Researchers Analyze DNA From 'Supercentenarians' Aged 110+ To Discover Secret To Longevity (nytimes.com) 98
biobricks writes: Scientists looking for clues to healthy longevity in people in their 90s and 100s haven't turned up a whole lot. It is thought that the DNA of the very old may be a good place to look, but people over 110 are one in five million in the United States. The New York Times chronicles one scientific quest to collect their DNA (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source). From the report: "James Clement, a self-described 'citizen-scientist,' has collected blood, skin and saliva samples from individuals aged 110-plus in 14 states and seven countries during the past six years, The New York Times reports. Mr. Clement has detected 2,500-plus differences between supercentenarian DNA and the general population. However, with a sample size of only some three dozen genomes, his team is still working to determine which genes are significant. One analysis suggested supercentenarians tended to inherit fewer genetic variations related to conditions like heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. However, since supercentenarians also tend to be more healthy than the general population, some researchers hypothesize there are other genetic benefits at play. For example, supercentenarians may boast genes that protect them from aspects of aging." Mr. Clement plans to release DNA sequences from the project, called the New England Centenarian Study, this month.
The Secret To Longevity (Score:5, Funny)
Don't Die.
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... thats not a secret.
May as well be, since no one has figured out how to do it.
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Depends heavily on whether you're just talking about extending life, or about slowing aging. When these 110 year-olds were 55, did they look/feel like most people do at 40?
There's also evidence that there's a genetic benefit to living beyond fertility - humans and orcas are among a very few species where females go through menopause and become infertile. Why? What genetic benefit is there is specifically removing fertility? There might be a clue in that in both species grandmothers play an important role
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Not really, see my reply above. "Step-mothers" have no genetic investment in their "step-sons" - in fact the relationship doesn't really exist in nature, it's a relatively recent creation of human culture, as part of the ongoing attempt to impose sexual monogamy on a moderately promiscuous species (presumably to improve social stability - kind of hard to build an empire when all the men are constantly competing for tail)
Similarly, we don't really see any such relationship between fathers and their offsprin
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No, but in both species males typically stay in the mother's pod/tribe/household, while females typically leave to join another one.
There's also the fact that, until menopause, females are in sexual competition with their adult daughters (children are genetically preferable to grandchildren), but not their sons. Which means they have much greater incentive to coach and otherwise invest in their son's reproductive successes, indirectly benefiting from the much greater risk/reward male reproductive strategy.
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Nevermind - I misremembered. Orca pods are matrilineal, as was pointed out below. So please dismiss my post as the misdirected ruminations of a decaffeinated mind.
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There might be a clue in that in both species grandmothers play an important role in caring for and training their son's children.
Actually, human grandmothers help with their daughter's children. Not so much with their son's children.
Several studies, including this one [royalsocie...ishing.org], have found that when the maternal grandmother is part of the household, children grow faster and are more likely to survive. Paternal grandmothers confer far less benefit, and may actually be detrimental.
Orcas live in matrilineal pods, and grandmothers generally have no role in rearing their sons' offspring.
Disclaimer: My wife's mother lives with us, and my kids are
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Damn, you're right. How did I misremember so badly?
Also, you have my condolences. Hope you don't deserve them...
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Depends heavily on whether you're just talking about extending life, or about slowing aging.
Sure - have you seen these folk? In no way shape or form have they slowed aging.
If I could live everything after puberty in my 30's, I'd say go for it. The problem with any age extension is that it's all on the wrong end.
When these 110 year-olds were 55, did they look/feel like most people do at 40?
It's a good question, but I still revert back to the evidence at hand. Most of these people look every bit of 110 years old. When I see one, I'm immediately struck by how they look like King Tut's mummy. Do not want that to be my fate.
There's also evidence that there's a genetic benefit
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There have been some interesting advances in anti-aging research in recent years - I recall a TED talk by a woman a few years ago who manged to halve the aging speed in... roundworms I think it was. If something similar could be made to work for humans that would mean, not living your whole life in your thirties, but at least seeming to physically be in your thirties while you're actually in your 60s and 70s. It'd also mean puberty hits in your twenties or thirties, which would give people more time to gro
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There have been some interesting advances in anti-aging research in recent years - I recall a TED talk by a woman a few years ago who manged to halve the aging speed in... roundworms I think it was. If something similar could be made to work for humans that would mean, not living your whole life in your thirties, but at least seeming to physically be in your thirties while you're actually in your 60s and 70s. It'd also mean puberty hits in your twenties or thirties, which would give people more time to grow before they become physically ready for reproduction. Theoretically it would also mean twice the length of old age, though you have to wonder how many of the deaths we attribute to "old age" are in fact the cumulative effect of damage of a lifetime of modern living - in which case the time between your body aging to the point where it starts "losing the fight" and eventual death might not actually be extended nearly as long as the rest of your lifespan.
The irony of all that is that it won't seem a day longer to us. We'll have adjusted to it almost immediately, and our perception oof our lifespan won't change much at all. We'll spend the same percentages of our life in each stage.
