If you’ve ever sat puzzling over a fly’s ability to outmaneuver your swift slap of death almost every. single. time—puzzle no more. According to science, you’re just measly Agent Smith to the bug’s Neo; new research shows that a creature’s perception of time is directly related to its size, meaning flies live in a world where time passes as if in slow motion.
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We’ve seen research that suggests prolonged space travel could have some adverse effects on the human body, but it looks like there could be some real benefits as well. As BBC News reports, a new study conducted on Caenorhabditis elegans worms sent to the International Space Station has revealed evidence that the trip to space actually slowed their aging process. Specifically, researchers from the University of Nottingham and others institutions part of the ICE-First project found that the time in space reduced activity in a group of genes that have been shown to prolong the worms’ lifespan when suppressed on earth. Of course, these are worms we’re talking about, but this particular species is often used for such research due to its biological similarities to humans, so the discovery could well lead to more insight into how we age in space as well. Those curious can find the full paper linked below.
Filed under: Science
Researchers find space travel prolongs the life of worms originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 01:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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