Hibernating lemurs can turn back the clock on cellular aging

Research on how these distantly related primates defy aging during torpor could point to new ways to promote healthier aging in humans.

Duke University

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A hamster-sized primate from Madagascar, the fat-tailed dwarf lemur is our closest genetic relative known to hibernate. They also tend to live longer than you’d expect given their size. New research reveals a potential anti-aging mechanism within their cells. 

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Credit: Photo by David Haring.

DURHAM, N.C. -- We’re all familiar with the outward signs of aging. The face that greets you in the mirror each morning may have sagging skin or thinning hair. But many age-related changes start within our cells, even our DNA, which can wear and tear over time as we get older.

Some creatures have come up with a way to reverse this process, at least temporarily. Consider the fat-tailed dwarf lemur of Madagascar. This hamster-sized primate can turn back the cellular aging clock and momentarily defy time during its annual hibernation season, according to new research conducted by a team at Duke University and the University of California, San Francisco.

It’s thanks to tiny caps on the ends of their chromosomes called telomeres. They work like the plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces that keep them from fraying.

Every time a cell divides, little chunks of its telomeres are lost in the process, such that telomeres get shorter with age.

Things like chronic stress, a sedentary lifestyle and skimping on sleep can make them dwindle even faster. Eventually, telomeres become so stubby that they no longer provide protection, and cells lose the ability to function.

But dwarf lemurs have a way of keeping their telomeres from shortening and even making them longer, effectively rejuvenating their cells, at least for a while, according to a study published in the journal Biology Letters.

It all happens during hibernation, said lead author Marina Blanco of Duke. When winter sets in in the wild, dwarf lemurs disappear into tree holes or underground burrows, where they spend up to seven months each year in a state of suspended animation.

It’s a survival tactic for making it through times when food is in short supply.

During this period of metabolic slow-motion, their heart rate slows from around 200 beats per minute to fewer than eight, they become cool to the touch, and they only take a breath every 10 minutes or so.

Hibernating dwarf lemurs can stay in this cold, standby state for about a week before they have to briefly warm up, and ironically, this is when they catch up on sleep. Then, they settle back into torpor while waiting for the season of plenty to return.

For the study, the researchers followed 15 dwarf lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center before, during, and after hibernation, testing cheek swabs to track how their telomeres changed over time.

To help them hibernate, the researchers gradually lowered the thermostat from 77 degrees Fahrenheit to the mid-50s to simulate winter conditions in the lemurs’ native habitat and gave them artificial burrows where they could curl up and wait out the cold.

One group of animals was offered food if they were awake and active. The other group went without eating, drinking or moving for the months-long hibernation season, living off the fat stored in their tails as they would in the wild.

Usually, telomere length decreases over time as each round of cell division wears away at them.

But genetic sequencing revealed that during hibernation, the lemurs’ telomeres weren’t shortening -- they actually got longer.

It’s almost as if, even as the months ticked by, they walked back their cells to a more youthful state.

“The results were in the opposite direction of what you'd expect,” Greene said.

“At first we thought something was off with the data,” she added. But UCSF co-author Dana Smith in the lab of Elizabeth Blackburn -- who shared the 2009 Nobel prize for discovering how telomeres rebuild themselves -- confirmed the findings.

Overall, telomeres got longer in lemurs that experienced deeper torpor bouts.

By contrast, lemurs that “woke up” to eat had telomere lengths that remained relatively stable during the study.

The lemurs’ changes were temporary. Two weeks after the animals made their way out of hibernation, the researchers noted that their telomeres returned to their pre-hibernation length.

Lengthening may be a mechanism to counteract any cell damage that might otherwise occur during their periodic rewarming phases, Blanco said.

Like starting a car after it’s been sitting unused in cold weather, these drastic metabolic rev-ups “really challenge the body to the extreme, from zero to 100,” Greene added.

A similar lengthening phenomenon has recently been observed in humans who endured other stressful situations, such as spending a year aboard the International Space Station or living for months underwater.

By extending their telomeres, lemurs may effectively increase the number of times their cells can divide, thus adding new life to their cells at a stressful time, Blanco said.

It seems to work – dwarf lemurs can live up to twice as long as other primates their size.

