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UCLA Biologists Delay the Aging Process In Fruit Flies

Posted by Soulskill on from the mrs-frisby-and-the-fruit-flies-of-NIMH dept.

An anonymous reader writes:Life scientists at UCLA have located a gene in fruit flies which, when intentionally activated, increases lifespan by about 30%. The gene (called AMPK) is normal important as an energy sensor, usually triggered by cells with low energy levels. By triggering it at other times, the researchers slowed the fruit flies' aging process (PDF), even beyond the organ system in which the triggering occurred. "Walker said that the findings are important because extending the healthy life of humans would presumably require protecting many of the body's organ systems from the ravages of aging — but delivering anti-aging treatments to the brain or other key organs could prove technically difficult. The study suggests that activating AMPK in a more accessible organ such as the intestine, for example, could ultimately slow the aging process throughout the entire body, including the brain."

45 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. I don't want to live longer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Seriously. In Australia we're now being made to work until 70 before we can draw a pension. I don't want a career that spans an extra 2 or 3 decades. Especially in IT. I'm tired.

    1. Re: I don't want to live longer by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Most people in IT would really appreciate any tech that would allow them to keep working into their fifties.

    2. Re:I don't want to live longer by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      If you had a 401(k) or whatever your local equivalent is, or your own investments, you wouldn't have to rely on a pension.

  2. Method of delivery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Doctor to patient: You can take this and shove it up your ass. You'll live longer.

  3. Old news by buck-yar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Fitness community has been all over this for years http://suppversity.blogspot.co...

    1. Re:Old news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's really interesting! There's a common genetic disease called myoadenylate deaminase deficiency that explains a lot of fatigue issues - fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and whatnot . It's interesting to see correlations and effects of excess AMP discussed so thoroughly!

  4. Are they crazy? by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can't get rid of those beasts and they try to make them live longer?

    1. Re:Are they crazy? by Translation+Error · · Score: 2

      Personally, I live in dread of the day when we're overrun by immortal fruit flies and cancer-immune mice.

      --
      When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
  5. Still the same old beta, I see... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    With nobeta=1, it still took me four attempts to get from the front page to these comments without being redirected to the beta version. I came here to read comments, not look at pretty pictures.
    Does anyone know how long this âtestâ(TM) will last?

    1. Re:Still the same old beta, I see... by rHBa · · Score: 2

      I'm still trying to work out how to search for posts on the mobile/beta version of the website. So far the only option I can see is to 'Request Desktop Site' which gives me the original Slashdot.

  6. Re:Offtopic -1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I really doubt that simply having an abstract idea for a feature on some abstract device is sufficient to obtain IP protection.

    Otherwise, I now have a patent for antigravity boots. The boots would nullify gravity beneath the user's feet. No stealing my idea, now! Even though I have no idea how this could be accomplished, anyone who actually invents working a/g boots before my patent expires will owe me eleventy billion dollars. If they invent the boots after the patent (and my submarines!) expire, then they get no protection for their invention because it's now public domain!

    The sciences and useful arts have been advanced, suckas! Pay the fuck up!

  7. You've never had fruit flies? by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

    If you want to impress me how about shortening the life of fruit flies? 30% is a good start...

    --
    Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
    1. Re:You've never had fruit flies? by dave1791 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Pour vinegar into a bowl. Add a bit of liquid soap, to lower the surface tension. Place it next to the place where you have your fruit fly infestation and wait a day or two.

    2. Re:You've never had fruit flies? by Zak3056 · · Score: 2

      Pour vinegar into a bowl. Add a bit of liquid soap, to lower the surface tension. Place it next to the place where you have your fruit fly infestation and wait a day or two.

      So apparently you CAN catch more (fruit) flies with vinegar than with honey?

      --
      What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
    3. Re:You've never had fruit flies? by RandomSkratch · · Score: 2

      No kidding, the suckers are annoying enough!

