Dinosaurs may have influenced how humans age

 

Human aging may have been influenced by millions of years of dinosaur dominance, according to a new theory from a leading aging expert

The “longevity bottleneck” hypothesis has been proposed by Professor Joao Pedro de Magalhaes of the University of Birminghan in a new study published in BioEssays. The hypothesis relates the role that dinosaurs played for more than 100 million years to aging process of mammals.

While some reptiles and amphibians do not show significant sings of aging, all mammals, including humans, show a marked aging process.

Professor de Magalhaes’s hypothesis suggests that during the Mesozoic Era, mammals faced persistent pressure for rapid reproduction during the reign of the dinosaurs, which for more than 100 million years led to the loss or inactivation of genes associated with long life, such as processes with tissue regeneration and DNA repair.

Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, Professor of Molecular Biogerontology at the Institute of Inflammation and Aging at the University of Birminghan, explain: “The ‘longevity bottleneck hypothesis’ may shed light on the evolutionary forces that have shaped the aging of people. Mammals for millions of years. While humans are among the longest-lived animals, there are many reptiles and other animals that have a much slower aging process and show minimal sings of senescence throughout their lives”.

This was really Napoleon’s most epic battle

 

The criticism has been clear: Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is full of historical inaccuracies. From a scene in which Joaquin Phoenix shoots at the Great Pyramid of Giza to a moment in which the French army wins a battle by drowning the enemy under a frozen lake, the film has taken numerous licenses. The last scene is a recreation of the Battle of Austerlitz, which in reality occurred very differently from how it is shown in the film.

The real Battle of Austerlitz was a risky and audacious plan by Napoleon, and it involved defeating not one, but two emperors. The great tactic Napoleon used was not to drown his enemy, especially since the frozen lake was completely visible that day, without any layer of snow.

Instead, Napoleon tricked his enemy into believing that the French army was smaller and quite weak in the days before the battle. What’s more, he even feigned a retreat, abandoning the advantageous high ground, and deliberately wakened his right flank by deploying part of the French army to draw in the Russians and Austrians.