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 .p086 warmer buried turtle eggs more females, cooler males
 .p091 - p093 doubtful tortoise longevity stories
 .p094 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara | Tuataras ]]
 .p095 juvenile third eye on top of head, covered with scales later
 .p095 low temperature -> female, high temperature -> male . . / 500g females, 1000g males
 .p096 estimated age >110yo , longevity quotient 10.3
 .p097 heart rate 6BPM
 .p098 we may learn to reduce molecular damage and extend human life
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 .p103 ants churn and turn soil, fertilize it with material brought into their burrows
 .p103 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT | DDT ]] against SE U.S. fire ants damaged pets and wildlife, motivated [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson | Rachel Carson's ]] 1962 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring | Silent Spring ]]
 .p103 ant larvae grow and molt four times, make cocoons, emerge adults
 .p103 no molt as adults, very limited body repair
 .p104 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alate | winged female ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuptial_flight | nuptual flight ]] with males, stores sperm.
 .p104 land, dig nest, lays many generations of eggs.
 .p104 Females develop from fertilized eggs and stored sperm, males from unfertilized eggs
 .p105 Sisters share 3/4 of genes, 50% from mother and 25% with brothers
 .p105 Closer relatives with sisters than parents [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_in_social_insects | eusociality ]] fosters complex societies
 .p105 termite [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detritivore | detrivory ]], "premier recyclers"
 .p104 termite nuptial flight bonds partners, mate after landing and making nest
 .p104 termite [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymph_(biology) | nymphs ]] have legs, grow and molt into adults
 .p104 termite XY genetics resemble mammals
 .p107 oldest verified termite queen 21 years or more in laboratory
 .p107 29 year old ant queen, H Kutter, R Stumper 1969 (entomology)
  . Sixth International Congress of the [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_the_Study_of_Social_Insects | International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI) ]]
 .p108 Ant and termite queens produce 1 egg per minute for decades, high energy needs
 .p109 queens and nest-bound drones long lived
 . no cancer ... no need to repair damage, so no cell reproduction system to go haywire
 .p109 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_State_University | Florida State ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_R._Tschinkel | Walter Tschinkel ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ant | fire ants ]]
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Steven Austad Books


Methuselah's Zoo

what nature can teach us about living longer, healthier lives

  • 2022 Beaverton Lib 571.879 AUS


  • Preface

  • pxii Joáo Pedro de Magalháes maintains website AnAge

  • p001 ch01 Doctor Dunnet's Fulmar

  • p005 Cancer death rate doubles every 8 years, 300x more likely at age 85 than age 25
    • ln(300)/ln(2) = 8.23 doublings, 60 y / 8.23 = 7.23 years per doubling
    • .. with a survivor bias
  • p011 metabolism, growth, reproduction, aging, physiology faster in small animals
  • p012 note 5 Longevity Quotient paper 1991

  • p013 farm servant Thomas Parr claimed to be 152 yo in 1635

    • Harvey's autopsy suggested less than 70 yo

  • p013 Austad's 1997 book Why We Age PSI $6.39ppb $6.81hard Amazon

  • p014 naturalist Stanley Flower supposed 157 yo elephant changed from African to Asian elephant ... or sloppy records

I. LONGEVITY IN THE AIR

  • p019 ch02 The Origin of Flight

  • p020 2.5 meter Arthropleura millipede 300 mya

  • p021 [ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane | J.B.S. Haldane ]] You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft and, on arriving at the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away. A rat would probably be killed, though it can fall safely from the eleventh story of a building, a man is broken, a horse splashes.

