Why do we age? Despite more than a century of research (and a vast industry of youth-promising products), what causes our cells and organs to deteriorate with age is still largely unknown. One known factor is temperature: Many animal species live longer at lower temperature than they do at higher temperatures. As a result, "there are people out there who believe, strongly, that if you take a cold shower every day it will extend your lifespan," says Kristin Gribble (photo), PhD, an Assistant Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory(MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (the MBL is an affiliate of the University of Chicago). But a new study from Dr. Gribble's lab indicates that it's not just a matter of turning down the thermostat. Rather, the extent to which temperature affects lifespan depends on an individual's genes. The study from Dr. Gribble's group, which was published in Experimental Gerontology (114: 99-106; 2018), was conducted in the rotifer, a tiny animal that has been used in aging research for more than 100 years. Gribble's team exposed 11 genetically distinct strains of rotifers (Brachionus) to low temperature, with the hypothesis that if the mechanism of lifespan extension is purely a thermodynamic response, all strains should have a similar lifespan increase. However, the median lifespan increase ranged from 6 percent to 100 percent across the strains, they found. They also observed differences in mortality rate. The new study is titled “Congeneric Variability in Lifespan Extension and Onset of Senescence Suggest Active Regulation of Aging in Response to Low Temperature.” This study clarifies the role of temperature in the free-radical theory of aging, which has dominated the field since the 1950s.Login Or Register To Read Full Story