What do we think about this? Is this true?!
Posted by No-Public7@reddit | whales | View on Reddit | 141 comments
Why would we want to possibly live for more than 200+ years?! When literally this system is the reason we barely make it to 30?? They are in charge of everything that’s wrong with us for their own benefit… Food, air, water, meat that’s all full of bioengineered organisms fake proteins so on. Maybe we should focus on making the quality of life better now instead of such stupidity.
Eternalyskeptic@reddit
This better not end up like the sarcastiball episode of Southpark.
CelestialMillennial@reddit
Whether it's true or not, I don't know. But if it is, then soon there'll be no more whales, and immortal billionaires.
WhaleLover48@reddit
We as humans will never learn to keep our hands to ourselves, will we?
waterbottlegirll@reddit
Molecular biologist here :) This article is almost certainly referring to a really interesting phenomenon which is that whales live very long lives and yet almost never get cancer. Scientists believe it has something to do with a protein that they have which helps to repair DNA breaks (which cause mutations) and reduces genomic instability. The protein is called Cold Inducible RNA-Binding Protein or CIRBP for short, and humans actually make it too. The difference is that Bowhead whales’ cells make a LOT more of it and they can live for 200 years.
This is an active area of research, but scientists have seen that when we measure how much CIRBP is being made in cancerous tissues, not all types of cancer tell us the same story about its role.
Results suggest that it acts as an oncogene (more CIRBP=more cancer) in lung, prostate, liver and bladder tissue, because it actually stabilizes the cancer cells’ genomes 🤦♂️
However in pancreatic cancer, results suggest that it plays a role in tumor suppression (more CIRBP= better chance of survival) 👍
Also, there’s some recent work showing that its presence may stabilize pro-inflammatory cytokines and prolong inflammation, and a clinical trial in 2025 found that in triple negative breast cancer, patients with high levels of CIRBP had nearly twice the mortality risk compared to those with lower levels.
There are many proteins that play different roles depending on context, but together these indicate that we need a more complete understanding of what decides how much CIRBP to make, and why its behavior changes across different environments. So as a drug target, the hype is unwarranted at the moment. But in the near future, these measurements of mortality risk and CIRBP levels in different tissues could help doctors predict survival outcomes in their patients.
LAWhaleGuide@reddit
This is the comment everyone needed to read!! Thank you for breaking it down so clearly. We take people out to see these animals every day and the more people understand just how extraordinary whales are biologically, the better. The CIRBP angle is wild. Sharing this with our team thank you.
waterbottlegirll@reddit
Wow thank you! That’s a real compliment for a scientist to receive. I hope the people on your tours are inspired to ask questions and keep learning more :) I wish I got to lead a tour boat around a cell.
idiotic-username@reddit
yeah bitch, science!
sk3pt1c@reddit
Voice of reason, thank you!
The_Original_Fisch@reddit
ive seen you on another reddit..
RunPsychological9891@reddit
Oh timmy
Fit-Ad-7682@reddit
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Defiant_Pop3071@reddit
All the rich people are investing first is this is true😭
Last_VCR@reddit
Honey Im ready for it to end right now
Jaycie_Lea169@reddit
Right, like I came here to comment bro I'm already not having a good time tf
Burntoastedbutter@reddit
I've seen enough shows with immortal characters or nearly immortal characters to know that living that long is a curse of its own lol
Ilaxilil@reddit
I’d be down for an optional de-aging treatment every 50-100 years or so, gives you the option to fade away when you get tired of living. Plus “immortality” doesn’t necessarily mean “invulnerability.” You can still die from illness or injury, and over a span of time that long, chances are that you will.
Burntoastedbutter@reddit
Oh I watched one where the thing was truly invulnerable too. Its sole purpose was to collect data of the planet. Everything. It could turn into people (after they have died) and animals or objects (upon touching it). It could even spawn elements as long as it figured out how it worked. There was one scene where some religious cult who saw it as a demon trapped it in an empty cell and poured molten iron into it. That scene was horrifying because it was pure torture. It could not truly die, but it still felt all the pain. It was constantly burning and regenerating. 😬 Only way for it to overcome that was to understand molten iron and manage to produce it to melt its way out. There were also enemies in the world that could steal its data, but it'd just revert to being an inanimate object. As long as something died near it again, it'd 'come to life' again.
