Photo of a Greenland shark from Wikipedia.
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Scientists from the University of British Columbia have been following the oldest animals alive in unexpected places. Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) are believed to live several hundred years, and can reach sizes of several meters.
While they are usually found in cold, Arctic waters,…
Image from www.clker.com. Woodridge, IL, USA --- Great White Shark Opening Mouth --- Image by © Denis Scott/Corbis
Scientists have discovered that great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) actually live longer than previously thought (up to 23 years or so). Using radiocarbon age estimates, Dr…
Just quickly for now without commentary:
Totally cool paper in the last Science:
S. Libert, J. Zwiener, X. Chu, W. VanVoorhies, G. Roman, and S.D.Pletcher
Regulation of Drosophila lifespan by olfaction and food-derived odors:
Smell is an ancient sensory system present in organisms from bacteria to…
Although slimmer, calorie restricted rhesus monkeys (left) do not live longer than their age-matched counterparts (right). (Housing shown was for photo purposes only; Image: National Institutes of Aging; Austad SN, Nature 2012).
Despite promising results in mice and rats that calorie…
There may be a limit to our natural lifespan, but that doesn't mean our lifespan can't be extended. I think once we understand the cause of aging and death (and it ('and I do mean 'the' cause), we can do something about it. It appears to be a predetermined process that adjusts to environmental conditions, we can change it. No I do believe that it is impossible to stop aging, and to slow it down is a matter of engineering (perhaps, as the SENS Institute seems to think), but reversing it is the only realistic solution; and it has been done at the cellular, tissue, organic and organismic levels. Aging does not proceed at the cellular level as it does in tissue culture (a very unrealistic model of the cell as a part of the body) it proceeds on the organismic level, and the cellular level and levels in between, including the endocrine, paracrine justacrine systems and nervous system. The work in heterochronic tissue and organ transplants first showed the potential, the fact that tissue change to meet the age phenotype of their environoments, and later demonstrations that this change of age, which occurs whenever cells are induced to become pluripotent stem cells, can be accomplished by small molecules alone.
Aging is a process controlled, for example, by the superchiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, which has its own cell-autonomous clock (the chemistry of which is pretty well known) system - coordination between cells of the clock decreases with age and the clock signal weakens - why? I think I know why.