Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 2 Jan 2013 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101109/09054111770/dailydirt-get-little-bit-older-little-bit-slower.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101109/09054111770/dailydirt-get-little-bit-older-little-bit-slower.shtml longer lives? Here are just a few links on extending our lifespans indefinitely.

• Do short people live longer than tall people? Studies have shown mixed results over the last 100 years, but more recent studies are leaner towards shorter people having a slightly longer life expectancy. [url]
• The immortal jellyfish has been studied for its unique ability to reverse its aging and repeat its lifecycle without dying. However, there aren't that many jellyfish experts in the world, and we still don't know much about how/why this creature can seemingly live forever. [url]
• Nature (the scientific journal) has made several articles on aging open and free to the public. The science of senescence is fascinating, even if it hasn't really resulted in immortality. Who wants to live forever, anyway? [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101109/09054111770 Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100831/04035710840/dailydirt-who-wants-to-live-forever.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100831/04035710840/dailydirt-who-wants-to-live-forever.shtml Methuselah Foundation has several monetary prizes for researchers in the field of life extension interventions. Here are just a few other interesting research studies on aging.

• Little worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) on the International Space Station are actually living longer in a micro-gravity environment than their earth-bound relatives. Researchers have identified several genes that contribute to this unexpected lengthening of longevity, but living on a space station isn't the fountain of youth. [url]
• The cost of sequencing the human genome has fallen dramatically from $3 billion for the first one... to a few thousand dollars. Having access to the information in our DNA could lead to lifespans of 150 years, but getting hit by a bus would still be a problem. [url]
• Certain kinds of exercise may extend your life more than others. Aerobic exercise is correlated with living a bit longer than non-aerobic exercise -- so expect a few more infomercials to start plugging exercise equipment with claims of helping you live longer. [url]
• Senescent cells can no longer divide, and they might bring down neighboring cells and create various symptoms of aging. Eliminating these senescent cells could lead to more age-resistant organs -- and people living longer (perhaps as undead zombies). [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100831/04035710840 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110809/12492815455/dailydirt-biological-discoveries.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110809/12492815455/dailydirt-biological-discoveries.shtml

The jellyfish species, Turritopsis nutricula, can exhibit immortality under the right conditions. And it's spreading across the globe by hitchhiking in ship ballast water. [url]

People who say they can sense magnetic fields might not be totally crazy. There's a light-sensitive protein in the human eye (a protein that is found in almost every animal, too) that can respond to magnetic fields. [url]

A nematode worm that lives about 2 miles below the Earth's surface in a South African gold mine can exist happily with very little oxygen as long as it can eat thousands of bacteria every day. Halicephalobus mephisto is the first complex life form found at such an extreme depth. [url]

To discover other interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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