A galago, a similar-sized primate that doesn’t hibernate, lives around 12 or 13 years, while the fat-tailed dwarf lemur has been recorded surviving to nearly 30.

Longevity and telomere repair “may be linked, but we don't know for sure yet,” Blanco cautioned.

Exactly how lemurs extend their telomeres is still a mystery as well.

But figuring out how they do it may help researchers develop new ways to prevent or treat age-related diseases in humans without increasing the risks of runaway cell division that can lead to cancer, the researchers said.

This research was partly funded by the Duke Lemur Center.

CITATION: "Food Deprivation is Associated With Telomere Elongation During Hibernation in a Primate," Marina B. Blanco, Dana L. Smith, Lydia K. Greene, Jue Lin and Peter H. Klopfer. Biology Letters, Feb. 12, 2025. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0531

A hibernating dwarf lemur. 

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Photo by Lydia Greene, Duke University

Journal

Biology Letters

DOI

10.1098/rsbl.2024.0531 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Food Deprivation is Associated With Telomere Elongation During Hibernation in a Primate

Social media use amplifies delusional disorders: SFU study

Simon Fraser University

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A new study from Simon Fraser University researchers has found a close link between high levels of social media use and psychiatric disorders that involve delusions, such as narcissism and body dysmorphic disorder.

According to the recently published study in BMC Psychiatry – a systematic review of all available academic literature including scrutiny of over 2,500 publications on social media use and psychiatric disorders – forms of delusions were by far the most prevalent type of psychiatric disorders related to high social media use.

These disorders include narcissistic personality disorder (delusions of superiority), erotomania (delusions that someone famous loves you), body dysmorphic disorder (delusions of flaws in some part of one’s body) and anorexia (delusions about body size).

“Social media is creating conditions where delusions can more easily be generated and sustained due to the presence of platforms and apps that cater to the disorder’s causes, plus the absence of effective reality-checking,” says Bernard Crespi, a professor of biological sciences and Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Genetics and Psychology at SFU. “This research has important implications for the causes and symptoms of mental illnesses, and how they can be exacerbated by online social platforms.”

According to the authors, social media itself isn’t inherently problematic, but the virtual worlds – coupled with social isolation in “real life” – create environments where people can maintain a delusional sense of self identity without scrutiny.

While social media can have positive benefits through its ability to create communities and help people feel more togetherness, Crespi and his co-author Nancy Yang argue that higher-risk individuals are often negatively impacted by high social media use. 

They also point out that the features of many popular apps and platforms sustain and exacerbate mental and physical delusions, by enabling self-presentation in self-promoting but inaccurate ways.

The profound difference between online and in-person social interactions – where people are more likely to have their delusions kept in check by physical and emotional reality – exacerbate deviations from mental well-being, he adds.

The study concludes that people with disorders involving high levels of delusionality would benefit from reducing their social media use. It also calls for more research to be done on the specific features of social media that encourage delusions and look for ways to make online social interactions more grounded and real life-like.

To achieve this, the researchers cite the potential of eye-contact technology, 3D perspectives, avatars and other immersive technologies.

 

Journal

BMC Psychiatry

Method of Research

Systematic review

Article Title

I tweet, therefore I am: a systematic review on social media use and disorders of the social brain

 

Inequality destroys the benefits of positive economic growth for the poor

University of Johannesburg

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“Inequality is bad for economic growth and bad for poverty reduction. In the past researchers were not able to exactly quantify the effect of inequality in the context of economic shocks. This graph  presents exactly how inequality cancels out the influence of positive economic growth in terms of poverty reduction - in the context of times of economic shocks and low growth,” says Prof Nicholas Ngepah from the University of Johannesburg. He published a first-of-its-kind analysis of district-level data in the Journal of African Economies at https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejae020.

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Credit: Therese van Wyk and Nicholas Ngepah, University of Johannesburg.

A unique analysis of district-level data reveals why inequality is so destructive to the home consumption welfare of people living below the poverty line, especially during times of significant economic decline, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. During negative economic growth, the welfare of the poor should be the main focus area.

Research from the University of Johannesburg shows how inequality can demolish most of the benefits of positive economic growth and social grants for people living in poverty, especially during economic downturns.

