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Yoda The Mouse Turns 4
ChiralSoftware writes "Through some genetic engineering to reduce insulin output, Yoda the mouse has lived to over four years old, equivalent to 136 human years. Yoda is a third smaller than normal, and gets cold all the time so he must snuggle up with Princess Leia, his cage-mate, but he is alive and full of vigor at the ripe old age of 4. Who's next for insulin reduction?"
Four years old, and he can still jump around do all those backflips? That is amazing.
Hmm, this makes me think of long-lived individuals from Japan. Seems to me that the traditional Japanese diet would, overall, have a very low glycemic index, and that could in turn promote long life as in this mouse. Anyone know more about this?
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.
I wonder if this mouse is doing something similar, but its been genetically engineered to be well . . . about 33% less . . .
"Who's next for insulin reduction?"
No, thank you not me.
After reading the article it's nice to know that Yoda lives near me but he has some side effects. He has to be near the other mouse to keep from freezing and he's a third smaller than the others.
I imagine that they'll tweak the gene modification so that the mouse isn't small and doesn't freeze to death. But when will this be something useful for us? Too far into the future that's when.
UID 1000000 is just around the corner.
Oh sure, the mouse gets a reduction in insulin, and he's still going strong after twice his normal life span.
And here, I don't produce insulin---found out I had Type I diabetes when I was 22---and do I get twice the life span? Heck no. I'll be lucky to make 50 at the rate I'm going.
What's up with that? Damned mice.
Karma: Marginal (mostly due to the border around the website)
No way in hell would I want to be full of vigor at 136 and snuggling up to Princess Leia every day, especially if she was wearing her Return of the Jedi outfit.
"Yoda is still mobile, sexually active and "looking good," said Dr. Richard A. Miller"
Still sexually active? If I could live to the ripe old age of 136, I bet nobody in the world would have sex with me.
"When four years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?"
No sig
Still, I don't think this will save us from the Vogons.
"Derp de derp."
Wasn't Mr. Jingles just over 70 years old? That 4 year old mouse has a lot of catching up to do.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
Audio report on this story (produced for Michigan Radio's Stateside program):
http://www.michiganradio.org/stateside.asp
Scroll down to April 9th and listen in Real Player (sorry). The relevant bit starts at the 32:00 mark. (Yeah, the whole thing is an hour long... sorry.)
Anyway, this report was produced locally here in Ann Arbor, by a friend of mine who interviewed Dr. Miller in person. The whole point is that the dwarf/long-lived mutation is in fact naturally occuring, **not** the result of genetic engineering.
(Also, the audio report suggests that the colony is much larger, but perhaps the older mice are sequestered from the rest of the colony, so the AP report might have that right; hard to say.)
zach
And don't give up on this being useful. Have you followed the rate of improvement in assays and genetic screening, not to mention the huge leap in DNA sequencing? The way things are moving, we might be able to go from discovery of the biochemical basis of slower aging to confirmation in broad populations to "dietary supplements" that will give you many of the benefits in just a few years. Certified drugs will take longer, but you'll be able to use the same tests to confirm that your supplements are having the desired effect.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
This is a factual story that involves,
1) Star Wars,
2) A steamy encounter between Yoda and Princess Leah,
and especially
3) A genetic modification that allows sexual prowess for nearly two standard lifetimes (and counting!).
Yoda... must snuggle up with Princess Leia
Just the thought of Yoda and Princess Leia in bed together... I don't know whether to laugh or vomit.
Frink: Nice try floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.
"Yoda's cage mate, Princess Leia, is a much larger female who uses her body warmth to keep the dwarf mouse from freezing to death. "
;-)
I used the same excuse with my ex-gf....."snuggle me with your ample bossom, or I'll freeze to death!"
-psy
I had a pet wild mouse that made it to seven. He ran about a mile a day in his wheel, and ate mostly peanuts.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I'm diabetic. Type I, juvenile onset. I have less insulin produced in my body than that damn mouse has in its whole life. Yet the lack of a working pancreas will reduce my lifespan, not extend it. Certainly not to 130-odd years.
And I definitely won't get to snuggle up to Leia "just to keep warm".
Dammit, I wanna be a lab mouse when I grow up.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
The number of human years = 4
Mouse years = 136
The writer of this article switched it around. It happens.
If you want to see more of this type of research which will eventually be applied to humans, you can contribute to the Methuselah Mouse Prize. This prize will be awarded to the longest lived mouse.
http://www.methuselahmouse.org/
Sounds like something that appears in the begining of a sci-fi thriller.
Anyway, yom huledet same'akh!
Slashdot community, please notice: I am looking for a girlfriend.
Nave H. Weiss
How do you sungle, anyway?
From Longevity Meme: As the founders of the Methuselah Mouse prize realized, healthy life extension in mice is a yardstick by which the public measures possibilities for the future of human health and longevity. Long-lived mice will mean that long-lived people are not too far off. Aubrey de Grey thinks that we could largely defeat aging in mice in a decade, given the right level of funding - certainly food for thought.
Uh, son, we never had the heart to tell you this, but there were about ten Mr. Cheeses.
Love,
Dad