Certain parts will not adapt to the wear and tear. easily. Bone, that awesome organ of collagen and calcium phosphate has limits not based merely on cellular repair. I have personal experience in that area, with a lot of Ice Hockey injuries. Injury based arthritis in the knees, a
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We'll be able to accomplish far more though - how many brilliant scientists, artists, etc. were brought low by the ravages of age while the mastery of their art was still growing? The amount you could accomplish in a day would be no less, and we would have so many more days. In counterpoint, they say science (and society) advances as the old guard dies off. So, more accomplishment, but also more inertia to fight.
As to romance, there is of course an obvious solution - one with a long past. You don't fors
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What, exactly, is the genetic benefit of longevity? There ain't none beyond about 60 years
If your criterion is raw reproductive potential, no. But because the human species is intensely social, we derives benefit from the knowledge and insight of those who have seen a lot. Just to start with, grandparenting improves parenting.
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What, exactly, is the genetic benefit of longevity? There ain't none beyond about 60 years
If your criterion is raw reproductive potential, no. But because the human species is intensely social, we derives benefit from the knowledge and insight of those who have seen a lot. Just to start with, grandparenting improves parenting.
Meh, if there was such a big benefit, we wouldn't have entire fields working on trying to avoid aging.
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But because the human species is intensely social, we derives benefit from the knowledge and insight of those who have seen a lot.
Meh, if there was such a big benefit, we wouldn't have entire fields working on trying to avoid aging.
Your premise is flawed. Avoiding aging != wanting to be dumb and inexperienced. It means we don't want to get frail and die. By your logic, anti-aging research is about finding ways to get rid of old people.
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But because the human species is intensely social, we derives benefit from the knowledge and insight of those who have seen a lot.
Meh, if there was such a big benefit, we wouldn't have entire fields working on trying to avoid aging.
Your premise is flawed. Avoiding aging != wanting to be dumb and inexperienced. It means we don't want to get frail and die. By your logic, anti-aging research is about finding ways to get rid of old people.
Isn't that the goal after all? Seriously, a person would have to be insane if they wanted to live forever while undergoing the natural aging process. You look in a nursing home, almost entirely ancient people who are there because they are suffering from various elements of the aging process. What's the point of a decade or more of not having any idea of who you are?
I would much sooner be dead than that, and would happily trade a few decades of my own life as an alternative to that. If I could spend my li
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If your criterion is raw reproductive potential, no. But because the human species is intensely social, we derives benefit from the knowledge and insight of those who have seen a lot. Just to start with, grandparenting improves parenting.
Until only two-three centuries ago, most people were illiterate in pretty much every country of the world. In some countries that is still a part of living memory. Oral retelling was the primary means of passing everything and since they were illiterate they also couldn't take notes. Rote memorization was actually an essential skill, casting shadows far into modern education. Live was harsh and short, looking at tables from ancient Rome [quoracdn.net] show mortality was high in all age groups, only a small fraction would
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Sure, while "being really careful" might be a key component to living over 110 years in modern society, I suspect the real selecting factor will be revealed, decades or centuries from now when/if our society becomes mentally healthy enough to be capable of admitting it, to be just happiness.
Stress kills.
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Sure, while "being really careful" might be a key component to living over 110 years in modern society, I suspect the real selecting factor will be revealed, decades or centuries from now when/if our society becomes mentally healthy enough to be capable of admitting it, to be just happiness.
Stress kills.
So we aren't mentally healthy enough to know what you know for a fact? Mkay.
So what is your solution? Hard to imagine removing all stress from everyone. I'm not even certain that a stress free life is all that good of an idea. That idea comes from people who believe that happiness is a state of mind that needs to be constant euphoria. Sad to say, we have some generations raised to believe that.
So we end up with people addicted to opioids because they love that euphoric rush, we end up with so many wome
Message Found Encoded in DNA (Score:1)
Drink
More
Ovaltine
Oh, I know I'm really gonna get it for this one... (Score:1)
I applaud your cleverness, but you don't actually have to cite fiction to find a written record of the existence of a blood line of the type to which you allude. The word you're looking for is Nephilim [wikipedia.org].
A Sharp Sword (Score:2, Offtopic)
There can be only one.
Re:Waste of resources! (Score:5, Informative)
What are you on about? They didn't give them longevity. They just took samples from people who were already old.
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Excuse me but in most developed countries the older people are "supposed" to have paid into the system - Pensions, social security or whatever name-of-choice the country has, and are supposed to be taking the things they have been promised in exchange of paying into the system for over 4 decades.
If your country over-promised (...perhaps YOU let your politicians) and basic welfare turns into a ponzi scheme it's a problem with overspending and politicians that promised you the moon letting future generatio
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Old people are a drain on society. They suck up social security and medicare that young people have siphoned from their paychecks.
To express the idea of Social Security in a way that you young whippersnappers will understand, it's just like those times when you're at Starbucks and you pay for the person in line behind you.
