Longevity Gene Found

quixote9 writes "Calorie restriction while maintaining nutrient levels has long been known to dramatically increase life spans. Very different lab animals, from worms to mice, live up to 50% longer (or even more) on the restricted diets. However, so far, nobody has been able to figure out how this works. Scientists at the Salk Institute have found a specific gene in worms (there's a very similar one in people) that is directly involved in the longevity effect. That opens up the interesting possibility that doctors may someday be able to activate that gene directly and we can live long and prosper . . . without giving up chocolate."

Comments

Re:OTOH

[Virtual_Raider]

And another problem with that is that We The People like the way we live, whatever it may be, because that's the way we live. We grow attached to our culture and the longer we spend inside it, the harder it is for the majority to view it with a critical eye and weed out its issues. Then throw more people that learn and inherit that culture in the mix, and I think that nothing short of one of those fabled "inflection points" will modify it.

Re:Interesting similarities

[phayes]

TFA is about how severely curtailing caloric input extends lifespan. It mentions someone who eats very little for breakfast, nothing for lunch & a normal meal for dinner. As you didn't mention that the only similarity between someone who severely limits his caloric intake & muslims during ramadan is that they do not eat during the day, most people who were ignorant of Islam would mistakenly believe that caloric input goes down when it is practiced. As that is certainly not the case, I felt that a correction was needed. Your getting moderated +5 proves my point. Do you honestly think that "Hey people in my religion don't eat during the day just like the guy in the article" deserves the mod points it received?