  • p023 sprinting up stairs 7x to 14x more energy expensive than sitting reading
  • p023 insect flight 100 beats per second, 50 to 150x more energy expensive than rest
  • p024 oxygen radicals accompany energy delivery
  • p025 juvenile mayfly nymphs molt in streams for years, minutes to days as a reproductive adult

  • p026 Cicada nymphs as much as 17 years feeding on root sap underground, synchronized mass emergence for weeks

  • p027 no insect species with documented adults living longer than 1 year in the wild
  • p028 Monarch Butterfly many generations per year, flying to southern Mexico in autumn, north in spring. The southern phase lasts as long as 8 months, migration and summer phases weeks

  • p029 insect flight wings fragile, covered by hard elytron/elytra when not flying

  • p031 ch03 Pterosaurs: The First Flying Vertebrates

  • p039 Pterodaustro Guinazui pterodactyl hundreds of fine teeth, probably filter-fed like a baleen whale

  • p041 ch04 Birds: The Longest-Lived Dinosaurs

  • p041 bar-tailed godwit flies nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand in nine days and nights

  • p042 wild house sparrows live at least 19 years, 3 years in captivity

  • p043 Archaeopteryx not a bird, no keeled breastbone. Probably extra boost for hops, like "flying" squirell

  • p044 true bird evolved before 66 mya, a few survived Chicxulub impact
  • p045 Fig 4.1 an 81yo Major Mitchell's cockatoo, the world's longest lived bird at Chicago's Brookfield zoo

  • p049 Albatrosses mate for life, 1 egg most years

  • p050 Albatross named "Wisdom" more than 70 years old
  • p051 current mate "Akeakamai", Hawaiian for "lover of wisdom"
  • p051 LQ (life quotient) of 5.2, 5.2 times longer than average same-size zoo mammal
  • p052 Manx Shearwater at least 55 years, LQ of 6, migrates annually from North Atlantic to Brazil or Argentina

  • p053 Turkey breast meat (flight muscle) adapted for energy bursts, "drumsticks" dark with myoglobin for running endurance
  • p054 ruby-throated hummingbird 40℃ 104℉ endothermic, 80 wingbeats per second

  • p055 twice fly 600 miles nonstop migrating across Caribbean, live more than 9 years
  • p055 broad-tailed hummingbird at least 12 years

  • p056 birds make fewer free radicals than mammals, can withstand more free radical damage
  • p057 Medical researchers study short-lived animals, author desires much longer studies
    • so we can live longer, so researchers have time for longer studies :-)

  • p059 ch05 Bats: The Longest-Lived Mammals

  • p059 Donald R. Griffin taught with Austad

    • found bat older than the grad student taking notes
  • p060 Major Mitchell's cockatoo

  • p061 bat genome: closest living mammalian relatives are horses
  • p062 bats can echolocate and avoid a piano wire (of course, it is a resonator)
  • p062 bats harbor more than 800 coronavirus species that have not become a problem ... yet.
  • p063 little brown bat longevity quotient ≥ 7.5

  • p064 vampire bats also die of rabies, few have it

  • p066 mice - six pups in 3 weeks, most bats one pup in 3 to 6 months, vampire bats seven months
  • p067 vampire bat longevity quotient 5.5
  • p071 Indian flying fox LQ 4.1
  • p072 6 gram Brandt bat 41 years, LQ 10.0
  • p074 hibernating bears reduce metabolism to 20% of normal
  • p075 Older people can lose 16% of lower body strength after ten days of bed rest, 30 days for younger people
  • p076 n9 Large‐scale genome sampling reveals unique immunity and metabolic adaptations in bats 2011

II. LONGEVITY ON THE EARTH

  • p081 ch06 Tortoises and Tuataras: Longevity on Islands

  • p082 shell and a beak = turtle, tortoise = slow moving terrestrial turtle
  • p083 Loihi seamount 3200 feet deep SE of Hawai'i island, could emerge 10k to 100k years from now

  • p084 Birds and insects evolve to flightless on windy islands
  • p084 Komodo dragon largest lizard, eats goats and attack humans

  • p085 Homo floriensis 1Mya to 50Kya, 105cm, 25kg (BMI 22.7)

