Question
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Lifestyle Choices
Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California, San Francisco has created and reared some remarkable worms. These genetically modified nematode worms live six times longer than normal worms – and at 500 years old (in worm years), they are still quite sprightly. Their ageing rate has been slowed right down. The trick has been to tinker with genes involved in a worm’s hormonal system – a molecular network that has influence over the organism’s metabolism, growth, repair mechanisms and reproduction. Similar investigations are underway at the Buck Institute in California and at University College, London by David Gems."
Other scientists such as Linda Partridge and Andrzej Bartke have found that the same hormonal genes also appear to control longevity in fruit flies and mice. Have scientists discovered the master controls of ageing in all organisms, including us? If so, could they tweak the molecular dials to retard human ageing over 150 years, or 200 years?
And what can we learn from the calorie restriction experiments carried out by Richard Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin in Madison? He can extend a mouse’s life by 50% by allowing it to eat only half the rations it would naturally eat. If the animal’s calorie intake is 30% less, it lives a third longer and ages at a proportionally slower rate. Would this work for people too?
Monkey experiments are well underway and the results so far suggest it may well do. Some scientists are even trying to find and develop drugs or nutrients that trick a normally-fed body into thinking it is being calorie-restricted - the goal there being life extension without the hunger.
RELATED LINKS
Sequoia National Park: http://www.nps.gov/seki
Bowhead Whales: http://www.johnfry.com/bada1.html
University of Idaho: http://www.sci.uidaho.edu/biosci/labs/austad
Theories of Ageing by David Gems: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtdag/C339Ageing.html#Theories
Linda Partridge: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtcee/flies/Linda_Partridge.html
Buck Institute: http://www.buckinstitute.org
Cynthia Kenyon's lab: http://wormworld.ucsf.edu
David Gems - Using Animal Models to investigate Ageing: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtdag/C339Talk2.html
Calorie Restriction Society: http://www.calorierestriction.org
Richard Weindruch: http://aging.wisc.edu/research/affil.php?Ident=67
James Carey: http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/carey.cfm
BBCi Science: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/
Cynthia Kenyon at AARP's Inspire Awards:
Other scientists such as Linda Partridge and Andrzej Bartke have found that the same hormonal genes also appear to control longevity in fruit flies and mice. Have scientists discovered the master controls of ageing in all organisms, including us? If so, could they tweak the molecular dials to retard human ageing over 150 years, or 200 years?
And what can we learn from the calorie restriction experiments carried out by Richard Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin in Madison? He can extend a mouse’s life by 50% by allowing it to eat only half the rations it would naturally eat. If the animal’s calorie intake is 30% less, it lives a third longer and ages at a proportionally slower rate. Would this work for people too?
Monkey experiments are well underway and the results so far suggest it may well do. Some scientists are even trying to find and develop drugs or nutrients that trick a normally-fed body into thinking it is being calorie-restricted - the goal there being life extension without the hunger.
RELATED LINKS
Sequoia National Park: http://www.nps.gov/seki
Bowhead Whales: http://www.johnfry.com/bada1.html
University of Idaho: http://www.sci.uidaho.edu/biosci/labs/austad
Theories of Ageing by David Gems: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtdag/C339Ageing.html#Theories
Linda Partridge: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtcee/flies/Linda_Partridge.html
Buck Institute: http://www.buckinstitute.org
Cynthia Kenyon's lab: http://wormworld.ucsf.edu
David Gems - Using Animal Models to investigate Ageing: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtdag/C339Talk2.html
Calorie Restriction Society: http://www.calorierestriction.org
Richard Weindruch: http://aging.wisc.edu/research/affil.php?Ident=67
James Carey: http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/carey.cfm
BBCi Science: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/
Cynthia Kenyon at AARP's Inspire Awards:
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Answered No!
thats inhuman