The canny world of advertising has caught on to the free radical theory of aging, marketing a whole array of antioxidants for preventing anything from wrinkles to dry hair to reducing the risk of heart disease--promising to help slow the hands of time. Working with genetically engineered mice--to produce a natural antioxidant enzyme called catalase--University of Washington pathologist Peter Rabinovitch's group found that, on average, the mice live longer. It means that an individual who lives to age 70, now, with the benefits that the group achieved in the mice if these could be carried forth to humans, they might live instead to 84 years old. What the group has achieved is the best documentation yet that increasing the level of antioxidants in a general fashion can enhance the health and the lifespan of mice.