The craziest part is that its creator told it that it could pass over all its powers to it because the creator didn't want this 'life' anymore. AND IT REJECTED IT. So it shot itself in the foot if it ever decides its sick of living. It'd have no way of 'passing the torch' lol
sphinxyhiggins@reddit
leave them alone
Prestigious_Prior684@reddit
exactly!
Anen-o-me@reddit
We can grow protein in bioreactors, that's not an issue.
Key_Illustrator4822@reddit
Tell that to the cows
HunsonAbadeer2@reddit
That is a complex tissue, not a single protein
Junesucksatart@reddit
Even then, we are literally working on producing bioreactor meat
Sheogorathian@reddit
Leave me alone too I don't wanna be around that long fk
anotterbytrade@reddit
I know why are people this afraid of death. And then those are the people that aren’t even outdoor people, they just want to… live infinitely in chrome city?
guntheroac@reddit
I don’t want to go to work that long. 70 is already too long.
No-Public7@reddit (OP)
LITERALLY
SnooTangerines3448@reddit
Been a few films about it. Surely some of the reminders stuck.
Barack_Odrama_007@reddit
Agreed
exotics@reddit
NOOO NOOO
The planet doesn’t need more people. And more people is what we will have if we live longer.
For thousands of years the population stayed under 2 billion people. Then recently with healthcare BOOM in a very short time the population skyrocketed. In my lifetime alone the human population more than doubled to the point it’s over 8 billion already.
Thousands of species have gone extinct in that time.
We simply don’t need people living longer unless they are willing to not have kids
DellyDellyPBJelly@reddit
No, fuck humans.
DoowadJones@reddit
That sounds horrible for humanity and the planet even more so
Empty_Positive@reddit
First its only for the rich and elite, and than it becomes for the poor and we have to work till 180...
Neon_Tsunami@reddit
“…And just like that, there were no more whales.”
Aztec_Aesthetics@reddit
Except those few poor creatures who live in Musk's and Bezos' private labs.
Fearless-Onion7732@reddit
My first thought was "I hope not for the whale's sake". Sad but true.
disturbinglyquietguy@reddit
Avatar 2 whale subplot in a nutshell.
Demonic_Storm@reddit
and the worst part, its probably more cruel and inhumane than the movies
Junesucksatart@reddit
They’d probably just use genetically engineered bacteria with the genes associated with making that protein to produce it on a large scale
anotterbytrade@reddit
😭
Far-Philosophy-4375@reddit
Oh no..
Lynnicki@reddit
Whales don't have 9-5 jobs. Figure that one out first. Please.
playful_faun@reddit
Good lord I don't want to be stuck doing this shit for 200 years
Sad_Conclusion64@reddit
I dont know if this is true or not (articles with this type of format often have misinformation) but 1)Science is for everyone and it DO NOT have to cater to your opinion. Ofc science (discovery) does not exist in a vaccumn and could be exploited. But it could also be used to help people in need. You may not want to live for 200+ years but someone's life expectancy could improve drastically with these kind of discovery. Thinking that a discovery could only lead to one possible outcome and thus declare that it is stupid is ignorant at best and anti-science at worst. We dont need that kind of energy in a science sub and 2)Equating scientists to the whole capitalist system is so wrong and harmful. This very project might struggle for fund rn. Acting like this is a super evil project that aim to kill of all whales is extremely childish and is a misrepresentation of what scientists do. And finally 3)There are many things that are ACTIVELY harming the whale population. Maybe we should focus more on those things instead of a relatively new and niche project that HAS THE POTENTIAL TO help the whale population/learn more about whale in general
CricketDazzling7123@reddit
Hm. I don't like that. It's like in avatar....
