No, not Batman’s bat cave, an actual bat cave. You know, where bats live.

Scientists exploring bat caves have made a discovery that has the potential to unlock longevity in humans. It has been a mystery for many years as to why bats live longer than other mammals of the same size. That mystery may have been solved and the solution may be finding its way to humans in the future.

From the FASEB Journal:

“Ultimately we are trying to discover what underlying mechanisms allow for some animal species to live a very long time with the hope that we might be able to develop therapies that allow people to age more slowly,” said Asish Chaudhuri, Professor of Biochemistry, VA Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas and the senior researcher involved in the work.

Asish and colleagues made their discovery by extracting proteins from the livers of two long-lived bat species (Tadarida brasiliensis and Myotis velifer) and young adult mice and exposed them to chemicals known to cause protein misfolding. After examining the proteins, the scientists found that the bat proteins exhibited less damage than those of the mice, indicating that bats have a mechanism for maintaining proper structure under extreme stress.

“Maybe Juan Ponce De León wasn’t too far off the mark when he searched Florida for the Fountain of Youth,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “As it turns out, one of these bat species lives out its long life in Florida. Since bats are rodents with wings, this chemical clue as to why bats beat out mice in the aging game should point scientists to the source of this elusive fountain.”