The study by Prof Nicholas Ngepah analyses district-level data matched to household surveys from one of the most unequal countries in the world, which also has high levels of unemployment.

The results present a stark picture to economies experiencing an uptick in inequality in a negative economic growth environment.

However, when poor people gain skills to access gainful employment, their fortunes can improve in real terms.

The research article was published in a supplement to the Journal of African Economies.

Prof Ngepah is a Professor at the School of Economics, in the College of Business and Economics, at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

Unique district-level impact analysis

The study is a first of its kind for South Africa. “The study uses existing datasets, matches individuals in survey datasets  to their immediate district-level environment facing specific conditions within that municipality or district”, says Ngepah. 

“This includes what kind of economic growth and inequality people are facing - and how that affects that person as an individual. This means that poverty is measured at household or individual level, rather than aggregate level”, he says.

GDP no cure-all

GDP growth has many benefits, but cannot be relied on to reduce deep poverty in the presence of high inequality without other interventions. South Africa’s economy has shown more than once that a steep rise in GDP does not result in a comparable decrease in poverty. This is particularly evident in data from 2006 and 2011 as shown in a graph in the research article. Worse, the 2006 increase in GDP was outstripped by a significant increase in poverty.

Inequality cancels benefits of growth

“Inequality is bad for economic growth and bad for poverty reduction. In the past economists were not able to exactly quantify the effect of inequality in the context of economic shocks. 

“The graph ‘Inequality cancels benefits of growth’ presents how inequality cancels out the influence of positive economic growth in terms of poverty reduction - in the context of economic shocks and low growth,” says Ngepah.

The graph shows that inequality significantly increases the probability of being in poverty; and that inequality significantly increases poverty intensity. Poverty intensity is the gap between a poor person's welfare and the lower poverty line. 

Inequality also significantly increases poverty severity, which is a poverty gap definition to identify the poorest of poor. 

“Very clearly, we see how present inequality beats present growth in terms of the effect on poverty,” he adds.

Inequality and negative growth hit poor households much harder

It is important to analyse inequality in times of negative economic growth or recession, says Ngepah, because poorer people suffer more in terms of their consumption welfare.

Inequality combined with negative growth hit the consumption of the lower percentiles of the population very hard, from zero up to the 60th percentile in South Africa. Up to the 55th to 60th percentile of households by income or consumption live below the poverty line in the country, as shown in the graph 'Inequality and negative growth hit poor households much harder'.

The graph also shows what happens to poor households during positive economic growth.

“When we look at inequality and a negative economic growth rate combined, the effects are much stronger on the consumptions of the poor on the left side of the graph. 

“But as we move to the topmost side of the distribution above the 60th percentile and particularly the 80th percentile and to the end, we see that the effects become small, insignificant and then fades away,” says Ngepah. 

“This graph shows what happens in times of negative economic growth like we experienced during COVID and up to now. Some countries are still struggling to get out of negative economic growth.

“The policy implication is that in times of economic shocks, attention should be given more to the welfare of the poor. This goes to underscore social safety nets that have been put in place. 

“We advocate that these should be enhanced in preparation for times of economic shocks, in particular during times when the economy is growing negatively or shrinking,” he adds.

Positive growth benefits the poor the most

In the analysis, Ngepah also compares negative economic growth with positive economic growth and their impact on the poor or poverty reduction. 

“When the economy is growing positively, the poor experience more poverty reduction, than they experience harm when the  economy is shrinking. This means that when we grow the economy, we benefit the poor more in absolute terms, compared to negative or no growth. 

“So if the economy grows consistently with fewer episodes of negative economic growth, there will be more sustained poverty reduction over the long run”, he adds.

From the graph ‘Positive growth benefits the poor the most’ it can be seen that when the economy grows positively, there is up to 14% reduction in the probability of being poor; 17% reduction in poverty intensity; and up to 10% reduction in the square of poverty gap.

When the economy is growing negatively or shrinking, there is a 2% increase in the probability of being poor; a 1.1% increase in poverty intensity and 0.3% increase in the square of poverty gap. 

