Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes - io9 Comments

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:01:46 PDT

@twic: "Too pathetic to do anything" . . . yeah, I think a lot more things besides caloric restriction do that to you.

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

DocGratis — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:08:08 PDT

@twic: Where exactly did you read this?

Everything I have sene says that the control animals were allowed to eat until satiety... But seeing as animals generally do not gorge themselves that is not saying "unlimited butter pie".. and also all the works that covered it demonstrated that the control animals live what is considered relatively normal lifespans for the animals in question...

DocGratis

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

twic — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:43:26 PDT

This caloric restriction thing is bullshit. Sure, it's been demonstrated in animals: animals who live in a sterile lab, where the unrestricted condition is equivalent to a human eating an unlimited butter pie diet. It's not exactly a huge surprise that restricting their intake makes them live longer!

The evidence from humans has yet to come in, but one thing we can say is that caloric restriction makes you too pathetic to do anything, and screws over your immune system. Well done, guys!

twic

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Jeff-Minor — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:43:05 PDT

I'm thinking that it would be nice to leave yeast in the frig and have it last twice as long. You never know when you're gonna want to bake a loaf of bread.

I'd like to live longer, but I do not want to look like I'm 150.

Jeff-Minor

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

monkity — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:04:05 PDT

The deal will be, you can live twice as long but you're limited to being biological parent to at most 1 child.

Those that don't take the deal can have up to 3 children. And if you have already had more than 2 children, too late to take the deal.

Oh, and you have to be fucking rich to buy into the deal. So nyah.

monkity

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Mister Adequate — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:41:53 PDT

@Final: We're working on cybernetics for a very good reason.

Mister Adequate

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Final — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:35:48 PDT

Seeing as your weight bearing joints can barely make it 50 years without wearing out I'd hate to see what it's going to take to keep a 160 year old mobile.

Final

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Klebert L. Hall — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:49:35 PDT

I really don't want to live twice as long... It isn't the old-and-sickly so much as the way that kids these days think so many things that infuriate me.

I'd like to see the future, but I'm pretty sure if I live long enough, I'll be nothing but a crabby, strident (okay, okay. crabbier and more strident) kernel of condensed hate.

Then there's the whole doubled-lifespan = doubled rate of population growth thing...

Somebody else can have my portion of extended lifespan - Miranda Kali, I think you called dibs.
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

botanicidal — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:37:14 PDT

You know, with overpopulation and increasing food scarcity due to increased food prices (related to ethanol production and peak oil) and global warming etc... we'll all be on calorie restrictive diets pretty soon enough, drug or no drug. Long live famine!

botanicidal

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

tyr540 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:45:54 PDT

Were they actually mutating, or were they just changing structure?

tyr540

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

DorothyMantooth — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:41:20 PDT

@moff: Of course not, silly! I left them out special for you!

DorothyMantooth

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

moff — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:17:10 PDT

@DorothyMantooth: You're not going to ask me to return those underwear I took, I hope.

moff

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

DorothyMantooth — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:07:28 PDT

@moff: You know, the usual. Stalking you... Inciting stuff...

DorothyMantooth

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

moff — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:58:21 PDT

@DorothyMantooth: Wait. What are you doing here? YOU NERD.

moff

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

DorothyMantooth — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:43:46 PDT

@moff: Also: the deal with the airplane peanuts.

DorothyMantooth

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

moff — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:37:50 PDT

@DocGratis: Hey, don't forget:

Why do we park on driveway and drive on a parkway?

and

Ladies! Why are they always crying about something?

moff

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

DocGratis — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:02:59 PDT

@moff: Yeah he did... there are only three things left...

Grand Unification.

Faster than Light travel.

If there is anything else left.

Once we cover those three we are done...

wait the answer to #3 has been uncovered.. it is "Yes, lots."

Seriously, this is pretty cool...
If one could do this it might be like lenghtening your telomeres without the cancer risks...

