or later, however, the effects of the passing years do start to show on the body as it endures wear and tear. Scientists all over the world are also working on finding the reason of aging and have developed various theories, however, much more research is needed before this phenomenon can be fully understood and potentially controlled. Mythology Gods and goddesses were considered eternal in many ancient mythologies, and were endowed with eternal youth. In Greek mythology, agelessness was achieved by the gods' eating ambrosia (immortality was derived from their blood, ichor); in Norse mythology, by the gods eating golden apples provided by Iðunn; and in Chinese mythology, by the gods consuming the Peaches of Immortality. Media and fiction Comics and cartoons Agelessness is prominent in anime, manga, cartoons, comic books, comic strips, and other illustrated media. Characters and situations are staged in an eternal present where change and causality are considered arbitrary and disposable. Ageless characters in comic books often appear as superheroes, deriving immortal or timeless properties from accelerated or supernatural healing, time travel, interdimensional origin, and other fictional devices. In comics and cartoons, agelessness is sometimes used to preserve continuity in a floating timeline or an episodic format respectively. For example, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Garfield and Tom and Jerry are ageless cartoon and comic characters. Pulp literature Long-running series of pulp novels can develop ageless characters. The main characters in The Hardy Boys have remained 17 and 18, and have been located approximately in the "present day" since 1926. The same can be said for the Nancy Drew series. Nancy has remained 18 years old for many decades (although she started out at the age of 16). James Bond is also known by many as an ageless character. Some of his ally characters, including M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, Bill Tanner and Felix Leiter also do not age throughout both the novel and film series, which began in 1953 and 1962 respectively. Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond, tinkered with details of Bond's early life and changed dates to ensure Bond was always the appropriate age for his stories, a practice called retconning. Fantasy literature Tolkien's Elves are an iconic example of creatures who are ageless. They are not subject to entropy and decay, unlike Men and the rest of the Middle-earth. Tolkien described his elves as young-looking, yet with some properties of 'wisdom' and experience in