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To express the idea of Social Security in a way that you young whippersnappers will understand, it's just like those times when you're at Starbucks and you pay for the person in line behind you.
No, because that would be your choice. Social Security is more like when you're at Starbucks and the person in line in front of you leaves you their bill, justifying it on the basis that the person in front of them did the same.
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Correlation not Cause (Score:5, Insightful)
I suspect it is reversed to a large extent.
That is, the super-centagarians are not healthy because of genetics, but instead it is impossible to become a supercetagarian unless you are lucky enough to be healthy.
If for example you get infected with pneumonia and survive, it would not surprise me that it would weaken your lungs by say 4% and you end up dying at 80. If you never got the pneumonia you might have lived to 101 merely because you had 100% lung functionality.
Being healthy makes you live longer, it is not always a sign of lack of bad mutations..
In fact, sometimes bad genetic mutations can make you live longer.
Good example are the dwarfs of Ecuador that have Laron Syndrome http://discovermagazine.com/20... [discovermagazine.com]. They are basically immune to cancer and diabetes, but suffer convulsive disorders (and also are short).
Re:It's the Diet, stupid. (Score:4, Informative)
There have been animal studies in which multiple copies of certain genes correlate with longer life.
Looked at another way, giant turtles live much longer than mayflies. The difference is genetic.
Genes that contribute to improved refolding of proteins, genes that cause a better immune system, and all sorts of other possibilities are waiting to be discovered.
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My friend's grandpa died at the age of 95 while plowing his field. He stopped to investigate something when he made some sort of mistake and got ran over. His diet was also heavy in meat and cheese and he was a chain
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I'm confused by the article, because I'm pretty sure that it's been known for more than a decade that 90%+ of all supercentarians have elevated (above normal) HDL. That's not merely "healthy," that's a specific blood profile variant.
...And maybe a good portion dumb luck (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm entirely certain genetics help but anyone living past 100 is quite likely living off of dumb luck.
The universe is a chaotic place after all.
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Irrelevant. People aren't immortal.
OK, but... (Score:3, Informative)
I think this is an interesting avenue of study but when I read:
James Clement, a self-described 'citizen-scientist,'
I get wary to the point of being totally turned off. Pretty soon I would expect to start getting banner ads for some new "miracle supplement" or something like that after after reading it. It wouldn't be bad to be wrong about this but the track record...
Even Universities and well-funded corporation get huckster scientists. The guy doing it alone by definition doesn't have the institutional filters in place to keep pipe dreams and wishful thinking at bay.
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Don't forget hate week starts next Wednesday.
And the profit motive is here today. And was here yesterday. And every day from here forward.
I can see that my reference to "institutional filters" went right over your head didn't it.
If it isn't (Score:5, Insightful)
Cuban cigars and 16+ year old single malt, I don't wanna live tp be that old...
You'd better study their lifestyles (Score:2)
And environment too.
Genetics is just a face of the coin.
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non-genetic circumstances (inheritance, lottery, lucky investment)
One could argue that the likelihood of getting an inheritance is genetic.
Genetics + Luck (Score:5, Informative)
There will certainly be genetic factors. To the comments about longevity being luck, of course that plays a role. Want to live to 100, don't get hit by a train, duh. Lot of illness is driven by luck. If you have a gene that makes you prone to cancer, that's no guarantee that you will get cancer. However, the fact remains that your chances of longevity are a lot better without that gene.
There have been some experiments with simpler life forms (fruit flies, iirc), where - in surprisingly few generations - they were able to triple the average lifespan through planned breeding. The selection criteria was simply to breed the critters as late as possible in their lives. In any case, the results are pretty clear proof that genetics play a decisive role in longevity.
Who has read Heinlein's novel Methusalah's Children [wikipedia.org]? The premise of the book was that someone had created a legacy - a couple of centuries ago - to encourage certain people to marry and have children (selected, iirc, by their grandparents' longevity). Based on what we know today, this would be entirely possible and reasonable. Equally possible and reasonable was the inevitable resentment felt by the rest of the human race, towards people who lived for hundreds of years. No one wants their neighbor to be smarter, richer or healthier than they, themselves are - humans rejoice in Schadenfreude, but we don't even have a word for the reverse.
Stay thin (Score:1)
Stay thin. I see a lot more pictures of old healthy thin people than of old healthy fat people.
No thanks.... (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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"Open Source your remains"
Eek. Can I at least GPL them? But then, I hear that licence is cancerous...
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The shouldn't look at Supercentenarians (Score:1)
Life is hard (Score:2)
That's why no one survives. ~ QotSA
Its for a commercial for telomeres (Score:1)
Jeanne Calment (Score:2)
Jeanne Calment lived to be 122... outlived her husband, Daughter and Grandson .. her Daughter and Grandson died at 36
She was almost never ill, was active her entire life, smoked but only one or two cigarettes a day, and had a healthy diet
No-one else in her family was long lived