Even though it’s undeniably...aesthetic-challenged, the naked mole-rat is the envy of the longevity world. Its risk of death barely changes with time; it shrugs off cancer, stays fertile for decades and seems to skip every hallmark of aging that hobbles the rest of us.But why? What evolutionary forces gave a mouse-sized, subterranean rodent near-immunity to aging - and what can its biology teach us about extending healthy human life?Comparative biologist Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein (University of Illinois Chicago) - who has maintained the world’s largest captive colonies and authored 200+ papers - joins LEVITY to dissect the evidence.In this episode✅ Rochelle’s journey: from Zimbabwe farm kid to the pre-eminent naked mole-rat researcher.✅ Eusocial society: queens, worker castes and lethal succession battles.✅ No Gompertz slope: hard numbers that show mortality risk stays essentially flat for 40 years.✅ Cancer resistance → high-molecular-weight hyaluronan, unusual immune cell profiles.✅ Telomere maintenance and DNA-methylation reversal.✅ Proteostasis on easy-mode: slow translation, durable proteins, super-charged autophagy.✅ What actually kills a mole-rat?✅ Translational angles: small-molecule screens, CRISPR edits, and why funding is still an uphill battle.✅ Other long-lived species worth studying - and how young scientists can break into comparative gerontology.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membershipShow notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.comLEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.00:00 Teaser02:37 Meet Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein07:04 Naked mole-rats crash course10:23 Eusocial life: Queens, workers, death matches11:46 Extreme underground lifestyle (Low O₂, High CO₂)18:12 Problems with inbreeding?26:07 Don’t call them cold-blooded!29:15 Keeping the world’s largest colony of naked mole-rats31:45 Eating naked mole-rats36:01 Lifespan of the naked mole-rat38:20 Two remarkable papers50:53 How long can they live?52:45 Resistance to cancer57:03 The Hallmarks of aging are no match for this rodent59:48 Surprising immune defense01:04:18 What’s the evolutionary rationale?01:10:08 Translating the research01:18:51 Other longevity champions🗞️ SUBSCRIBE to the LEVITY newsletter: reachlevity.com/subscribeGet all LEVITY DeSci content here: reachlevity.com/t/desci (sorry about the wrong link in the episode)📕 Check out Patrick's book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543163/the-case-against-death/📗 Check out Peter's book (only available in Swedish): https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/evigt-ung-min-och-manniskans-drom-om-ododligheten-9789179652524-----Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com/subscribeLEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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