Scientists find a remarkable molecule that could help humans live up to 200 years cancer free

By Eric Ralls – Earth.com

Some animals seem to break the rules of biology. The bowhead whale is one of them. These Arctic giants can live for up to 200 years, and they spend almost all of that time free of cancer and the other diseases that tend to catch up with the rest of us.

Most big, long-lived animals should be easy targets for cancer, but the bowhead is not.

So how does one of the largest animals on the planet stay healthy for so long? And if scientists can work out the trick, could any of it help people too?

A team of biologists went looking for an answer, and they think a single protein is doing a lot of the heavy lifting.