The real science of puppy aging
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Meet Thor. He’s a 10-pound Australian Shepherd and, objectively, the cutest dog to ever live (except yours, of course). Thor is 8 years old, which means that he is likely about halfway through his life. I on the other hand am probably about a third of the way through mine. I hate that math. It seems cruel that we live so much longer than our best friends.
What can we do to help dogs live longer? That’s where this video begins. Along the way, my research took me on a journey to better understand what aging is, human and dog longevity research, how dogs and humans age differently, and why “dog years” aren't real. I met Celine Halioua, founder of a company called Loyal, which is conducting large-scale dog longevity research. And I spent some quality time with Thor.
But the best part of this video is that YOU submitted your dog videos and photos! This video is dedicated to your dogs: Poppy, Cleo (oh, hey!), Alexa, Pickles, Bree, Tuffy, Whitey, Dakota, Callan, Annie, Lonzo, Belle, Momo, Nelson, Yolie, Achilles, Yondu, Jasper, Ginny, Arya, Goldie, Macho, Mochi, Bombon, Pepe, Cheeseburger (omg), Ellie, Hagrid, Leia, Mosley, Chillie, Mery, Azure, Data, Luna, Dobby, Ketch, Sem, Hershey, Kobe, Penny, Ari, Lou, Browser, Molly, Pia, Jack, Pocky, Alphonse, Banjo, Sandy, Simba, Maha, Chip, Titus, Dougal, Apollo, Lucky, Mister, Mouse, King, Meda, Yoshi, Bacon, Mia, Sherry, and Macy. We love you. (Please let me know if you submitted but don’t see your dog’s name here! I’ll add them.)
Chapters:
00:00 How can I help my dog live longer?
01:11 What are dog years?
02:29 How do you measure aging?
03:15 The methylation “aging clock”
04:10 Why small dogs live longer
05:22 Making all dogs live longer
06:49 How to help my dog live longer now
07:43 Ode to our best friends
Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! www.dropbox.com/request/Edocs...
I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: / cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: / cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: / cleoabram
Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s KZfaq Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?
Sources and additional reading:
- “The Seven-Year Glitch,” WSJ www.wsj.com/articles/SB121997...
- “Quantitative translation of dog-to-human aging by conserved remodeling of epigenetic networks” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.11...
- “What the aging field needs,” Celine Halioua www.celinehh.com/aging-field
- “Why do dogs get old? Some theories of aging” skeptvet.com/Blog/2021/02/why...
- “Dogs are great models for aging biology” blog.loyalfordogs.com/dogs-ar...
Vox: www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/
Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16-35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro
Music: Musicbed
Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: kzfaq.info?sub...
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Welcome to the joke down low (an idea 100% in reference to Answer In Progress’ awesome “joke below the fold” - I always scroll down to see them and always wanted to do this myself too):
What do you get when you cross a dog and a calculator?
A friend you can count on.
Find a way to use the word “friend” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one ;)