UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Aug. 26 -- Pennsylvania State University issued the following news release:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It's a general rule in biology: Among mammals, the bigger you are, the longer you live. Yet bats defy this principle, making them among the longest-lived mammals relative to their size. The little brown bat, for example, is roughly the size of a field mouse. While it can live up to 34 years, a field mouse survives only a few months in the wild. A new study, co-led by researchers from Penn State and the University of Vermont, suggests that the secret behind the longevity of bats may be deeply intertwined with its unique ability to coexist with viruses.
Through analysis of nearly complete genomes of eight closely related ...