Pain-Proof, Cancer-Proof Naked Mole Rat Gets Its Genome Sequenced as Researchers Search for Cure to Everything
Mole Pile The naked mole rat isn't a particularly handsome devil, but there's more to life than being pretty--like living ten times longer than other mammals your size, withstanding extremely harsh conditions without breaking a sweat, or beating cancer. The naked mole rat does all of these things without really trying, so it's perhaps unsurprising that British researchers are sequencing the un-cuddly rodent's genome looking for clues to its longevity and fortitude. The initial draft of the genome is already complete and has been put online for other researchers to access in hopes that biologists and geneticists can unravel the mystery behind the naked mole rat's unique hardiness. For instance, naked mole rats live to be about 30 (common rats live to about age four) and they do so in harsh underground environments where oxygen is scarce. They also show resistance to a number of diseases, namely cancer. There...