BBC: Heatwaves speed up ageing process

In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it. 

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com OK. 

Let's hear more about this story. 

A study in Taiwan has found that people's biological age increases when they experience heat waves. 

The study measured participants' organ funciton in order to determine their biological age. 

Experiencing four heat wave days over a two-year period led people's biological age to increase by about nine days. 

Now, while this appears small, researchers have suggested that exposure to heat waves over several decades is likely to have a greater impact. 

Manual workers, those living in rural areas or those who do not have access to air conditioning are likely to be the worst affected. 

Let's have our first headline. 

This is from the Guardian, a newspaper in the UK. Heatwaves are making people age faster, study suggests. 

And that headline again from the Guardian, a newspaper in the UK. Heatwaves are making people age faster, study suggests. 

This headline is reporting the study that we've been talking about. The word that we're going to learn is the verb age. 

Yes, we all know the nown age, that's the number of years that someone has been alive, but it can also be used as a verb. So, if someone or something ages, they have changed as they get older in years. 

Yes, and it's important to note that it's not just another way to say get older. If someone ages, we're often talking about their health and appearance changing. People can get older, but not age much. Equally, people can be aged by somehting, without getting older in years. Illness or stress can age people, for example. 

Yes, and things you do to your appearance or the way you dress can also age you. For example, my uncle grew a beard and it really aged him. It made him look 10 years older. 

In this study, what was measured was people's organ funciton, and researchers found that exposure to heat could lead people's organs to function as if they were older. 

We can also use the verb age with things, so some food and drink products like cheese or wine develop their flavour over time. They have aged. 

It can also be a deliverate process. If you age something like a piece of furniture, you do something to make it look older than it actually is 

We've had age to become or appear older. 

For example, after taking on such a stressful job, she aged considerably. 

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines. Today we're talking about a study that suggests that heat waves may make our organs deteriorate quicker.