If the aging process is controlled in a similar way in worms and humans, then we can use what we learn about worms to speed our study of higher organisms.

You would think that UV just causes mutations, but it doesn't, you need a gene to be active for it.

I eat some fruit every day, but not too much and almost no processed food. I stay away from sweets, except 80 per cent chocolate.

In the early '90s, we discovered mutations that could double the normal life span of worms.

In principle, if you understood the mechanisms of keeping things repaired, you could keep things going indefinitely.

Life's too short to not be around nice people.

A big tree seemed even more beautiful to me when I imagined thousands of tiny photosynthesis machines inside every leaf. So I went to MIT and worked on bacteria because that's where people knew the most about these switches, how to control the genetics.