  • p086 warmer buried turtle eggs more females, cooler males
  • p091 - p093 doubtful tortoise longevity stories
  • p094 Tuataras

  • p095 juvenile third eye on top of head, covered with scales later
  • p095 low temperature -> female, high temperature -> male . . / 500g females, 1000g males

  • p096 estimated age >110yo , longevity quotient 10.3

  • p097 heart rate 6BPM
  • p098 we may learn to reduce molecular damage and extend human life
  • p101 ch07 Queen for a Lifetime

  • p103 ants churn and turn soil, fertilize it with material brought into their burrows
  • p103 DDT against SE U.S. fire ants damaged pets and wildlife, motivated Rachel Carson's 1962 Silent Spring

  • p103 ant larvae grow and molt four times, make cocoons, emerge adults
  • p103 no molt as adults, very limited body repair
  • p104 winged female nuptual flight with males, stores sperm.

  • p104 land, dig nest, lays many generations of eggs.
  • p104 Females develop from fertilized eggs and stored sperm, males from unfertilized eggs
  • p105 Sisters share 3/4 of genes, 50% from mother and 25% with brothers
  • p105 Closer relatives with sisters than parents eusociality fosters complex societies

  • p105 termite detrivory, "premier recyclers"

  • p104 termite nuptial flight bonds partners, mate after landing and making nest
  • p104 termite nymphs have legs, grow and molt into adults

  • p104 termite XY genetics resemble mammals
  • p107 oldest verified termite queen 21 years or more in laboratory
  • p107 29 year old ant queen, H Kutter, R Stumper 1969 (entomology)
  • p108 Ant and termite queens produce 1 egg per minute for decades, high energy needs
  • p109 queens and nest-bound drones long lived
  • no cancer ... no need to repair damage, so no cell reproduction system to go haywire
  • p109 Florida State Walter Tschinkel fire ants

  • p111 Royal Jelly

  • p111 "Biology is complicated. If it were simple, it would be physics"
  • p112 ILP-2 resembles human insulin

  • p113 ch08 Tunnels and Caves

  • p114 Naked Mole Rats

  • p114

  • p115

  • p115

  • p116

  • p117

  • p117

  • p118

  • p119 n6 Resistance to experimental tumorigenesis in cells of a long‐lived mammal, the naked mole‐rat (Heterocephalus glaber) 2010

  • p120

  • p121

  • p121

  • p122

  • p122

  • p122

  • p123 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm

  • p123

  • p123

  • p124 olm blind white cave salamander 70 to 102 years

  • p125

  • p126

  • p129 ch09 The Behmoths (Elephants)

  • p129

  • p129

  • p130

  • p130

  • p130

  • p131

  • p131

  • p132

  • p132

  • p132

  • p133 Elephants can distinguish hunting/non-hunting tribes by speech PNAS 2014

  • p133

  • p134

  • p135

  • p137

  • p138

  • p141

  • p141

  • p142

  • p144

  • p144

  • p145

  • p145

  • p146

  • p147 ch10 Big Brains (Nonhuman Primates)

  • p149

  • p149

  • p150

  • p151

  • p151

  • p153

  • p153

  • p154

  • p155

  • p155

  • p156

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  • p157

  • p158

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  • p159

  • p161

  • p164

  • p165

  • p167

  • p167

  • p169

  • p170

  • p170

  • p172

  • p170

  • p170

  • p170

    III. LONGEVITY IN THE SEA

  • p177 ch11 Urchins, Worms, and Quahogs

  • p177

  • p177

  • p180

  • p180

  • p181

  • p181

  • p185

  • p186

  • p187

  • p188

  • p190

  • p191

  • p191

  • p194

  • p195

  • p196

  • p197

  • p198 .http://wiki.keithl.com/StevenAustad

Steven Austad Books


Methuselah's Zoo

what nature can teach us about living longer, healthier lives

  • 2022 Beaverton Lib 571.879 AUS


  • Preface

  • pxii Joáo Pedro de Magalháes maintains website AnAge

  • p001 ch01 Doctor Dunnet's Fulmar

  • p005 Cancer death rate doubles every 8 years, 300x more likely at age 85 than age 25
    • ln(300)/ln(2) = 8.23 doublings, 60 y / 8.23 = 7.23 years per doubling
    • .. with a survivor bias
  • p011 metabolism, growth, reproduction, aging, physiology faster in small animals
  • p012 note 5 Longevity Quotient paper 1991

