Do palm trees hold the key to immortality?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 09:20 in Biology & Nature

For centuries, humans have been exploring, researching, and, in some cases, discovering how to stave off life-threatening diseases, increase life spans, and obtain immortality. Biologists, doctors, spiritual gurus, and even explorers have pursued these quests—one of the most well-known examples being the legendary search by Ponce de León for the "Fountain of Youth." Yet the key to longevity may not lie in a miraculous essence of water, but rather in the structure and function of cells within a plant—and not a special, mysterious, rare plant, but one that we may think of as being quite commonplace, even ordinary: the palm.

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