“We think that these differences are the result of the social safety nets that are often put in place during times of economic shocks or negative economic growth. Again, when the economy is shrinking, attention should be focused on the welfare of the poor,” concludes Ngepah.

“This graph shows that in times of negative economic growth like we experienced during COVID and up to now, some countries are still struggling to get out of negative economic growth. We see that the poorer people suffer more in terms of their consumption welfare in relation to the effect of inequality and the effect of negative growth,” says Prof Nicholas Ngepah from the University of Johannesburg. Ngepah published a first-of-its-kind analysis of district-level data in the Journal of African Economies at https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejae020. “The policy implication is that in times of economic shocks, attention should be given more to the welfare of the poor. This goes to underscore social safety nets that have been put in place. We advocate that these should be enhanced in preparation for times of economic shocks, in particular during times when the economy is growing negatively or shrinking,” he adds.

“This graph compares negative economic growth and positive economic growth; and their impact on the poor or on poverty reduction. We see that when the economy is growing positively, poverty reduction benefits more significantly compared to when the economy is shrinking. This means that when the economy grows, the poor benefit more”, says Prof Nicholas Ngepah from the University of Johannesburg. Ngepah published a first-of-its-kind analysis of district-level data in the Journal of African Economies at https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejae020.

Credit

Therese van Wyk and Nicholas Ngepah, University of Johannesburg.

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Graphs

The graphs are available as the multimedia files for this news release.

Interviews

For more information, or to interview the researcher via email / phone / video please contact: 

Ms Therese van Wyk, Research Media Liaison, University of Johannesburg at theresevw@uj.ac.za.

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Journal

Journal of African Economies

DOI

10.1093/jae/ejae020 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Asymmetric Response of Poverty to Growth and Inequality in South Africa: Implications for Current and Future Shocks

DEI

Job interviews can be a hurdle for autistic applicants

University of Arkansas

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Sam M. Walton College of Business doctoral candidate in management Maira E. Ezerins.

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Credit: Cheiko Hara

A job interview can make anyone anxious. For people with autism, an interview can be extra stressful. They might avoid eye contact, or rush when they speak. They could miss social cues, or fidget to cope with discomfort from noise or lights. And research has shown that an interview often evaluates a candidate more on their social skills than their abilities for the job.

A new study by Maira E. Ezerins, a doctoral candidate in management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, examines both the challenges autistic job candidates face in an interview and how they want the process changed to accommodate them.

The paper was published in the most recent issue of Journal of Management. The co-authors are Walton College management professors Lauren S. Simon and Christopher C. Rosen, who both serve on Ezerins’ dissertation committee.

A GROWING AWARENESS

Ezerins’ dissertation is focused on autistic women in the workplace. She came to the subject while working as a management consultant. A supervisor asked Ezerins about employees who had excellent records but struggled to engage socially with colleagues. Could they have undiagnosed autism?

At the same time, Ezerins saw large companies like Microsoft, Wells Fargo and the accounting firm EY trying to hire more autistic people.

“They can be very detail oriented, so companies in the tech sector in particular are noticing this as an untapped labor pool,” Ezerins said.

“I started exploring the topic, and I found that there’s so many unanswered questions,” she said.

IMPROVEMENTS TO BENEFIT EVERYONE

Past research on autism and job interviews focused on how autistic candidates could change their behavior. The onus was on the autistic person to manage or hide their autism, an approach known as impression management tactics. Ezerins wanted to hear from autistic individuals about how an employer could change the interview process to better suit their needs.

“I think a large problem with existing research on autism is that it’s coming from a medical model, where autism is positioned as a deficit,” she said.

The study surveyed 100 autistic people and 100 allistic, or non-autistic, individuals about their experiences in job interviews. Overall, autistic job applicants had more anxiety during interviews and were concerned about how potential employers viewed their autistic traits.

Based on the responses from the survey, Ezerins and her co-authors created a checklist of concrete steps a company could take to improve the job interview experience for autistic candidates. The suggestions include giving candidates more flexibility over the time and date of an interview, providing general questions and topics for the interview in advance, and letting applicants showcase their skills for a position in ways that do not rely on social skills.

Many non-autistic survey participants said they would also welcome these accommodations to reduce stress and help them better show their qualifications for a potential job.

