The days are getting longer, and it's no longer dark outside when I drop my teenager at school for her early-bird class. I appreciate the light, of course, and there's something soothing about the rhythmic change of seasons.
If only we could extend our lifespan in a similar gentle, reliable manner.
The idea of living longer, and healthier, is the theme of my story for the new issue of Stanford Medicine magazine. It's my favorite kind of article - a dash of juicy science history, a panoply of dedicated scientists and a brand-new animal model (and my newest crush) that may open all kinds of research doors. Best of all, there's a sense of real progress in the field. From my article:
“Ways of prolonging human life span are now within the realm of possibility,” says professor of genetics and newbie fish keeper Anne Brunet, PhD. Brunet, who is an associate director of Stanford’s Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging, focuses her research on genes that control the aging process in animals such as the minnowlike African killifish I’d watched fiercely guarding his territory.
The killifish is especially important to researchers like Brunet because it has an extremely variable, albeit short, life span. One strain from eastern Zimbabwe completes its entire life cycle — birth, maturity, reproduction and death — within about three to four months. Another strain can live up to nine months.
It’s also a vertebrate, meaning it belongs to the same branch of the evolutionary tree as humans. This gives it a backbone up over more squishy models of aging like fruit flies or roundworms — translucent, 1-millimeter-long earth dwellers you could probably find in your compost pile if you felt like digging.
I hope you'll read the rest of my piece to learn more.
Previously: My funny Valentine – or, how a tiny fish will change the world of aging research, Stanford Medicine magazine reports on time’s intersection with health and Living loooooooonger: A conversation on longevity
Photo of Anne Brunet by Gregg Segal
