Naked mole rats defy the biological law of aging
In the world of animal models, naked mole rats are the supermodels. They rarely get cancer, are resistant to some types of pain, and can survive up to 18 minutes without oxygen. But perhaps their greatest feat, a new paper suggests, is that they don't age.
The first study to analyze the life histories of thousands of naked mole rats has found that their risk of death doesn't go up as they grow older, as it does for every other known mammalian species. Although some scientists caution against any sweeping conclusions, many say the new data are important and striking.
"This is remarkably low mortality," says Caleb Finch, a biogerontologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles who was not involved in the new study. "At advanced ages, their mortality rate remains lower than any other mammal that has been documented."
Scientists have long noted that naked mole rats—burrowing rodents with wrinkled, pink skin and large protruding teeth that live in large, subterranean colonies—show few signs of aging and far surpass the life span expected of a rodent this size. Mice in captivity live at most 4 years; based on their size, naked mole rats would not be expected to live past 6 years. Instead, some live beyond 30 years, and even at that age breeding females stay fertile.
The scientists behind the research work at Calico, Google's biotechnology and anti-aging subsidiary.
Naked mole-rat mortality rates defy Gompertzian laws by not increasing with age (open, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.31157.001) (DX)
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @12:07AM (4 children)
The goal of life is not simply to live. It is to struggle and persevere, risk and get rewards. Simple survival is just lacks a purpose.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 31 2018, @12:11AM
0/10 weak argument against biological immortality
It won't stop you from eating a bullet, that's for sure. Or being murdered on the Ceres colony.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday January 31 2018, @02:02AM (1 child)
Wow, this is really dumb. No, the goal of life isn't to struggle, it's simply to survive and reproduce, that's it. Any biologist will tell you this. It seems that naked mole rats do a pretty good job of this, by not aging and staying fertile possibly indefinitely.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @05:18AM
Looks like each instance of naked mole rat has a statistically-determined time to live.
Determined solely by the probability of predation.
Apparently, their whole purpose for being is providing meals-on-wheels for cats and other higher-ups.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 31 2018, @04:48AM
Tell that to Antarctic krill - they reverse the aging process in the winter to conserve energy, then re-mature in the spring.
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