get whatever you want and something for Ana"; Ana is my sister. My dad and I were best friends, he never showed preference with his children, but I just always happened to follow him. It was okay for me to cry when I wanted something because I was his youngest girl, he couldn't say no to me.

All along my father had dedicated his life to giving us the best. Growing up does not necessarily mean that one must distance from our parents because it is childish; it is a time to take action and embrace the feelings because it is the right thing to do. Life presents us signals to acknowledge and value what is the most important in life.