Methuselah Flies

Methuselah Flies presents a trailblazing project on the biology of aging. It describes research on the first organisms to have their lifespan increased, and their aging slowed, by hereditary manipulation. These organisms are fruit flies from the species Drosophila melanogaster, the great workhorse of genetics. Michael Rose and his colleagues have been able to double the lifespan of these insects, and improved their health in numerous respects as well. The study of these flies with postponed aging is one of the best means we have of understanding, and ultimately achieving, the postponement of aging in humans. As such, the carefully presented detail of this book will be of value to research devoted to the understanding and control of aging.Methuselah Flies: ? is a tightly edited distillation of twenty years of work by many scientists? contains the original publications regarding the longer-lived fruit flies? offers commentaries on each of the topics covered ? new, short essays that put the individual research papers in a wider context? gives full access to the original data ? captures the scientific significance of postponed aging for a wide academic audienc

The conquest of aging is now within our grasp. It hasn't arrived yet, writes Michael R. Rose, but a scientific juggernaut has started rolling and is picking up speed. A long tomorrow is coming. In The Long Tomorrow, Rose offers us a delightfully written account of the modern science of aging, spiced with intriguing stories of his own career and leavened with the author's engaging sense of humor and rare ability to make contemporary research understandable to nonscientists. The book ranges from Rose's first experiments while a graduate student--counting a million fruit fly eggs, which took 3,000 hours over the course of a year--to some of his key scientific discoveries. We see how some of his earliest experiments helped demonstrate that "the force of natural selection" was key to understanding the aging process--a major breakthrough. Rose describes how he created the well-known Methuselah Flies, fruit flies that live far longer than average. Equally important, Rose surveys the entire field, offering colorful portraits of many leading scientists and shedding light on research findings from around the world. We learn that rodents given fifteen to forty percent fewer calories live about that much longer, and that volunteers in Biosphere II, who lived on reduced caloric intake for two years, all had improved vital signs. Perhaps most interesting, we discover that aging hits a plateau and stops. Popular accounts of Rose's work have appeared in The New Yorker, Time magazine, and Scientific American, but The Long Tomorrow is the first full account of this exciting new science written for the general reader. "Among his peers, Rose is considered a brilliantly innovative scientist, who has almost single-handedly brought the evolutionary theory of aging from an abstract notion to one of the most exciting topics in science."--Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker

Methuselah's Pillar moves at quantum speed as the action thriller combines worlds of germ warfare, espionage, myth and ancient history. A shepherd minding his flock thinks he's heard thunder. He's soon running for his life as rockets swoosh by. A missile explodes on a ravine hillside and opens a crevasse. He dives in for cover but falls into an ancient sanctuary where he finds a lost ancient artifact known as Methuselah's Pillar. According to legend, Methuselah had received the inscribed pillar from his seven times great grandfather, Adam, and then went on to become the oldest man who ever lived. Later, Moses possessed the pillar and delivered the Hebrews from the powerful Egyptian army with miracles. Did some of Moses' divine help come from another time and place? Does the pillar contain information, secrets, that today's scientists could find extremely helpful, or deadly, to humanity? American surveillance drones in Afghanistan discover something that demands closer investigation. Samantha Conway, a renowned archaeologist and expert in ancient writings, soon finds herself caught between the CIA and insurgents in a race to translate miraculous recipes of life and death as the last and most deadly of Moses' plagues returns.

Few creatures are as universally despised as flies. Blamed for pestilence and plagues, they were publicly excommunicated from the medieval church. Beelzebub, “the lord of the flies,” was said to be the embodiment of evil, and, for centuries, flies were considered the result of spontaneous generation—the unnatural consequence of rotting meat. Fly explores the history of this much-maligned creature and then turns to examine its newfound redemption through science. The secrets of the fly’s versatile powers of flight, Steven Connor reveals, are only beginning to be understood and appreciated. Its eyes and wings, for instance, have evolved so perfectly that they provide inspiration for some of today’s most daring technological and scientific innovations. And the humble fruit fly, Connor demonstrates, stands at the center of revolutionary advances in genetic research. Connor delights in tracking his lowly subject through myth, literature, poetry, painting, film, and biology. Humans live in close and intimate quarters with flies, but Fly is the first book to give these common creatures their due.

