What the Oldest Lab Rodents Are Teaching Humans About Staying Young

So in labs from North Dakota to Mumbai, select rodents grow old under heavy scrutiny. Tucked away from the world to avoid pathogens and other confounding variables, sleeping in piles and doing flexed-arm hangs, and soldiering on as their cage mates die, they’re helping to illuminate certain mysteries of aging and test the efficacy of life-extension methods that may eventually be used for humans. They are rarely sung heroes in our quest to understand, and perhaps soften, the ravages of time.