And for you party poopers worried about loosing control of your bowels unless you already have problems (*stares*), the studies that have shown the lengthening effects of restricted caloric intake have show that it is like being physically 40 when you are 75 (or whatever ages you want)

DocGratis

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

SavannahJack — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:45:47 PDT

Well, since I turned 49, 50 doesn't seem so great as a life expectancy, there boyo.
You may disagree, but you'll probably spell it wrong or use the wrong verb tense anyway, so who can be certain what you think?
You need us old farts just to write your comic books for you.
Doncha know?

SavannahJack

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Brock — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:34:05 PDT

People, it's not the years, it's the mileage.
[shoeblogs.com]
[www.arthurdevany.com]
Just take care of yourself.

Also, you don't have to starve yourself to gain this benefit. You can do this today by fasting for 2 days once or twice a month.

Brock

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

moff — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:26:33 PDT

@jp182: Really? Did you count all the mysteries that aren't left to be discovered?

moff

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Capn_Marrrrk — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:22:18 PDT

Fucking a I want that shot now, also when I get old I want to find that one guy who is going to be paying my Medicare so I can bother him about working harder.

Capn_Marrrrk

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

jp182 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:16:32 PDT

@male roof blower (CFB): agreed. I'm sure I'll live long enough. Old people is a problem our planet is fighting hard enough; no need to make it harder. jk

@theOmegaMan: While I would like to believe that, that isn't always the case. I see plenty of old people who look younger but health wise, they are there age or worse.

@Miranda Kali: The way I see it, I feel like I've lived a LOOONG time now and I'm not 30 yet. But the time I get to 60, I'm pretty sure I'll be ready to go.

I don't know about you guys but life doesn't have that many mysteries left for me to discover OR that will be discovered in my lifetime. Why wait around waiting for something to happen? Sounds like a mental version of a high school Friday night.

jp182

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Miranda Kali — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:59:08 PDT

@moff:
Oooo. That wiley e. coli!

Miranda Kali

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

zenpoet — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:56:58 PDT

That graphic looks kind of like a dessert. I want my mutated ribosomes with chocolate sauce and pineapple chunks.

zenpoet

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

moff — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:55:48 PDT

@Annalee Newitz: You mean e.e. coli?

moff

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Bob_of_Mars — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:50:34 PDT

@male roof blower (CFB): See, real men get around that by just wearing a toilet. See, bowel problems solved!

Bob_of_Mars

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Miranda Kali — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:50:11 PDT

The way I figure, if you can manage to live long enough, medical technology will get to the where they can practically give you a shiny, new body.
I'm willing to brave the ravages of old age for that possibility.

Miranda Kali

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

CMG — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:44:11 PDT

@male roof blower (CFB): really? 50 is your limit? aiming kinda low, aren't ya?

CMG

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

theOmegaMan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:40:22 PDT

@male roof blower (CFB):
Why is this always everyones assumption about living longer. In case noone has noticed, people who live longer often seem younger than others as well. Its not that they are living longer, its that they are aging more slowly.

theOmegaMan

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:38:38 PDT

@moff: Oh that was Yeast? I thought it was E. Coli all this time!

Annalee Newitz

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

ceilingFANBOY — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:30:05 PDT

Unless I die tomorrow, I don't want my life to be twice as long as it's going to be. Really, who needs to live to be 50 anyway? Once I start losing control of my bowel movements again, I want to be dead.

ceilingFANBOY

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

moff — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:16:05 PDT

As far as I'm concerned, Yeast secured his immortality long ago with "The Second Coming." C'mon, people: Get educated.

moff

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

BullfightsOnAcid — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:13:56 PDT

@Miranda Kali: That deserves a drunk Orson Welles hocking Paul Masson posting:

BullfightsOnAcid

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Miranda Kali — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:07:37 PDT

@BullfightsOnAcid:
Alas, if only Orson Wells had lived long enough to see this vision. He could have been eating Rosebud frozen peas well into this century.

Miranda Kali

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

BullfightsOnAcid — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:02:52 PDT

So now I can eat like a pig and live twice as long. Science is like a twisted Fairy Godmother.

BullfightsOnAcid

Double Your Lifespan with a Drug that Mutates Your Ribosomes

Miranda Kali — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:01:08 PDT

Sign me up! Twenty-second century, here I come.
I knew that drugs would be the answer. Always with the drugs...

Miranda Kali