European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 9, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 science amp the world certain they can human life Shari Roan los Angeles times Ife does not have to end at 85, or 100, or even 120. So says a Small group of re searchers exploring the possibility of in creasing our lifespan. A aging is no longer regarded As a Monolith an unmovable Frontier a says University of Southern California biologist Caleb e. Finch. Finch believes in using common Good health practices like eating right and exercising to control our environment and exploit the Quot plasticity of life Span. A we probably with existing technology done to have to invent anything new to get to the heart of biological aging a he says. Quot in a highly  Michael Rose of the University of California Irvine suggests that the key to longer life lies in evolution and is studying a link Between delayed reproduction and increased longevity in fruit flies a we have All the Basic science to postpone human aging right now a he says. A and i have a plan for doing  the two researchers Are friends who take very different approaches to the problem but reach the same conclusion life expectancy is not capped by some unyielding Force. Although no one knows How to dramatically increase How Long we live in recent years scientists have moved away from believing that aging is the result of a single Gene that goes awry late in life. Instead they believe theories that suggest aging is the result of Many processes linked to genes and the environment working to Wear Down the body. These newer theories raise the possibility of intervening to Stop the Chain of events that cause  believes that the study of common health practices a such As exercise and hormone treat mints to reduce the risk of osteoporosis a will contribute significantly to the understanding of aging. He has catalogued Many examples showing How certain species have manipulated their environment to live longer. He Calls this the a a plasticity of life Span. For example although Queen bees and worker bees have the same genetic Structure Queens live from five to 15 years while workers Are Lucky to live out a year. The difference Finch says is in their environment. Workers Wear out from flying around while Queens Are pampered. Some species apparently do not age he says scientists Are studying a species of Rockfish that is 100 years old and shows no signs of aging Quot under some circumstances aging May not occur in the natural world a he says. A there Are a lot of species of fish and other invertebrates that done to seem to have an increased risk of disease or  Finch is continuing his research of these species and of ways to manipulate their natural life patterns. But Imp says he has seen enough to feel car Tain that they will work in humans. A enough is now known to believe that diseases of old age Are. /. Not inevitable a he says Rose an evolutionary biologist is the leading proponent of a theory of aging based on evolution. A in experiments on fruit Flics Worms and mice its a very easy for us to. Postpone aging so that life Span can be doubled or the pattern of deterioration with aging can be vastly slowly a he says. The experiments focus on finding which genes Are important to the aging process in order to manipulate them. A Rose is studying whether aging can be influenced by manipulating the process of natural selection a the Force of nature that favors the Young who can reproduce far More than the old. Rose says his studies slow that the age at which a species reaches maturity a and is Able to reproduce a is linked to the Onset of aging. That Means that the Way to keep natural selection working later in life is to postpone reproduction until a relatively advanced age. Over the past 15 years Rose has bred fruit flies at later and later Ages a increasing their life Span by 80 percent. He is selecting As parents Only older flies that can pass on longevity  have delayed reproduction and increased life Span in other species and Are now trying to understand Why the process works. They want to know which genes that affect life Span Are inherited or eliminated by postponing reproduce Tion. A a a a a a a at a glance ii a Kuwait size 6,880 Square Miles slightly smaller than new population 1,967,000 1989 estimate main language arabic overview Kuwait is mostly desert with no lakes or Rivers and Little vegetation besides desert scrub. It includes two islands the larger of which Babiyan is inhabited. Kuwait had few settled inhabitants before 1700, when tribes from Arabia settled along the coast and established a Small kingdom. It came increasingly under British control and was declared an Independent state under British Protection in 1914 and Given full _ Independence in 1961, the _ government owns most of the Oil Industry a the major source of income a and has used the profits to create a modern prosperous welfare state and become one of the wealthiest nations in terms of National income per person. In August Kuwait was invaded by iraqi whose forces still occupy it it s a fact Kuwait gets most of its Freshwater by distilling. Salt water and mixing it with Well water drawn from a targe underground source of water. Any questions i Why Are flies and ants Able to walk on the ceiling a a a looking at flies in terms of weight to volume they Don t weigh much so very Little Force is required to keep a Fly from falling a said or Alex Mintzer an entomologist with the entomological society of America in Lanham my. That Force is exerted by structures on the Tarsi the tips of the Fly a legs he said first there is a set of claws which can be seen with a very Good hand magnifier. There Are also spongy pads that have ridges like a ruffled potato Chip providing for greater Contact or adhesion. They Are what do ants do with the dead ants that you see them carry away a a Quot cushions not suction  body parts allow the Fly to stay in place and move with Confidence. When the Fly moves two of its six legs can be out of Contact with the surface at any time. Ants tend to rely More heavily on their claws which Are relatively larger than those of flies than their pads which Are relatively  some Are not As Good at climbing As you might think a Mintzer said a wants that live on the ground where the soil is rough might not be Able to climb Well on smooth surfaces or upside Down Quot the Way tree dwelling ants do he explained a the ones that get into houses of course usually have that ability a he said a they Are very Small so they have even less of a weight problem than flies.�?�. Nutritional value of their dead companions because of squeamishness Over cannibalism he said new York time a a a a a a a they eat them a said a spokesman at the entomological Quot society in Lanham my. There Are no ant burial grounds and most species do not waste the to plus sunday december 9.1990