The Worm That Turned…500
‘WHO wants to live forever? asked Freddie Mercury who, no sooner was the question out of his mouth, keeled over and died.
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| ‘You’d be miserable too if you had to eat nothing but mud for 500 years, mate’ |
If you are one of those who answered yes to that question, then there is good news for you in this mornings Independent, which reports that a tiny worm may hold the the secret to the elixir of life.
Scientists have apparently discovered that, by manipulating the worms genes and tweaking its hormones [which sounds like something straight out of the pages of Forum], they can extend a worms life to 140 days.
That may not sound much, but the paper explains that it is about six times its usual lifespan and the human equivalent to 500 years.
In human terms, these animals would correspond to healthy, active 500-year-olds, the University of California scientists report.
However, they warned that no matter how much manipulating and tweaking they did, they couldnt extend human life by long enough to see Iain Duncan Smith as Prime Minister.’
Posted: 24th, October 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
