Stephen Treaster News Today

I went to the Cape to dive into the expanding field of "geroscience."

Faye Flam BLOOMBERG – It’s still something of a mystery that a mouse lives only a year or two, a dog maybe 12, and a human about 80. Researchers disagree about the causes for such stark differences in longevity. Finding the answer might point to new strategies for aging-related diseases – cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease […]

Different genes have been found to separate long-lived species from short-lived ones.

By analyzing the genomes of 23 remarkably long-lived fish species, a study found two metabolic pathways associated with longevity.

 heat tolerance Solutions to climate change often bring to mind engineering or international policy. At HMS, however, one effort arose from an unexpected corner: genetics. “Climate change has been coming for a long time, now, and there are many in our department who feel we as geneticists have a responsibility to do something about it—work to slow, halt, or reverse it as well as prepare the living world for the consequences of it,” said Chao-Ting Wu, professor of genetics in the Blavatni...

Harvard Medical School Some 25 to 30 million years ago, the Earth’s temperature fell. Ice caps grew and sea level dropped. Plants and animals died off as their environments rapidly shifted. By STEPHANIE DUTCHEN Some species, however, survived the upheaval. Among them were Antarctic fishes harboring genes that produced antifreeze proteins. The proteins prevented ice crystals from forming in cells, allowing the fish to avoid freezing solid in ocean waters that frequently dip...