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“Though you try, never grow up,” said Peter Pan in JM Barrie's title novel, echoing a sentiment long expressed by humanity in an attempt to cheat death.
The quest to unravel the secrets of longevity has been the subject of scientific research for decades. And some of the greatest lessons about longevity come from nature itself.
Take Jonathan the giant tortoise for example. It is believed that the tortoise, a native of the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, was probably born in 1832, but it could be more than 200 years old as the exact date of birth remains unknown.
Although he is blind and has no sense of smell, Jonathan still has acute hearing for his old age and sunbathes in mild weather.
But even though giant tortoises are known for their exceptionally long lives, they may be outdone by an elusive creature from the deep.
Ocean secrets
A Greenland shark is spotted swimming under the ice near northern Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. – Avalon.red/Alamy Stock Photo
The rarely seen Greenland shark is a sluggish creature that swims slowly through the deep waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. The Arctic fish is the only shark species that can withstand freezing temperatures all year round.
The large sharks also live to be over 400 years old, and some may have been alive since colonial times.
After mapping and studying their extraordinary genomes, scientists believe the sharks' unusually long lifespans are rooted in their unique genetic makeup – with insights that could be used to extend human lifespans.
Other worlds
The 'Black Beauty' meteorite opened a window into studying ancient Mars when it was found in the Sahara in 2011.
Astronomers think the space rock was ejected from the surface of Mars 5 to 10 million years ago. And now, a single mineral grain in the meteorite has revealed the oldest direct evidence of water on Mars, dating back 4.45 billion years.
The mineral grain was altered by hot water on Mars, suggesting that habitable environments such as hot springs may have existed on the red planet early in its history.
Meanwhile, the Perseverance rover has just completed its three-and-a-half-month climb up the steep rim of Mars' Jezero Crater, discovering an unusual zebra-striped rock along the way. Next? The robot explorer will investigate the oldest rocks on Mars to discover more about the planet's mysterious past.
Wild kingdom
A monarch butterfly drinks nectar from a flower in the pollinator habitat near the Chicago Park District warehouse in August. – Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune/Getty Images
With distinctive orange-and-black wings, monarch butterflies are easy to spot as they flutter among flowers, pollinating plants and promoting biodiversity.
But monarch populations have plummeted due to insecticides, habitat loss and the climate crisis — disturbing enough that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed adding the vulnerable species to the endangered species list.
If the butterflies are given the designation, more measures can be taken to protect the important pollinators. But officials warn that without action, monarchs could disappear before the end of the century, with far-reaching consequences for ecosystems.
Fantastic creatures
When a creature washed up in New Zealand in July, experts wondered if it might be a kick-toothed whale, the world's rarest whale that is considered almost mythical because it has never been seen alive at sea.
Now scientists studying the remains have confirmed that the “really stocky, powerful-looking little animal” is indeed one of the elusive marine mammals, says Anton van Helden, an expert on some of the world's rarest whales.
The carcass, studied by whale scientists and members of the local Māori community, provided valuable clues about the deep-sea diving animal.
We are family
An illustration shows early Europeans who lived in what is now Ranis, Germany, about 45,000 years ago and probably traveled together across the open steppe landscape. – Tom Björklund/Max Planck Institute
Ancient DNA recovered from bone fragments found in a cave beneath a medieval castle has helped scientists pinpoint when prehistoric humans encountered Neanderthals and made babies with them.
The bones belonged to a mother, daughter and distant cousins who lived in what is now eastern Germany about 45,000 years ago. Their genomes revealed evidence of Neanderthal ancestry, meaning that early Homo sapiens who lived in the region mated with Neanderthals 1,500 years earlier.
“We were much more alike than we were different,” says Priya Moorjani, an assistant professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley.
“It seems like they have been intermingled for a long time.”
The research not only shed light on the shared history between humans and Neanderthals, but also showed that the fragments belonged to a lost branch of the human family tree.
Discoveries
Discover these fascinating new findings:
– A male humpback whale embarked on a record-breaking 13,046 kilometer migration between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, providing unique insight into the complex behavior of these marine giants.
– A type of hardy bacteria nicknamed “Conan the Bacteria” can withstand radiation doses thousands of times stronger than what would kill a human. Now scientists have discovered the 'secret sauce' that could be used to protect astronauts in deep space in the future.
— The NASA Juno spacecraft's flybys of Jupiter's fiery moon Io helped reveal the surprising reasons why it is the most volcanic world in our solar system.
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