dollygolightly@reddit
Them whales need to keep that kinda info on the dl
Willing-Piece-8569@reddit
I knew i was right
famoselaafette@reddit
again animal exploitation just for human to get to places they couldn’t naturally get to
Hot-Spray-2774@reddit
Honestly? I could break the system with 200 years. It's built around the idea that you live into your 70s.
paracuja@reddit
Nice then we have to retire at 165 years of age
lockednlotus@reddit
Let’s not
Particular-Smile5025@reddit
So are they now going to finish off all the whales
dattme@reddit
Nuke those damn water mamals right now!! I aint living that long in this economy...
MosquitoInYourRoom@reddit
Why would anyone eant to be 200? Immortality or very longevity would be absolute torture in my opinion.
greateraire@reddit
Also...... No human on this planet needs to live 200 years!
greateraire@reddit
Can we just leave an animal species alone on this planet!?!
tseg04@reddit
And the plot of Avatar ensues.
Viperboa107@reddit
I put about as much validity in this as I do Rhino horn increasing virility
Dramatic_Carob_1060@reddit
No thanks
TermusMcFlermus@reddit
Hard pass.
GeoCangrejo@reddit
Personally I don't think people should live that long
PUX_CLOWN@reddit
Nobody wants to live longer than they need to in this world
No-Essay-3227@reddit
i barely wanna live to 40, much less 200
Duneyman@reddit
Leave them alone.
Naive-Monk9330@reddit
No thank you, I rather die on time!
RueTabegga@reddit
No fucking way if I only get to work 40+ hours a week the whole time. I don’t understand wanting to extend the pain and suffering on this finite planet. If humans live this long and keep reproducing we will use up all our resources within a decade.
Possible-Jerk0138@reddit
No thank you
Adventuresforlife1@reddit
Why
ultramagnetique@reddit
Leave the fucking animals alone. Humans need to go extinct
metal_inside@reddit
Why would anyone even want to live that long?
Rammipallero@reddit
Imagine the compounding interest the billionaires could build with such a lifespan.
ojdhaze@reddit
I recall the Physician of one resident in a house that is white saying that the current resident was in such good health he could live until he was two hundred..
imreallyaferret@reddit
Sure so now billionaires can finally play out their darkest fantasies
ButterflyFit2712@reddit
They already do. They just need immortality. Nothing else is left.
ButterflyFit2712@reddit
Just fucking stop!
Uszanka3@reddit
Clickbait. Honest title would be "A protein found in whales may help people with centrain conditions live somegow longer by improving their health" if it is about the study I'm thinking of
Uszanka3@reddit
And it was about bowheads not humpbacks?
lemonhaj@reddit
Pretty sure this is half the plot of Avatar: The Way Of Water, and it doesn't end well for humans.
JensImGlueck@reddit
You mean rich humans.
brideoffrankinstien@reddit
Why would anybody want to live 200 years. It's torture just to live as long as we have to now watching the way everything's gone to hell. Yeah leave the damn whales alone. I mean seriously everybody leave the whales alone step away from the whales let them be. Bless those wondrous creatures. I believe they are the Titans and they're just sitting back swimming in that big ocean watching us all throw it away for the millions time. The meek will inherit the earth and the Titans and I'm cheering them on. So leave the damn whales alone leave it walk away looks the other direction and leave the damn whales alone leave them alone! Heavy sigh God what the hell.
HunsonAbadeer2@reddit
As a former scientist without reading the article I find it so unlikely to be true that I am not even going to read it
JasperTesla@reddit
If true, we can probably synthetically create it. We have tbe protein folding technology now.
No-Roll-1155@reddit
Have we not learend from avatar?
papiermachebeefroll@reddit
Please for the love of all that is good let this not be publicized as a thing, you just know some dumb fuck billionaire/millionaire and their leech families will try to experiment with this shit.