      What's next? Biologists create extra hard exoskeleton on mosquito? Biologists attach wings to brown recluse?

    4. Re:You've never had fruit flies? by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

      To get rid of fruit flies I use a glass jar with an apple core inside and half a bottle of beer (dutch lager, but any beer should work). Put a piece of plastic over the top; secure it tightly with an elastic band and poke tiny holes in it with a toothpick. Sit it out near the fruitflies before work and when you get home 99% of them will be gone. The only drawback is that you waste half a beer on these little pests. But at least you can enjoy the other half in peace.

      --
      Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
    5. Re:You've never had fruit flies? by swillden · · Score: 1

      The same thing works just as well without the beer. I suppose the beer probably helps to kill them, but just the apple core and plastic do the job: the apple attracts them (I find a banana works better) and leads them through the holes in the plastic, but then they can't find their way back out so they just fly around inside the jar.

      When all (or nearly all) the flies are inside the jar, I just put it under the tap and run water over it until it fills up through the holes. Then leave it for a few minutes to drown them all, and dump it down the sink.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    6. Re:You've never had fruit flies? by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

      I originally tried with with just fruit and it wasn't very effective. After adding the beer, it was quite effective.

      --
      Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
    7. Re:You've never had fruit flies? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      When all (or nearly all) the flies are inside the jar, I just put it under the tap and run water over it until it fills up through the holes. Then leave it for a few minutes to drown them all, and dump it down the sink.

      You can just use some apple cider vinegar with a drop of detergent and skip the labor part (just take the plastic off and dump the mess down the drain). Refill & rekill.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  8. Normal Important by rHBa · · Score: 1

    The gene (called AMPK) is normal important as an energy sensor, usually triggered by cells with low energy levels.

    As opposed to really important?

  9. Old Saying by khr · · Score: 1

    Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

  10. Economic Impacts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's assume for a moment this is scalable to humans and passes the requisite clinical trials. We'll treat this as a given in a Euclidian proof.

    Premise 1: Humans will live longer, but this treatment will be expensive
    Premise 2: In the absence of substantive reform that mitigates cost to the patient, regardless of socio-economic status, this will stratify the have and hane-nots further.
    Premise 3: We already have a culture of the "disposable employee" in many markets, especially in retail, food-service, housekeeping and hospitality
    Premise 4: Humans, being self-aware, fear death
    Premise 5: If unchecked, stagnant wages relative to inflation are going to exacerbate the current US status-quo in terms of younger working adults competing with Boomers who refuse to retire and becoming lower-wage workers who become "disposable labor."
    Conclusion: The extended lifespans are going to require some serious economic, legislative and even societal shifts to accomodate. We may very well have to adjust the age of adulthood, our expectations of what one does in the traditional "early adluthood" and we will have to once again consider retirement is either a feint, or address the issues surrounding labor, the shortage of jobs realtive to workers and living wages, else we will see longer lifespans in the absence of these changes creating serious economic reprecussions. It's great this technology exists, however, we have to consider policy implications in addition to the scientific advancement. I do realize that the model is a fruitfly, and is a long way from mammal models and even further away from human clinical trials, but with the state of the Western economies as they all seem to be (according to the media nayway), then we really need to stop and consider the rammifications of a 30% increase in human lifespans.

    1. Re:Economic Impacts by sinij · · Score: 2

      You can make similar argument for any life-saving treatment, for example cardiac-health related. Any serious heart-related issue used to be terminal, but we largely addressed this and in process greatly increased average lifespan. Now, if you get to a hospital in time you likely to survive.

      Technically, your conclusion is invalid due to hidden premise tied to your Premise 1. What you are trying to implicate with your hidden premise is that life-extending treatment will be forever unaffordable to masses. While possible, this clearly goes against all historical precedent. The likely outcome that at first it will be expensive and unaffordable, then eventually due to economies of scale nearly everyone will have access to it. This "eventually" is short enough that it won't create H. G. Wells' morlocks out of treated population.

