Space travel lengthens telomeres

Discussion of the 2009 Noble Prize in Medicine, focusing on substances that reduce telomere shortening by activating the human telomerase enzyme

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Space travel lengthens telomeres

Post Number:#1  Post by ofonorow » Wed Feb 01, 2017 7:12 am

http://gizmodo.com/first-science-results-from-scott-kellys-year-in-space-r-1791775917

As identical twins, the brothers are genetically very similar. However, researchers found that while he was in orbit, Scott’s telomeres—the caps on the ends of chromosomes—grew longer than his twin brother’s. Though Scott’s telomeres returned to their pre-flight lengths shortly after he returned to Earth, these results were totally unexpected, since telomeres naturally shrink over the course of one’s life, and the stresses of spaceflight are supposed to accelerate this. At least that was the idea.

Even though Scott’s telomeres miraculously lengthened...
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