Aug. 2, 2012 Women outlive men by about five to six years but
why? By age 85 there are roughly six women to every four men and
by age 100 the ratio is more than two to one. Now scientists
think they may have found the answer in the aptly named
"Mother's Curse." Published in Current Biology, research led by
Dr Damian Dowling and Florencia Camus of Monash University in
Australia, together with Dr David Clancy of Lancaster University
in the UK shows that a set of DNA inherited only from the mother
can be harmful to males and speed up male aging. Dr Dowling said
the results point to numerous mutations within mitochondrial DNA
that affect how long males live, and the speed at which they
age. He said: "Intriguingly, these same mutations have no
effects on patterns of aging in females. They only affect males.
"All animals possess mitochondria, and the tendency for females
to outlive males is common to many different species. Our
results therefore suggest that the mitochondrial mutations we
have uncovered will genera