Name: Mexican salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum) also known as an axolotl Where it lives: Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco, near Mexico City What it eats: a variety of small invertebrates, along with some small fish Why it’s awesome: Despite its rarity, the axolotl’s incredibly cute looks has made it one of the world’s most famous amphibians, … Read more
Telomeres are the “caps” that protect the ends of DNA strands from being destroyed by a cell. They are made up of areas of repeated DNA sequences combined with specific proteins at the ends of chromosomes — the tightly wound structures of DNA and proteins inside cells. Telomeres play a role in how fast cells … Read more
Einstein’s theory of general relativity upended humanity’s understanding of the universe more than a century ago, and since then, scientists have discovered that the steady march of time is anything but steady. Among the haunting implications of general relativity is that time passes more quickly at the top of every staircase in the world than … Read more
In Boston labs, old, blind mice have regained their eyesight, developed smarter, younger brains and built healthier muscle and kidney tissue. On the flip side, young mice have prematurely aged, with devastating results to nearly every tissue in their bodies. The experiments show aging is a reversible process, capable of being driven “forwards and backwards … Read more
How far would you go to increase your life span by 500%? One ant species engages in brutal colony-wide brawls to replace recently deceased queens — and the victor not only gains the throne, but also gets a dramatic boost to their longevity. Upon the death of a queen, Indian jumping ants (Harpegnathos saltator) battle … Read more
Death comes for all, but aging doesn’t — at least for some animal species. Two new studies published Thursday (June 23) in the journal Science found that turtles and tortoises have remarkably slow rates of aging. In captivity, without the stress of finding food and avoiding predators, some may not age at all. “That is … Read more
Researchers in the U.K. have developed a way to reverse the aging process in skin cells, turning back the biological clock by about 30 years. De-aging cells has become increasingly common in the last decade, with researchers reprogramming multiple mouse, rat and human cell types. But never before have cells been de-aged by so many … Read more