Just as the health costs of aging threaten to bankrupt developed countries, this book makes the scientific case that a biological "bailout" could be on the way, and that human aging can be different in the future than it is today. Here 40 authors argue how our improving understanding of the biology of aging and selected technologies should enable the successful use of many different and complementary methods for ameliorating aging, and why such interventions are appropriate based on our current historical, anthropological, philosophical, ethical, evolutionary, and biological context. Challenging concepts are presented together with in-depth reviews and paradigm-breaking proposals that collectively illustrate the potential for changing aging as never before. The proposals extend from today to a future many decades from now in which the control of aging may become effectively complete. Examples include sirtuin-modulating pills, new concepts for attacking cardiovascular disease and cancer, mitochondrial rejuvenation, stem cell therapies and regeneration, tissue reconstruction, telomere maintenance, prevention of immunosenescence, extracellular rejuvenation, artificial DNA repair, and full deployment of nanotechnology. The Future of Aging will make you think about aging differently and is a challenge to all of us to open our eyes to the future therapeutic potential of biogerontology.

Stories of long-lived animal species—from thousand-year-old tubeworms to 400-year-old sharks—and what they might teach us about human health and longevity. Opossums in the wild don’t make it to the age of three; our pet cats can live for a decade and a half; cicadas live for seventeen years (spending most of them underground). Whales, however, can live for two centuries and tubeworms for several millennia. Meanwhile, human life expectancy tops out around the mid-eighties, with some outliers living past 100 or even 110. Is there anything humans can learn from the exceptional longevity of some animals in the wild? In Methusaleh’s Zoo, Steven Austad tells the stories of some extraordinary animals, considering why, for example, animal species that fly live longer than earthbound species and why animals found in the ocean live longest of all. Austad—the leading authority on longevity in animals—argues that the best way we will learn from these long-lived animals is by studying them in the wild. Accordingly, he proceeds habitat by habitat, examining animals that spend most of their lives in the air, comparing insects, birds, and bats; animals that live on, and under, the ground—from mole rats to elephants; and animals that live in the sea, including quahogs, carp, and dolphins. Humans have dramatically increased their lifespan with only a limited increase in healthspan; we’re more and more prone to diseases as we grow older. By contrast, these species have successfully avoided both environmental hazards and the depredations of aging. Can we be more like them?

Have you ever wondered why we age and if you could slow its progression? In DECODING LONGEVITY, aging expert Dr. Bryant Villeponteau offers a full spectrum biological and genetic review of the aging process in layman's language. He condenses a wealth of practical information for those interested in extending their health and longevity, including dietary, exercise, and supplement recommendations that could add decades to your healthspan. Dr. Villeponteau looks in detail at the last 20 years of aging research, and explores future developments, including the exponential increases in technology that will provide powerful tools for extending healthy longevity over the next 20 to 40 years.

This is not science fiction. It’s a voyage on the arrow of time to the coming fifty years. The legendary palindromic character Mr. Qfwfq from Italo Calvino’s collection of short stories, The Cosmicomics, will go with us – he who knows all the answers but will give out no hints. He will help us to discover the innovations that will have changed our lives by 2062, when, riding astride Halley’s Comet, our omniscient extraterrestrial will return to visit us.In this book, we shall learn how astronomers will devote themselves to the study of the mysterious force of dark energy, which makes up some three-quarters of the Universe. We shall also delve deeply into the study of our Earth, to exploit the immense thermal energy that lies beneath our feet. We shall solve another enigma in today’s science: the origin of life. We shall come to understand how to develop direct contacts between our brains and the rest of the world. We shall learn about the future of genetics, the reason for the longevity of Methuselah flies and the quest for prime numbers. These are only some of the exciting and important discoveries to be revealed in this intriguing book, which is designed for a broader public and not only for science fiction devotees.