DNA Sequenced of Woman Who Lived To 115 175
chrb writes "The DNA of W115 — an anonymous woman who lived to the age of 115 years and left her body to science — has been sequenced. Despite her old age, W115 showed no signs of dementia or heart disease, and tests at the age of 113 showed she had the mental abilities of a woman aged 60-75 years. Dr. Henne Holstege of the Department of Clinical Genetics at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam has suggested W115 had rare genetic changes in her DNA which protected against Alzheimer's and other late-life diseases."
Re:Grammar Nazi (Score:0, Insightful)
Time is short and we like it when the most important word appears first. Sorry but the ability to skim through a bunch of titles quickly trumps grammar.
Re:Hopefully (Score:4, Insightful)
That's a lame hope...
I hope we find the underlying cause and determine that simple dietary and behavioral changes will make such diseases fleetingly rare.
Re:Hopefully (Score:5, Insightful)
Because if this is done in the germ line, it will end in a social catastrophy.
What will happen when a group of people can say with reason that they are better humans then the rest of us? Today, it is possible to climb the social ladder because if you raise your kid right, he might not be so different from the kid of a millionaire, but when the millionaire kids are more intelligent and healthy by default, how is anyone ever going to go up in society?
Imagine the riots that will happen once 90% of the population has no chance at getting a good job or ever having a family member get a good job, not because they do not work hard, but because they are "lesser" humans than the 10% on top.
The only way this technology can ever be used for enhancement without creating a dystopia is if the state intervenes to raise the bottom along with the top, but that is also difficult due to the costs, and the fact the rich will be the only ones who can keep up with the newer and newer "models" of DNA enhacement.
Re:Hopefully (Score:4, Insightful)
when the millionaire kids are more intelligent and healthy by default
They already are. Better food / less heavy metal contamination / mental stimulation results in higher intelligence. Its laughable to claim rich kids are not healthier than other kids, first of all on average they're probably the only kids permitted regular pediatrician visits.
Re:Hopefully (Score:4, Insightful)
Diet and learned behavior also run in families.
Re:Hopefully (Score:3, Insightful)
4: insightful?
"Today, it is possible to climb the social ladder ...Imagine the riots that will happen once 90% of the population has no chance at getting a good job or ever having a family member get a good job, not because they do not work hard, but because they are "lesser" humans than the 10% on top."
You do realize it's exactly the same being born in a poor family on the wrong continent today?
Or you wanna say the opportunities is the same for someone born here in Sweden or in a wealthy family in the US as it is in a village in Somalia?