From the Home Board - Mostly Faggots But The Occasional Interesting Post
Part of my medical practice involves anti-aging. The future is near. And yes, the research being done in the area is real.
Scientists in a Harvard lab for anti-aging have already discovered how to insert 3 genes into mice, converting their 80-year-old human equivalent animals into twenty-year-olds.
Even the arthritis, dementia, diabetes, and other age-related diseases in the rodents diminished or resolved. Soon, we as humans will understand how to live longer, "suspend life," and even reverse the effects of aging.
As with AI, there will be many ethical discussions around this new discovery.
Scientists have discovered a protein called Balon that acts like a pause button, stopping and starting cell activity in microbes.
Balon, found in Arctic bacteria, is common in 20% of bacterial genomes. It halts the cell’s ribosome, stopping protein production even mid-process.
This ability to pause and restart life could revolutionize space travel, allowing cells—and potentially humans—to enter suspended animation during long journeys to Mars and beyond.
Evolutionary molecular biologist Sergey Melnikov: "We live on a dormant planet. About 60% of microbial cells are in hibernation, conserving energy until conditions are better."
This discovery could help engineer organisms to survive harsh space environments by mimicking Balon's dormancy and rapid activation abilities.
Sources: Quanta Magazine, Laboratory News, Case Western Reserve University