metro.co.uk is the web site of a free commuter newspaper handled out in some cities in the UK. It probably wouldn't be my first choice for science news.

Dr Seluanov's bio [1] links to a number of papers, most of which appear to be cancer-related. There is a pubmed abstract and full text available for "Hypersensitivity to contact inhibition provides a clue to cancer resistance of naked mole-rat." [2].

Also the NYT has an article [3].

[1] http://www.rochester.edu/College/BIO/professors/seluanov

[2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19858485

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/science/a-homely-rodent-ma...

Blind mole rats live in the deserts of Africa, as burrowers, never expose themselves to the sun.

They live unique lives, exactly like mammalian termites, with a queen mother and a lot of pheromones. Most animals never have sex, produce milk or get pregnant in its entire life.

This animals starve, CAN adapt its body temperature to the temperature of it surroundings (i.e like reptiles do), have a slow metabolism, low respiratory rates...

And live in a clean environment free from chemicals... How much plastics, cancerous substances and pesticides can you find in a desert of Africa?... not much, I guess.

So... big surprise... they live much longer lives that rats and its tumorous cells are as lazy growing as the rest of its metabolism

The clue to beat cancer revealed by mole rats!:

Don't expose yourself to all that causes cancer, like hight metabolism rates, cancerous substances, sun rays, sexually transmitted viruses...

could we stop with the "we may have found something that will cure cancer / aids vaccine / cure alzeimer " news ? i know, we're scientists, we're supposed to believe in scientifical progress. But after hearing those kind of news for the last twenty years, i feel like we should start speaking about cures only once at leat one human beeing was cured...

Surprised to hear that they can live for 30 years. Must be the tuberous diet!

See also:

http://www.nature.com/news/simple-molecule-prevents-mole-rat...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22961694

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-mole-rat-prophecies/

Unfortunately, http://www.xkcd.com/1217/ comes to mind...

I wonder if anyone bottles this compound they'd be able to sell it in china given the cultural health interest in animal parts there.

Images might be NSFW.