WEBVTT - Does Aging Always Increase Risk of Death?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vog obamb here, how would you like to live

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<v Speaker 1>five times longer than a mammal your size has any

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<v Speaker 1>right to expect? It sounds great? Right? But wait? Would

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<v Speaker 1>you still be interested if it meant you had to

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<v Speaker 1>live out your days looking like a tiny alien dressed

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<v Speaker 1>in an old sock made from the skin of somebody's

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<v Speaker 1>hard living grandpa. Take a minute to think it over.

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<v Speaker 1>Naked mole rats taxonomic name Heterocephalus glaber have made their

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<v Speaker 1>evolutionary choice in this regard. This cold blooded rodent is

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<v Speaker 1>incredibly long lived. They routinely lived the ripe age of

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<v Speaker 1>thirty five. Compare that to porcupines and guinea pigs, close relatives,

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<v Speaker 1>which usually live no longer than age eight. Naked mole

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<v Speaker 1>rats very rarely get cancer, are nearly incapable of feeling pain,

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<v Speaker 1>and when the oxygen runs out in their underground tunnels,

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<v Speaker 1>they basically start acting like plants. Their bodies automatically switched

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<v Speaker 1>from using oxygen to process glucose into energy in their

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<v Speaker 1>cells to process reserved stores of fructose into energy like

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<v Speaker 1>a plant. Wood no oxygen necessary, and in a study

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<v Speaker 1>published in eighteen based on analysis of the life histories

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<v Speaker 1>of thousands of naked mole rats, researchers found that while

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<v Speaker 1>the rodents not only live incredibly long lives, they also

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<v Speaker 1>don't really age seriously. Their risk of dying just doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>really seem to increase as they get older, and female

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<v Speaker 1>fertility doesn't seem to decline with age either. The term

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<v Speaker 1>for this is negligible. Sentizens and lobsters and glapcost tortoises

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<v Speaker 1>are two other examples of animals with these qualities. Study

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<v Speaker 1>author Rochelle Buffenstein, a comparative biologist who works for the

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<v Speaker 1>longevity focused California biotech company Calico, has studied naked mole

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<v Speaker 1>rats for more than three decades and has recorded the

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<v Speaker 1>life history of each of the three thousand, three hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and twenty nine animals that have passed through her lab

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<v Speaker 1>in that time. What she's found is that naked mole

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<v Speaker 1>rats are a huge exception to the slightly unsettling Gumpert's

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<v Speaker 1>Law of mortality, which was developed in eighteen twenty five

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<v Speaker 1>by British mathematician and insurance actuary Benjamin Bomparts to assign

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<v Speaker 1>a mathematical formula to the phenomenon of aging. Actuaries calculate

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<v Speaker 1>the financial risk and insurance company assumes by ensuring a

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<v Speaker 1>given person. For humans, the Gomperts law states that after

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<v Speaker 1>the age of thirty, the likelihood that we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>die doubles every eight years. Some variation of this law

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<v Speaker 1>applies to basically every other mammal we know about, with

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<v Speaker 1>the exception of Buffenstein's lab reared mole rats. Once Buffenstein's

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<v Speaker 1>naked mole rats reached sexual maturity at about six months

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<v Speaker 1>of age, she found the likelihood that they would croak

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<v Speaker 1>reached around one in ten thousand, where it hovered for

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<v Speaker 1>the rest of their lives. Since only a few of

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<v Speaker 1>Buffenstein's naked mole rats were not killed in experiments or

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<v Speaker 1>moved to other labs, we don't actually know how or

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<v Speaker 1>if the naked mole rats strong longevity game eventually hits

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<v Speaker 1>a wall. The oldest individual in the study is currently

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<v Speaker 1>thirty five years old, so who knows. Aging could happen

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<v Speaker 1>really quickly for these superheroes after a certain point in time,

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<v Speaker 1>But for the rest of the over thirty mammal crowd

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<v Speaker 1>out there try to have a just okay day to

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<v Speaker 1>day in spite of the fact that the likelihood of

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<v Speaker 1>your death is roughly doubling by the decade. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was written by Jesslin Shields and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works.

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