AIs, Superflies, and the Path to Immortality

Interpretation of genetic data from fruit flies bred for longevity suggests the major culprit [behind poor health, disease and limited healthspan] may not be accumulated damage, or any particular mechanism, but rather the intersection of biological complexity with evolutionary adaptation By Ben Goertzel August 10, 2010 Excerpt from the August 10, 2010 H+ Magazine Editor’s Blog H+ Magazine (published online August 12, 2010) Drosophila Melanogaster Photo: michael* . . . Genescient’s . . . Chief Scientist (and professor at the University of California at Irvine), the evolutionary geneticist... 
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Live Longer With Evolution? Evidence May Lie in Fruit Flies

Through selective breeding, Dr. Rose was able to create a long-lived line of creatures he called Methuselah flies. He then put his research into reverse and developed flies with much shortened life spans. A Conversation With Michael R. Rose By Claudia Dreifus December 6, 2005 Excerpt from the December 6, 2005 issue of The New York Times (published online December 6, 2005) Drosophila Melanogaster Photo: michael* In the 1970’s, Michael R. Rose made scientific history with experiments manipulating the life spans of fruit flies. Through selective breeding, Dr. Rose was able to create a long-lived... 
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Genetic Surprises

Some seriously weird things are springing out of the twisted tangle of our DNA. by Jerold M. Lowenstein Excerpt from the December 1992 issue, of Discover Magazine (published online December 1, 1992) . . . Alternatively, some other newfound oddities, the Methuselah genes, may lengthen the lives of their carriers. The genes (named for the most long-lived man in the Bible) were found in fruit flies by Michael Rose, a geneticist at the University of California at Irvine. Last February, Rose reported that one of these genes makes a souped-up version of superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that mops up highly... 
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