  • p013

  • p013

  • p014

I. LONGEVITY IN THE AIR

II. LONGEVITY ON THE EARTH


  • How many atoms in human body?

    • Total Earth biomass 550 GT carbon 5.5 x 1e2 x 1e9 x 1e6 (tonnes per gram) = 5.5e17 grams
    • carbon is 12 amu and 12% of the atoms in human body
    • Avogadro's number 6e23, hence one gram of human carbon is 5e22 atoms
    • Associated with (100/12)*5e22 ≈ 4e21 total atoms per gram of human carbon
    • Fermi estimate: Total Earth biomass 5.5e17 * 4e21 atoms = 2e39 biomass atoms if humans representative

    • There are 1e22 to 1e24 stars in the universe
    • Thousands of asteroids and trillions of comets and icy bodies orbit the Sun
    • Perhaps 3e12 comets per star times 1e24 stars is 6e36 icy bodies in the universe, not counting unbound bodies
    • that's a LOT of physics
    • Both biology and physics are complicated ... or simple, if one is a simpleton



To Err Is Human, To Admit It Is Not and Other Essays

  • 2022


Real People Don't Own Monkeys

  • 2022


Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life

  • 1999 Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life


  • p199 ch12 Fishes and Sharks

  • p199
  • p205
  • p206
  • p206
  • p209
  • p210
  • p210
  • p211
  • p215
  • p219 ch13 Whales Tales

  • p219
  • p221
  • p227
  • p227
  • p228
  • p238
  • p238
  • p240
  • p241
  • p241

    IV. HUMAN LONGEVITY

  • p245 ch14 The Human Longevity Story

  • p249
  • p250
  • p252
  • p255
  • p269 ch15 Methuselah's Zoo Moving Forward

  • p272 one in ten cancer therapies effective in mice also effective in humans
  • p272 colleague won Nobel for the only part of his research rejected by a government review group
  • p273 whale cells in lab
  • p273 2012 Nobel Shina Yamanaka transformed skin/liver/blood/other cells into stem cells
  • p273 we can grow replacement human parts from our own cells
  • p274 treat aging itself as a disease
  • p275 geroscience


  • How many atoms in human body?

    • Total Earth biomass 550 GT carbon 5.5 x 1e2 x 1e9 x 1e6 (tonnes per gram) = 5.5e17 grams
    • carbon is 12 amu and 12% of the atoms in human body
    • Avogadro's number 6e23, hence one gram of human carbon is 5e22 atoms
    • Associated with (100/12)*5e22 ≈ 4e21 total atoms per gram of human carbon
    • Fermi estimate: Total Earth biomass 5.5e17 * 4e21 atoms = 2e39 biomass atoms if humans representative

    • There are 1e22 to 1e24 stars in the universe
    • Thousands of asteroids and trillions of comets and icy bodies orbit the Sun
    • Perhaps 3e12 comets per star times 1e24 stars is 6e36 icy bodies in the universe, not counting unbound bodies
    • that's a LOT of physics
    • Both biology and physics are complicated ... or simple, if one is a simpleton



To Err Is Human, To Admit It Is Not and Other Essays

  • 2022


Real People Don't Own Monkeys

  • 2022


Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life

  • 1999 Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life


StevenAustad (last edited 2026-02-10 08:44:42 by KeithLofstrom)