Lifespans predictable at early age

February 12, 2014 7:46 PM

Worm study suggests that activity in mitochondria determines ageing. More evidence for the mitochondria theory of ageing?
posted by aleph (12 comments total)

When 900 years old, you reach… Look as good, you will not.

No wait, that's midichlorians.
posted by radwolf76 at 8:24 PM on February 12, 2014 [10 favorites]

This would suggest that longevity is a matrilineal trait, I'd love to see a study take a look at this in humans. I think you could use a broad set of genealogical records to do it pretty simply.
posted by borkencode at 8:34 PM on February 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

So in 2084, the Robotrons come...and increasingly, I find myself hoping they're us. I would love to be an autonomous consciousness, no longer dependent on this bag of meat and mitochondria for survival.

Also, what about telomeres?
posted by limeonaire at 9:15 PM on February 12, 2014

So in 2084, the Robotrons come...

The death arenas will sound *awesome*.
posted by smidgen at 11:26 PM on February 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

Further study is required to determine what effect the farandolae have on aging.
posted by The Tensor at 12:14 AM on February 13, 2014 [5 favorites]

This isn't going to be as helpful to me in planning my 2014 events calendar as I had initially hoped.
posted by Suggestive_Bobcat at 4:38 AM on February 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Interesting, but as always with focused experiments like these, I suspect this is only one aspect of a much larger process. If scientists can stimulate mitochondria into flashing more frequently and accelerate aging, it only stands to reason that some natural mitochondrial aging is happening due to external stimuli as well, which opens up another whole can of worms. So to speak.
posted by aught at 6:32 AM on February 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

Remember that cyclops character in Krull that was cursed with knowing the day of his death? No? Oh, you're not from the 80s. Well then you need to watch waves 1 through 75 of Robotron 2084 with the speakers cranked up to understand the banter here.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:52 AM on February 13, 2014

borkencode: "This would suggest that longevity is a matrilineal trait"

Purely anecdotally... that has been my observation.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:41 AM on February 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Why hasn't anyone made an FPS Robotron?
posted by fullerine at 10:49 AM on February 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Because it would be like making an 2d retro version of Portal. You could do it by making compromises in how it played -- but it wouldn't be the same game, and it would definitely not be as good.
posted by smidgen at 8:54 PM on February 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

On the other hand, Tempest was started from the premise of 3d space invaders -- so maybe it would be fertile ground to grow something completely different.
posted by smidgen at 8:56 PM on February 13, 2014