"Cooler" Mice Live Longer, Study Finds

The newfangled mice are only slightly cooler than normal just 0.5 to 0.9 degree Fahrenheit (0.3 to 0.5 degree Celsius), an effect that occurs only during waking hours.But the temperature drop significantly increases the rodents' life spans, scientists say. They altered the male mice whic can now live 12 percent longer on average, while females can now live 20 percent longer than regular mice. To create the "cool mice," scientists used genetic engineering to fool the rodents' central thermostat, which is found in the hypothalamus region of the brain. By targeting a specific protein, the scientists caused a small cluster of neurons to heat up, duping the nearby thermostat to turn down the rodents' body heat. Despite lower body temperatures, the mice appear to be as physically active as, and eat the same amount of food as, normal mice.

Now I think this is cool because if the escientists could transfer this to the human brain then we could live 12 percent longer then our normal 70-80 years.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/