Even if he doesn’t appear it, a creature that lives underground in near-complete darkness possesses the key to aging exceptionally well.
People who are increasingly interested in discovering the key to living much longer are studying the pink and wrinkled naked mole-rat, which is neither a rat nor a mole.
The naked mole-rat lives in underground colonies in Africa and is being studied by “longevity entrepreneurs,” people in the tech industry who are trying to figure out how to use technology to extend human life as long as possible.
The naked mole-rat appears to have a variety of abilities: The animal can go for up to 18 minutes without oxygen and is extremely resistant to cancer. Scientists predicted naked mole rats to survive about 6 years in captivity, yet they can live up to 30 years even under abnormal surroundings.
A researcher at Calico, a biotech startup founded by Google in San Francisco, California, obtained evidence earlier this year that reveals that as naked mole rats age, their chances of dying actually fall significantly. (The reverse is true for all other mammals.)
“This is the most interesting data I’ve ever gotten,” Calico biologist Rochelle Buffenstein told Science. “In terms of mammalian biology, it contradicts everything we know.”
Nature designed for the naked mole-rat to live a long life underground in perfect darkness. Some individuals, however, are concerned that chasing longer and longer lives through technology is separating us from nature and, perhaps, one of the most crucial aspects of our humanity: our own mortality.
In a New York Times op-ed, Allison Arieff stated, “The enjoyment of our own life has much to do with the ever-increasing understanding of its relative shortness.” “This is what makes us human: the recognition and acceptance of our own death. And, I would say, it is the drive for us to live our lives to the utmost.”
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