---
title: "Scientists Made Mice Live 12% Longer by Hacking Their Telomeres"
description: "Researchers managed to extend the lifespan of lab mice significantly, making them live longer by cultivating embryonic cells without genetic modification."
date: "2019-10-21"
modified: "2019-10-21"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/mice-live-longer-hacking-dna"
categories:
  - "Cybersecurity"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Gene Editing"
  - "Genetics"
  - "Hacking"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "aging research"
  - "longevity"
  - "Telomeres"
---

# Scientists Made Mice Live 12% Longer by Hacking Their Telomeres

![Researchers managed to extend the lifespan of lab mice significantly, making them live longer by cultivating embryonic cells without genetic modification.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/mice-live-longer-hacking-dna.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Pixabay\</em\>*

A team of researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center have managed to extend the average lifespan of lab mice by more than 12 percent by cultivating embryonic cells in a special way, [according to *Science Alert*](<https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-made-long-lived-mice-with-extended-chromosomes-inside-all-of-their-cells>) — no genetic modification required.

They looked at a natural process that's linked to aging: the strands of nucleotide sequences at the end of each chromosome, called telomeres, that act as a buffer to protect the genetic material inside the chromosomes. These telomeres tend get shorter over time as we age — so longevity researchers have long pondered whether increasing their length could help us live longer.

In this case, the Spanish researchers left stem cells in a petri dish to multiply on their own, giving them unusually long telomeres. Mice bred with chromosomes featuring the twice-as-long telomeres showed a "significant increase of 12.74 percent in median longevity," according to the researchers' paper, which [was published](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12664-x>) last week by the journal *Nature Communications*.

They also found that the specially-bred mice showed no difference in cognitive function, retained the longer telomeres over time, and were 20 percent less likely to develop age-related tumors.

The experiment isn't quite as revolutionary as it sounds — this kind of technique isn't about to make humans live longer any time soon. But it could give scientists insight into the process of aging — and perhaps find ways to slow it down in the future.

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)