SimonGray653@reddit
oh great. I didn't know that we jumped 100+ years to Avatar: The Way of Water. lol
CokeNSalsa@reddit
I don’t want to live that long. It would be miserable and lonely after your spouse, kids, siblings, and friends die.
sYferaddict@reddit
I see you, Avatar: Way of Water. Leave those poor Tul'kun alone!!
Gloomy_Material_8818@reddit
Do you want to die now? ok i ask you in 100 years again. Who wouldn’t want to live for 200 years? Only lying losers
WiseDragonfly2470@reddit
i think whales deseeve that more than us
capybaragalaxy@reddit
Leave them alone. I don't want to live 200 years, I want to die as fast as possible.
CKH_6998@reddit
Let’s not. We do enough damage with the average 70 we have
Exciting-Still1438@reddit
Can imagine … hope not for them :/
CardiologistThat6375@reddit
This is like Avatar 2 - could you live with yourself knowing you were apart of the destruction and death of wales? I don’t think it’s worth it - live your own life and don’t fuck with Mother Nature she will fuck you up
trustybadmash@reddit
No thanks
Lets_Make_A_bad_DEAL@reddit
No thank you, please.
greenwitchielenia@reddit
Nah…I’m tired grandpa, I don’t want to keep digging these damn holes for another century
Usual-Lie6591@reddit
You see what we do with our limited lifespans as it is. We don’t deserve to live longer.
No-Public7@reddit (OP)
At all..
titenic_rapping_dog@reddit
Literally Avatar Way of Water
No-Public7@reddit (OP)
My exact thought when I saw this
KaiBishop@reddit
Now we just need a baddie with grief issues and her father's bow to send after these assholes
Stay_at_Home_Chad@reddit
"could" isn't a scientific claim. For the most part, it's a marketing term. They want rich people to bank roll their biotech firm, because the only thing rich people can't buy yet, is immortality
No-Public7@reddit (OP)
Well they’ll be for sure making bank
joesphisbestjojo@reddit
I'm ok with medical advancements to save and improve lives, but something like a species' life expectancy should not be toyed with. The power to extend life ti such unnatural lengths could be disasterous
No-Public7@reddit (OP)
Absolutely but even then, if it were helpful they’d try to make $ off of it, or only make us sicker in order for them to provide us a cure from what they are responsible for. I mean this is what corporations are for.
DemandImmediate1288@reddit
It'd be kept so expensive that only the top 10% could afford it. Workers will live for 55 years, executives 100, and those who can afford it the full 200.
Sea_Statistician2904@reddit
Leave the whales alone, the last thing we need on Earth are 200+ year old politicians and weirdos
Rigel66@reddit
pseudo science is annoying
Potential_Film_4204@reddit
Leave them alone
MasterCrumble1@reddit
You want to give people an excuse to start killing all the whales? And how the heck would it stop human organs from decaying? Especially the brain.
__wisdom__1@reddit
No thanks.
Rarecandy31@reddit
Engagement bot
JUIC3ofORANG3@reddit
Dope but the rich would keep it all to themselves of course
Glitchy833@reddit
Even if it was (which it obviously isn't because that's fucking ridiculous and is clearly just spreading of misinformation for attention), who the fuck would want to live up to 200 years? That sounds awful.
watermelonkiwi@reddit
A whale’s life is a lot more valuable than some rich asshole who would want to kill a whale to use this protein.
WorkingBackground471@reddit
As a nurse, no. Don’t. Please.
overdriveandreverb@reddit
bs, 120 is the limit for us and if you want to live longer you have to fix much more than just some protein
BeyondHandsome@reddit
Leave them the fuck alone. Millions of whales were already slaughtered from the whaling industry. Most of the species have barely recovered at all, and no I highly doubt it.
Sad_Ebb_7301@reddit
This is referring to research taking place at the University of Rochester and has nothing to do with harming or killing whales. Ongoing studies will explore if this protein could prevent or delay cancer in humans - pretty sure “curing cancer” is something most people support.
None of this involves harvesting something from whales. They make the protein in a lab to study it and/or use it. Recombinant technology is used to make bacteria or other cells produce the whale version of the CIRBP protein in a laboratory.
