Living Longer With Booze

(Los Angeles, California) Researchers at UCLA have discovered that consumption of alcohol doubles the lifespan of certain test subjects, uh, worms.

The discovery was described as "shocking" by biochemist Steven Clarke, senior author of a study published in PLoS One, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Public Library of Science.

So, if you have worms and they're dying off too quickly, give them some hooch. Heh.

Frivolity aside, the researchers have no evidence that the increase in longevity of boozy worms is translatable to humans.

"One of the most dangerous things you can do is try to make extrapolations from one organism to another, especially over this evolutionary distance," he said.

But he is haunted by the fact that numerous research projects have shown that a limited amount of alcohol is beneficial to the human cardiovascular system.

Therefore, some agreement exists regarding the beneficial effects of a "limited amount of alcohol" consumed by humans.

The "limited amount" isn't delineated but it probably means that people should keep their consumption to less than a 12-pack of beer or a bottle of wine daily.