Posted on 04/01/2010 4:46:05 PM PDT by decimon
LONDON (Reuters) – British scientists studying the genetics of aging said on Thursday that experiments on laboratory worms showed that a specific gene is strongly linked to lifespan, immunity and disease resistance.
Since the gene, called DAF-16 in worms, is found in many animals and in humans, the finding could open up new ways to affect aging, immunity and resistance in humans, the scientists said.
"We wanted to find out how normal aging is being governed by genes and what effect these genes have on other traits, such as immunity," said Robin May of the University of Birmingham, who led the study.
Populations across the world are aging at a staggering pace, posing potentially big challenges for health and social care systems. A study by Danish scientists last year found that half of babies born in the rich world today will live to celebrate their 100th birthdays.
Scientists are keen to find out how people age to try to develop drugs to help them stay healthier as their lives extend.
"What we have found is that things like resistance and aging tend to go hand in hand," May said in an interview.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
DAFt ping.
With BO care we won’t have any elderly, so this money can be saved.
bookmark
What does an old worm look like?
Ah geez, now we'll get all the pictures of congresscritters. ;-)
How did they know when they had an OLD WORM, is all I would like for them to tell me, ROFL. They are the scientist after all, explain.
I don’t want to live longer if I have to live in a communist country...
Well what do you know.... I may not be a geneticist, and I haven't stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in quite a while, but that just makes way too much sense to me. So much so, it seems like a no brainer to me.
Caenorhabditis elegans, C. elegans, one of the workhorses of modern genetics is a hermaphroditic species!
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I finally found it.
Usually, because they have raised them from "birth". Or, in the case of higher species (lab rats, hamsters, etc), bought them from companies that specialize in raising such critters.
Ping...(Thanks, neverdem!)
Um...
Stop the madness!
Speaking of staggering, it is no comfort to me that you are the fourth oldest FReeper still posing on this forum. I have never eaten worms but I used to lick my fingers after baiting the hook so maybe...
After the first fifth, with a little lime and salt, the worms are a delicacy... um, I hear.
I think my grandmother told me this about 40-50 years ago, "time moves faster as you get older so don't be so impatient with things now".
Idiots.
Let’s lift one for Suzy and Chet... After your gone
I drive 30 mph in the fast lane so I guess I got your grandmother’s message and didn’t know it
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