Comments on: Can bees lead to a longer human life span?
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- And medical technology! I think it's amazing that they can fix your rundown parts with stem cells, sometimes even your own! I saw an article, complete with pic, of a man who had a bad heart valve, they took his own stem cells and injected them directly into his valve and it repaired it completely!! I think this will become as commonplace as giving blood and saving your units in the future and people will just go in for a "tune up" now and then to replace failing parts! Heck, we could end up being as old as Methusala!! I do believe lifestyle and genetics play an important part too. In my case, I don't know which way I am gonna go as their is longevity on my Mom's side but everyone died young on my Dad's!! I seem to take after Mom's side more tho as I am 63, am very healthy, am not on any perscription drugs at all, and still smoke! I do watch my diet and hardly ever eat red meat! I do eat lots of healthy choice and lean cuisine meals and eat lots of fish, leafy green veggies, nuts, and even buy butter and eggs that have Omega 3! I gave up pop and lost 12# but still could stand to lose another 20! I am retired but fairly active. My bp, cholesterol,heart,lungs, kidneys and liver are all fine. Only thing that's a little high is my sugar but they call me "mildly" diabetic and told me to just watch what I eat. I don't have to take meds for it!
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- Misleading title. This article doesn't have a lot to do with bees. My first thought when I read the title was, "If Monsanto allows them (the bees) to live." After reading the article, I realize that we will not achieve any longevity if Monsanto doesn't stop tampering with our food sources. And to those of you responders who have asked why we would want to live longer -- you need to change your lifestyle. But then that would require you to be different than the masses.
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- Interesting, but we already know that Mormons, Nuns and Monks of all types, and anyone that doesn't live in Kentucky have increased life spans. If people all start living longer, we will never be able to get through a check-out line or drive anywhere again!
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- Really enjoyed this story. However this section of the interview with one of the scientists really stood out for me:
"Changing your social life is something you can do today."
"What do I do?" Petersen asked.
"You should get married," she suggested.
The implications for marriage equality (allowing same-sex marriage) should be obvious here to all. The social, financial, and emotional disadvantages for gays and lesbians in this country as we continue to be denied equality under civil law are real and (as this story shows) very significant for quality of life. Stand with us straight allies, please, and demand DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) be repealed. - Reply to this comment
- If genetics are the key, why are we allowing so many mutagens into our environment?
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- Interesting article. But I think genetics is the key. Mom is 98. She is cognitively sharp, lived independently in her own home and drove everywhere until she was 96, when another driver ran a red light and hit her car broadside.. Until then, she was the designated drier for her group of friends even though many were two decades younger. She had an emergency spleenectomy last year and, while it has taken her time to recover, is almost back to where she was before surgery. She never was one for much exercise. certainly never just for the sake of exercise, and never multiple times a week. Meat and potatoes diet. She never smoked, but Dad did, so she had second hand smoke for at least 20 years before he quit. Her mother only lived to be 67...breast cancer, before there was chemotherapy. But her grandmother lived to be 100, and 3 generations ago, that was less common than today. It isn't surprising that they find pockets of the population that have longer lives...close-knit groups share genetics, after all...nor is it surprising that when they find such a group, the group has common characteristics as they also share cultural and social values. But that doesn't mean that those common characteristics trump genetics.
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- What's to live for, a longer life of slave labor?
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- Great article! However genetics is the key! Take for example the "Turritopsis Nutricula" a jelly fish, the only living organism known to science to be inmortal, so the answer is genetics. Look it up for Nutricula...
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- The program on aging was very, very interesting, but the final statement by the scientist to Barry Petersen was very awkward to me. Having seen his poignant story about his wife on 60 Minutes, I wished the scientist hadn't said that. As a 62 year old woman who had a mother who dies of Alzheimers disease, and a father who lived to be 98, each of these stories that Petersen has produced was helpful to me. I just wished that last statement had been left out.
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