title: Archeo-cell biology: carbon dating is not just for pots and dinosaurs.
abstract: Defining the life span of specific human cell populations is limited by our inability to mark the exact time when cells are born in a way that can be detected over many years. In this issue of Cell, Spalding et al. (2005) describe a clever strategy for retrospectively birth dating human cells in vivo, based on their incorporation of 14C during a peak in atmospheric levels of this isotope resulting from above-ground nuclear arms testing in the 1950s.
authors: MGH-HMS Center for Nervous System Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Massachusettes General Hospital, Boston, Massachusettes 02114, USA.
authors: Paola
authors: P
authors: Arlotta
authors: Jeffrey D
authors: JD
authors: Macklis
mesh_terms: D000398:Air Pollution, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology*; D009689:Nuclear Warfare / Q000639:trends; D014197:Trees / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes