Personal website of João Pedro de Magalhães
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Q #1: Do people frequently ask these questions?

No, not really.

Many of these questions are topics I think should be covered in my website but couldn't find the place for them. Some of the questions indeed have been posed by visitors.

Q #2: Why haven't you replied to the e-mail I sent you?

I reply to all e-mails that require a response, generally in a brief time. Mail servers, however, are not 100% reliable and e-mails do get lost in the Internet. A good rule is: if I don't reply within a week or two, please contact me again.

Q #3: Can I work with you?

I'm always glad to hear from potential students, colleagues, and collaborators. Please visit my lab's website to see the type of work we do and consult whether we have any job vacancies. If you think you would fit well in our group then by all means contact me. Funding is always an issue but even if we don't have any vacancies, quite often it is possible to apply for fellowships, etc.

Q #4: Why do you have a personal website and senescence.info?

This website was created for three reasons. First of all, I created it for me to organize my ideas and reflect on them. In addition, as someone who has benefited so much from the teachings of others, I believe I should share my knowledge and I hope others can benefit from it. Lastly, I hope others can find my thoughts and disagree with me. So prove me wrong, I might learn something.

Q #5: How many visitors does your website receive?

Prior to merging all my websites under the senescence.info domain, my websites received over 100,000 unique visitors in total, of which roughly 1/3 visited my website on the biology of aging and the rest visited my personal website. Presently, my domain (senescence.info) receives over 20,000 unique visitors and 100,000 hits per month. You can consult senescence.info's traffic in Alexa.

Q #6: How do you say your name?

Word-of-mouth is admittedly difficult in English-speaking countries with my name, which is why many of my colleagues in the US and UK call me Pedro. My first name is "João Pedro," which is essentially John Peter in Portuguese. My surname is "de Magalhães." In English "Magalhães" is spelled "Magellan".

Q #7: Can you help me with my science project?

Please browse my website looking for the answer and trying to see if I am the most able person to answer your question. If you think so then I'm always happy to help students, as long as it will take me a reasonable amount of time.

Q #8: I want to contribute to research on aging, what should I study?

This is probably the question I've been asked most often, which is why I wrote a brief essay on how to become a biogerontologist.

Q #9: You say you want to cure aging, but that's impossible, right?

That's a common misconception. It will be extremely hard and it may well take a long time, but I'm very serious about curing aging.

Q #10: Do you offer advice on age-related diseases or on how to delay aging?

I'm not a physician and so I can't give medical advice. I maintain a review of anti-aging products that debates these products from a scientific, biological perspective.

Q #11: Can I send you my ideas on aging, or my science fiction stories, or my comedy material?

It depends. Everyone is busy these days and I'm not an exception, so please use common sense.

Regarding aging, I'm always looking for collaborations, and if you have original ideas on the biology of aging I would be glad to hear them. Please try to be succinct, though; good ideas can generally be summarized in a few sentences.

If you have a SF story, please try to publish it or, if it's not good enough yet, you may consider joining a writers club. You may send me ideas for stories but, please be brief and tell me what is on offer if you're looking for a collaboration.

If you have comedy material and don't want to do stand-up then you may send me your material, though I normally only use my own material and so it must be a truly original and innovative work.

Q #12: What happened to the original Reason's Triumph and The Castle of the Dark Angæl?

Due to professional reasons I stopped having time to update my websites. Therefore, I made a new website for my research on aging, which is my job, and I combined The Castle of the Dark Angæl and Reason's Triumph into a single, smaller website that is now my personal website.

Q #13: Does your website have a disclaimer and privacy policy?

Yes.

Q #14: Can you link to my website and vice-versa?

You can warn me about your website, though that does not guarantee I'll add a link to it. Similarly, of course you can link to my website but doing so does not guarantee a reciprocal treatment. Oh, and my website has no publicity, so please don't even bother asking.

Q #15: Are you interested in writing an essay for my website/journal/e-zine?

Maybe, please contact me with the details. Normally, I prefer to find a medium to publish my ideas rather than the other way around, but I am opened to suggestions.

Q #16: Do you still perform as a stand-comedian?

Occasionally, please contact me for booking.

Q #17: Do you perform as a musician?

No, and because of a wrist injury I barely play guitar anymore. I still listen to music most of my awake time.

Q #18: Who writes your comedy material?

On most occasions, I do. Sometimes friends and family give me a hand and, of course, I often use material from other comedians such as George W. Bush, Paulo Portas, David Beckam, etc.

Q #19: Do you play Counter-Strike for a clan?

No, and I'm not looking for one either. I'm a lonely killer :)

Q #20: Can you crack [INSERT SOFTWARE HERE]? Or can you hack [INSERT DOMAIN HERE]? Or get me [INSERT SOFTWARE HERE]?

No, and even if I could I wouldn't tell you.

Q #21: Are you married? Do you have children?

Yes, I am married. My wife has a website with pictures of our trips.

Yes, we have a baby girl.

Q #22: Do you have any political affiliation?

No. In fact, I've always abstained from voting, except in one occasion--and it was a referendum. Therefore, I never voted for a political party as I'm incapable of supporting any politician.

Q #23: I'm a billionaire and I want to help you solve aging. What do you think?

I love you and I want to have your children.