“The accommodations we offer can be implemented for everyone. They can reduce the need for anyone to disclose they’re neurodivergent and help improve performance for autistic and non-autistic applicants alike,” Ezerins said.

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Journal

Journal of Management

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Autistic Applicants’ Job Interview Experiences and Accommodation Preferences: An Intersectional Analysis

 AMERIKA

Study: Medicaid expansion does not lead to increase in non-prescribed drug use

A new study has found that extending state Medicaid coverage did not increase the likelihood of prescription opioid or benzodiazepine misuse among people who use drugs.

Boston University School of Public Health

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People who inject drugs and experience poverty are at an increased risk of health conditions such as HIV and tuberculosis, as well as overdose. While this population stands to benefit from health services provided through Medicaid expansion, prior reports have claimed that extending Medicaid coverage to this group encourages misuse of opioids. 

A new study led by researchers at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and Emory University Rollins School of Public Health (Rollins SPH) vigorously refutes this claim. Published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, the study examined federal data on health and drug use among nearly 20,000 people who inject drugs and are low-income in the US, and found no association between Medicaid expansion and misuse of prescription opioids or benzodiazepines, drugs often prescribed for anxiety or insomnia.

Importantly, these findings present real-world data that disprove narratives claiming that Medicaid expansion has fueled the longstanding opioid crisis in America by increasing access to low-cost prescription opioids diverted for non-prescribed use. 

The new study takes into account state-level opioid trends and individual-level characteristics—such as race, health status, and insurance coverage—that can affect how and to what extent people may access and utilize opioids The researchers observed no increase in non-prescribed opioid use among low-income people who use drugs, a clinically and socially vulnerable population for which expanded Medicaid coverage could fulfill unmet and costly health needs. If Congress advances a budget blueprint that cuts funding to Medicaid—which serves more than 1 in 5 people in the US—these critical needs could remain unmet.  

“Our findings provide strong empirical data that indicate there is no link between Medicaid expansion and non-prescribed use of opioids and benzodiazepines,” says study lead and corresponding author Dr. Danielle Haley, assistant professor of community health sciences at BUSPH. “This insight allows us to focus on what we do know from the literature about Medicaid expansion—that there are potential life-saving benefits for people who use drugs.”

While the earlier stages of the opioid crisis were driven by an overprescribing of opioid pain medication, the US has made concerted efforts to address this problem, Dr. Haley adds.

“The timing of the opioid overdose crisis far predates the expansion of Medicaid, which began in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act,” she says. “What has really driven overdose deaths over the last several years are synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. We need to support policies that ensure individuals have access to appropriate pain medication while advancing best practices for prescribing these drugs.”

For the study, Dr. Haley and colleagues from Rollins SPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Florida State University College of Nursing utilized three waves of federal health data in 2012, 2015, and 2018, among 19,728 people who inject drugs ages 18-64 who were enrolled in Medicaid with an income of 138 percent of the federal poverty line or below. The participants resided in 13 states, including 10 that expanded Medicaid and 3 that did not expand Medicaid.

After accounting for numerous factors, such as race/ethnicity, income, employment, health conditions, and access to drug monitoring programs, they observed no connection between Medicaid expansion and non-prescribed use of opioids or benzodiazepines among all of the participants—nor any association based specifically on race/ethnicity or HIV status. 

The researchers hope the new findings help reduce persistent stigmas and structural inequities associated with opioid use among people who inject drugs. 

“FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder are very effective in treating opioid use disorder, and also reducing overdose, Dr. Haley says. “There are multiple issues that still need to be addressed, but having health insurance is a critical gateway for people to access these life-saving services. It is important to address the barriers that Medicaid enrollees who inject drugs encounter in actually receiving the treatment and services their insurance provides. 

**

About Boston University School of Public Health 

Founded in 1976, Boston University School of Public Health is one of the top ten ranked schools of public health in the world. It offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments conduct policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations—especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable—locally and globally. 

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Journal

Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment

DOI

10.1016/j.josat.2025.209639 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Medicaid expansion is not associated with prescription opioid and benzodiazepine misuse among people who inject drugs: A serial cross-sectional observational study using generalized difference-in-differences models