The Longevity Bottleneck Hypothesis, DNA repair mechanisms, and the evolutionary shadows cast by the Mesozoic Era lead our journey into why mammals age the way they do. We dive into a provocative theory suggesting that 150 million years of being "dino-snacks" might have permanently shortened our ancestral lifespans.

Dr. Molly Burke, an evolutionary biologist from Oregon State University, joins the show to explain how natural selection acts like a "tuner" for longevity. We discuss experimental evolution using fruit flies and yeast, exploring how shifting the age of reproduction can increase or decrease lifespan in just a few generations.

Topics

The Mesozoic Bottleneck: Hypothesis that early mammals lost long-life genes because rapid repr ...