A big tree seemed even more beautiful to me when I imagined thousands of tiny photosynthesis machines inside every leaf. So I went to MIT and worked on bacteria because that's where people knew the most about these switches, how to control the genetics. Cynthia Kenyon bacteriumbeautifulbig share on social
Just living longer and being sick is the worst. But the idea that you could have fewer diseases, and just have a healthy life and then turn out the lights, that's a good vision to have. And I think what we know about some of these pathways suggests that might be possible. Cynthia Kenyon baddiseasefew share on social
I was one of those kids who was always seeking the truth, and I first looked for truth by reading novels. It took quite a long time for me to realize there are better ways. Cynthia Kenyon kidlonglook Change image and share on social
Humans live a lot longer than dogs, and we don't suffer any penalty that I can see. We're superior in almost every way - they can smell better. But really, they can't drive cars, they can't do half the things we can. I don't understand why you can't live longer and be really fit. Cynthia Kenyon cardogdrive share on social
If the aging process is controlled in a similar way in worms and humans, then we can use what we learn about worms to speed our study of higher organisms. Cynthia Kenyon agingcontrolhigh Change image and share on social
If I were a worm, I would rather be the long-lived mutant than the normal worm, that's for sure. Cynthia Kenyon livelongmutant Change image and share on social
There are lots of different strategies that an animal can use to survive. What a worm does is try to convert food into worms as soon as possible. In three days a single worm produces 300 progeny. So why put your resources into developing if you can make a brand-new worm in no time at all? Cynthia Kenyon animalbrandconvert share on social
It's possible that we could change a human gene and double our life span. I don't know if that's true, but we can't rule that out. Cynthia Kenyon changedoublegene Change image and share on social
Ageing is very exciting. But if I didn't work on ageing, I'd want to work on the brain. There are really cool techniques you can use now. And bioinformatics. The methods you can use for comparing large data sets - that's so powerful. Cynthia Kenyon agebioinformaticsbrain share on social
It was like stepping on to an escalator; I could do anything. I was just made for science. Cynthia Kenyon escalatormakescience Change image and share on social