U.S. scientists have found a gene that controls aging in mice.  They're calling this gene "Klotho," after the Greek goddess who spun the thread of life.  By "boosting" this gene, these scientists were able to cause mice to live naturally for 3 years instead of 2, and so of course everyone's anticipating the finding of a similar "Klotho" gene in humans.  Don't freak out though, a society of 200-year-old people doesn't appear to be in the near future;  the Klotho aging boost only seems to work well on male mice, and these little Methuselahs are much less fertile than normal. 

The prospect of a genetic control on the aging process is welcome news to Biblical literalists (such as myself, I'm proud to admit) who entertain the thought that the ancients--meaning those who lived 4,000 or so years ago--lived much longer than we do today.  History records the first humans as having average life spans of eight or nine hundred years.  Of course the famous Methuselah holds the record at 969.  After the global flood life spans began to significantly decrease.  Now we're lucky to nail one hundred.