There are plenty of real threats to whales - let’s try not to bury those causes with conspiracy bs. Tip: if you see an image with an alarmist text like the one you included, especially if there’s not a link to a legitimate source with more information included, start with the assumption it’s completely out of context/misrepresentative and then look into it from there. Most things online are trying to manipulate you into outrage.
The study also explains how initial samples used in the research were obtained (again not an ongoing need): “Bowhead whale tissues were obtained from adult bowhead whales (B. mysticetus) captured during 2014 and 2018 Iñupiaq subsistence harvests in Barrow (Utqiaġvik), Alaska, in collaboration with the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management and Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (September 2014 and March 2021).”
Article from the University of Rochester: https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/cirbp-protein-mammalian-longevity-bowhead-whales-674682/
Initial research published in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09694-5
Info about recombinant DNA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombinant_DNA
Sad_Ebb_7301@reddit
Proactive disclaimer: No AI was used here. You can pry em dashes (technically en dashes in this case) from my cold, dead hands. And, who knows, maybe I won’t have died from cancer, lol
canwegoskinow@reddit
Oh god. We don't need to know this for their sake.
born_with_a_tail@reddit
Peter Thiel already hooked up to a blood whale…
Smooth_Operator_one@reddit
Yeah it’s definitely true
beautifulposiontree@reddit
Idgaf
Baldojess@reddit
I hope fucking not! We need more whales and much, much, MUCH less humans
RationalHumanistIDIC@reddit
The plot for Avatar 2 Way of Water.
Mezcal_Madness@reddit
makewhalinggrateagain
ExtensionFill2495@reddit
RIP whales. Yall were my favorite animal.
wiz28ultra@reddit
"You know, Konietzko predicted all of this"
"Who did what?"
"All these problems, the AI whale picture, clickbait protein news"
"James Cameron, Konietzko's the guy who created Avatar on Nickelodeon"
"Oh right, Jim Konietzkso"
"Avatar: The Way of Water & Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's two different things completely"
Broad_Option_7715@reddit
Leave the whales alone
Nirmata1243@reddit
I agree with leaving the whales alone But here’s what I found on this topic
The claim stems from a major study published in the journal Nature in late 2025 by researchers from the University of Rochester.
The research focused on bowhead whales, which are known to be the longest-living mammals on Earth. They can naturally live for over 200 years and have remarkably low rates of cancer and age-related diseases, despite their massive size and trillions of cells.
Scientists discovered that bowhead whales produce exceptionally high levels of a DNA-repair protein called CIRBP (Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein). In fact, they have about 100 times more of it than humans do.
As we age, our DNA accumulates damage (specifically double-strand breaks), which leads to aging, cancer, and cellular decline. The CIRBP protein essentially acts as a highly efficient mechanic, flawlessly repairing this DNA damage rather than just destroying the damaged cells.
What Actually Happened in the Lab Scientists aren't just observing the whales; they are actively testing this mechanism. In the lab, researchers introduced the whale version of the CIRBP protein into human cell cultures. The results were incredibly promising: the human cells were able to repair genetic damage much more efficiently and accurately. They also tested it on fruit flies, which subsequently lived longer and were more resilient to stress and radiation.
This is strictly in the realm of cutting-edge genetic and biological research, not commercial products
No-Quiet-8956@reddit
Please no leave them alone :/
justaguynb9@reddit
In this economy?
Istiophoridae@reddit
Leave the whales alone
rose_b@reddit
Don't make James Cameron do another avatar movie
psykulor@reddit
You don't like it, we don’t like it, so why share? Attention is our only currency in this market of scams and lies.
Pedestal-for-more@reddit
No it's not true lol
2worms@reddit
Not for me, thanks
_Poopsnack_@reddit
Nah im good.
PoisonBones@reddit
Yea cool we should totally start killing all of them again…..
berusplants@reddit
Yeah enabling the rich to live longer is the last thing the world needs right now.