• AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    That reversibility makes a strong case for the fact that the main drivers of aging aren’t mutations to the DNA, but miscues in the epigenetic instructions that somehow go awry.

    Once “aged” in this way, within a matter of weeks Sinclair saw that the mice began to show signs of older age—including grey fur, lower body weight despite unaltered diet, reduced activity, and increased frailty.

    The researchers are attaching a biological switch that would allow them to turn the clock on and off by tying the activation of the reprogramming genes to an antibiotic, doxycycline.

    Sinclair is currently lab-testing the system with human neurons, skin, and fibroblast cells, which contribute to connective tissue.

    That could mean that a host of diseases—including chronic conditions such as heart disease and even neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s—could be treated in large part by reversing the aging process that leads to them.

    Sinclair has rejuvenated the eye nerves multiple times, which raises the more existential question for bioethicists and society of considering what it would mean to continually rewind the clock on aging.


    The original article contains 1,267 words, the summary contains 178 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com
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      1 year ago

      What a bullshit title.

      Its not because A makes you older (or here, makes mice look older) that you are solving aging by removing A.

      Eating, in the long run,makes us older.

      • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Thank you for this insight! I will stop eating immediately and die looking like I’ve barely aged from today.

      • SSUPII
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        1 year ago

        If eating makes people older I am ancient

        • Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com
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          1 year ago

          It’s the function of metabolism that makes us age, the process of living.

          So yes, processing food is a key part what uses us and makes us ahe. That doesn’t mean people should stop eating, which seems to be a hard concept to grasp.

          • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            That doesn’t mean people should stop eating, which seems to be a hard concept to grasp.

            Damn, you should edit your original comment and put that in, I haven’t eaten for a whole 30 minutes now since I read your comment!

            This is really difficult to grasp, almost as difficult to grasp as the concept of a joke.

            Actually to be serious for a second, I thought restricting how much you ate was proven to slow aging but obviously not stopping eating entirely.

            • Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com
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              1 year ago

              Ha ha yeah, sometimes I misread the tongue in cheek for irony I guess :-)

              Intermittent fasting makes wonders for short lived animals, extending both their lifespan, but, also as important, their health span.

              In longer living animals, like humans, it can make a longer health span, mostly if you’re overweight or a couch potato. Maybe more, there are studies but they are hard to do and obviously takes a long time for long lived animals. It won’t affect a normal lifespan.