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Longevity Gene Found

Posted by samzenpus on from the you're-older-than-you've-ever-been dept.

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."

17 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. People demand it by ch-chuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    Give me immortality, or give me death!

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:People demand it by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would love to be immortal, but only for a while...

      --
      "But this one goes to 11!"
  2. Retirement age.. by rf0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If we do live longer to say 150 and you retire at say 70 would you really want to spend 80 years doing nothing..

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    Cheap UK and US VPS
  3. Gene sequence in hex is... by Bob54321 · · Score: 5, Funny

    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

    (That is going to hurt my karma but I am still no bored of that joke...)

    (OK, maybe a little over it)

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    :(){ :|:& };:
  4. Re:Today's society by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Great. Like we really need the Boomer generation hanging around for another 90 years.

  5. Re:Ponce de León still searching... by yoprst · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't worry! Goverments all around the world are already working on this problem. Lower prison terms, sensible immigration policies, and humane international policies are already there. More to come...

  6. tinfoil response by u-bend · · Score: 5, Funny

    How long do we really want these worms to live? Till they become sentient long-lived invertebrate overlords?

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    u-bend
    1. Re:tinfoil response by u-bend · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was just thinking that if we work on their size too, maybe they'll start producing spice and then space exploration will start getting really interesting.

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      u-bend
    2. Re:tinfoil response by dim5 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Relax... they still haven't found treatment for the lay-on-the-sidewalk-until-you-dry-up gene. If they get out of hand, we'll just turn a sprinkler on them.

      --

      Is something burning?
      Oh, it's my karma.

  7. Re:Ponce de León still searching... by Bogtha · · Score: 2, Funny

    How is our great-grandkids' generation supposed to support millions of supercentenarians?

    Won't somebody please think of the great-grandchildren!?

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    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  8. They all got it wrong by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 5, Funny

    Healthy food does not prolonge life, it just make it seem so long and boring you want to die.

  9. Where did the funding come from? by lar3ry · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why do I have the feeling that this study was funded by the Ira Howard foundation?

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    "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"
  10. Re:CNN Did a story about this ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    There was a couple on there who' daily calorie count could not exceed 640 I think it was. Still running DOS, huh? (But who'd need more than 640 cal., anyway?)
  11. Live long and prosperous by coldhg · · Score: 2, Funny

    So, can we expect long lifes like vulcans have?
    Does this gene transforms our ears in pointy ones?
    ...

  12. Awesome! by azav · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now we can have worms that live FOREVER!

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    - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
  13. Re:Who would want to live forever? by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    3 men in an old-age home were comparing notes.

    The 70-year-old said that he needs to go to the toilet first thing in the morning, and it takes him 10 minutes just to get out of bed, and another half-hour in the can, so he has to get up at 6:30 if he's going to make it for breakfast at 7:00

    The 80-year-old said "You think that's bad? It takes me half an hour to get out of bed, and an HOUR in the toilet, so I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning if I'm going to eat breakfast at 7:00. Heck, I have to take half a viagra so I don't end up pissing on my slippers!

    The 90-year-old says "You young'uns ... I wake up at 6:55, have a piss, take a shit, and I'm all done by 7:00 ... then I have breakfast, while they change my sheets."

  14. Great.... by Wookietim · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh great, now George W. Bush will live forever! The survivors will envy the dead.

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    http://timcol6.freehostia.com/