    2. Re:Economic Impacts by Cragen · · Score: 2

      this will stratify the have and hane-nots further.

      All of your premises assume that the ideas of "Haves" and "Have nots" are even valid. I would, ultimately, say those ideas are incorrect. No one "gets out alive" so to concentrate on that which cannot be kept is ultimately unwise. The idea that "those that die (or live) with the most toys win!" is quite ignorant. The idea that having or not having something is improving or worsening your life is a waste of good time. It's all relative and therefore mental gymnastics at its worst. Time to Wake up.

    3. Re:Economic Impacts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      if a life extension pill can be made cheaply (its a genetic trigger protein made by gene engineered yeast, and grown in bioreactors by the tanker load). you could buy a year's supply for 20 dollars. after the patent runs up in the US at any rate.

      sure it would not be easily available to the extremely poor (think Liberia), but the average american could easily afford it after the patent period runs out.

    4. Re:Economic Impacts by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Premise 5: If unchecked, stagnant wages relative to inflation are going to exacerbate the current US status-quo in terms of younger working adults competing with Boomers who refuse to retire and becoming lower-wage workers who become "disposable labor."

      I like your format, but there is a lot of assumption in this premise. I'd like to see it written out with more support, because historically where more labor is available, more jobs are created (although sometimes it takes time). Sometimes the jobs are silly things, like hiring someone to clip your toenails, but they're there.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:Economic Impacts by Sentrion · · Score: 1

      The "have vs have not" discussion is not about the dissatisfaction from having only basic cable when other people get to have HBO, it is about the "haves" who can almost literally buy elections, design their own regulations, and even engage in rent-seeking endeavors to force the public to buy their product, and the "have-nots" who don't even have time to think about their own disenfranchisement because they are literally struggling to keep paying basic needs such as shelter and food. To be honest, this is more of a concern for exploited workers in "developing" countries, but workers in the US have been watching their standard of living decline to the point now that they are becoming focused on maintaining a standard of living that keeps them employable. That is, they may have clothes that aren't rags, they may have convenient access to restroom and shower facilities, they may have enough nutrition to barely maintain sufficient health to do their job, and they may have transportation to and from their jobs, but there isn't any money left from their pay after a week of work. They are literally working for the sake of work with little or no joy, no expectation of a better tomorrow, no expectation that their kids will be better off, and worse, they fear that pushed just one notch further they will be sucked into the inescapable void of homeless and government dependency. Many Americans, unfortunately, are already dependent on government programs even though they work almost full time, or two or more jobs that combined exceed 40 hours each week. There are Americans who "admit" to having a drug addiction they don't even have because otherwise they would be denied the aid they need.

      You cannot force shame of dependency onto an entire population, deny access to the paid ears of their elected representatives, and then blame them for not taking "personal responsibility" for their circumstances after they played by the rules, worked hard to succeed at their jobs, lived frugally, pursued higher education, served their country with honor, saved and managed their own retirement accounts, only to be forced to empty those accounts to pay for food on today's table and today's rent. The only option left for them now to take "personal responsibility" is to take to the streets in a Bastille Day type fashion to correct a dysfunctional society. Recalling the Reign of Terror in France, I don't think that's how we would want to push the working masses to the brink.

      Oddly enough, many of the problems that are threatening working people could be corrected with either a laissez-faire free market approach, or an effective Scandinavian-style social-democratic system. But what we have here today in the US is a neo-feudal corporate oligarchy empowered by urban Fascism. Try bettering yourself by selling fruit from a street cart in any American city and see how far you get with no more than an upfront investment that a working person could actually save from living a Spartan existence to be just barely employable over the course of three months. For the sake of a fair and rational argument on behalf of American workers, let's presume that no taxes are evaded and no labor or business laws have to be broken to succeed, as in the case of those who use the "if the illegals can come here and succeed" fallacy.

