For many, the idea of living forever is unappealing. Even if good health is thrown into the bargain, interest in immortality remains ambivalent. But what if we could stay healthy right up until a timely death? Recent work from the Houseley lab suggests that, at least in budding yeast, healthspan can be extended without also extending lifespan. In a 2023 paper, they showed that a galactose diet suppresses senescence (i.e., loss of fitness) in aging yeast without extending their lifespan. In…

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Some scientific articles are must-reads because of what the scientists accomplished or developed. Some scientific articles are must-reads because of what the scientists discovered. And then some scientific articles are must-reads for both reasons. Here’s an example from a few weeks ago. A group of scientific teams in China worked for years to develop a vehicle that could carry researchers to Hell and back, so they could bring back dirt and animals from Hell. Then they went to Hell, brought…

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Can you name a neglected tropical disease (NTD)? I would guess that most biologists can, or can at least make some accurate guesses. But by definition, these are maladies that don’t get adequate attention and resources, and so it is likely that many scientists are unaware of the current roster of NTDs. A new and exciting paper at Nature taught me that snakebite (envenoming, to be precise) is in fact a devastating NTD, with a heartbreaking death toll due in…

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Viruses and other parasites are famously adept at trickery and manipulation. Think of your favorite creepy example of that, then consider a new paper about a virus so devious that it might become your new favorite (if you’re into that sort of thing). The article in Science Advances reveals the strategic brilliance of the tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), which infects tomato plants with the help of its vector, a whitefly. Step 1 of the evil plan: the virus…

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