In "Through the Looking Glass," written in 1871, Lewis Carroll
gives his heroine Alice a ridiculous Victorian-style poem to
memorize call "Jabberwocky." One of the lines in it is: "And
the mome raths outgrabe." Did he mean MOLE RATS? It turns
out these fascinating creatures, who live their entire lives
underground, have incredible longevity AND do not get
cancer. Is hiding underground (the way some people think
that
aliens
do) the solution to our problems?
Mole rats are mammals naked creatures about the size of a
mouse that live underground all their lives, along with their
queen and her harem of males (!), worker moles (who search
for food) and soldiers to guard their tunnel system. Their
nests have the social structure of an ants' nest or beehive.
Among their many peculiarities are features that could, if
understood, be of great relevance to human health and
longevity.
Their life span is of extraordinary length for a rodent. Mice
live a couple of years but mole rats can reach the venerable
age of 28. The long life is probably a consequence of their
protected existence. Mice have a short life span because
they have many predators. Better to breed fast and young
than prepare for an old age none will never live to see. Gray
squirrels, on the other hand, have fewer enemies and can live
for more than 20 years.
Mice are often used for drug testing because they are
genetically very much like human beings. Their immune
systems are similar as well: Mice live a couple of years, which
is a long time in the mouse world. But mole rats live to age
28, which is an extraordinary long life in terms small rodents.
Gray squirrels only live about 20 years.
Mice as used for experiments so often because they are very
prone to cancer. In fact, almost 90% percent of them die of
tumors (only about 23% of humans die from cancer). But the
mole rat has the best success against that dreaded disease:
It doesn't get it at all, probably because their cells have a
double system that helps impede tumor growth, compared
with the single immune system in human cells.
Meanwhile, the loneliness and depression that cancer patients feel
means they're less likely to recover. Social isolation makes
the disease more deadly. (NOTE: Anne Strieber wore this
baseball cap at our recent
Stargate
Conference. She has read
the
paper she presented there just for
subscribers).
Female mice that became stressed because they were
separated from their mothers developed more and larger
tumors than their more contented sisters. BBC News quotes
researcher Oliver Childs as saying, "It is now widely
recognized that stress plays a part in illness, but no one
really knows how much."
In the October 27 edition of the New York Times, Nicholas
Wade quotes cancer researcher Vera Gorbunova (who is
studying the mole rats) as saying, "To understand human
longevity and cancer, it's important to study species other
than mice. I think this is the beginning of a long journey."
This reminds us of the long journey towards understanding
the
soul and UFOs and in all 3 cases, let's hope we get there soon!
To learn more,
click here and
here.
Art credit: Dreamstime.com