  11. The have's and have nots by docwatson223 · · Score: 1

    Let's say this leads to human trials and proof - who gets it? What's the impact on population?

    1. Re:The have's and have nots by tomhath · · Score: 2

      Who gets medicine today? What's the impact of modern medicine on population?

  12. can't see this going wrong... by globaljustin · · Score: 1

    activating AMPK in a more accessible organ such as the intestine, for example

    "life extension"....heh....look at what these people do now with their lives....and they want to extend that....

    --
    Thank you Dave Raggett
  13. One thing we don't need by rossdee · · Score: 1

    One thing we don't need is longer living fruit flies. What are they going to eat in the winter

  14. Is this really necessary? by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

    "Males of this genus are known to have the longest sperm cells of any studied organism on Earth"

    Fruit Fly Sperm

    --
    Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
  15. Re:festina lente! by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

    I'm just glad that science finally found a way to help one of nature's most annoying pests live 30% longer. Now if only they can prolong Justin Bieber's career, I'll be happy.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  16. Re:can we give that to 16yo girls? by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 2

    I assume you have never had a 16yo girlfriend. Seriously, they are Very Bad News (tm). Even if you are 16. Probably even more so!

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
  17. Listen, can you hear the noise from my kitchen? by MindPrison · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's the sound of the fruit flies that reside in my kitchen cheering like mad, they apparently read Slashdot too.

    They're getting intelligent too, the other day - one of them discovered that beer/vinegar + dish-washing liquid is dangerous, so only ONE of the little buggers died - the rest steer towards my beer bottles the SECOND I open it, I swear to you - these bastards have developed some sort of high end technology for seeking my beer, chocolate or any fruit I have laying around. Their targeting systems should be adopted by the military, they're more goal oriented than a group of old people at the mall fighting over the last piece of meat.

    I'm going down to the kitchen right now to whack a few of the fat bastards.

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
    1. Re:Listen, can you hear the noise from my kitchen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I CAN hear the fruit flies in your kitchen. The flies are doing that bullshit dramatic slow clapping people always do in films, but never do in real life. I never would have guessed film makers got that from observing fruit flies.

  18. Great... by fullback · · Score: 2, Insightful

    More old geezers like me hanging on for another 20 years, waiting to die, who can't pee, filling up the pockets of corporations that own nursing homes, as I endure a miserable existence, forgetting who I am and why I'm wandering around in my pajamas with no money.

  19. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Slowing the aging process doesn't add 20 years of the worst health at the end of the life but would extend each portion of the process.

    IE, if the aging process was truly slowed 30% you'd get 30% longer years at 30, 40, 50 or whatever, not 20-25 years extra in the shape you'd be at 90.

  20. Trade-off? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    I bet there is some trade-off in organ or body ability. I doubt there is a "free lunch".

    In most organisms there is an inherent trade-off among efficiency, metabolism, and entropy.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  21. Re:Great... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    It's okay, peeing is overrated.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  22. Re:Old Time Religion by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Did NASA use the wrong unit again? Tsk tsk tsk.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  23. Re:can we give that to 16yo girls? by Sentrion · · Score: 1

    The drawback is that it keeps the body and the brain both from aging. Not sure if I want my 16 yo girlfriend to well, you know, like, keep the same mental maturity, or something like that, you know? Like, OMG, for real. LOL. BFN.

  24. Re:Great... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    ...who can't pee, filling up the pockets...

    Comma, or no comma?

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  25. Re:Great... by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

    Slowing the aging process doesn't add 20 years of the worst health at the end of the life but would extend each portion of the process.

    IE, if the aging process was truly slowed 30% you'd get 30% longer years at 30, 40, 50 or whatever, not 20-25 years extra in the shape you'd be at 90.

    I guess it depends on when this technique is applied. If you're an old geezer now, chances are you won't enjoy any more years with the 20-year-old-you's physique.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  26. Bar flies? by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

    Do you want bar flies? Because that’s how you get bar flies. Cougars too.

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.