You might recall that I mentioned discussion of a Methuselah Fly prize at the start of the month. It turns out that people have a lot to say on the matter, so the Immortality Institute has devoted a section of their forum to longevity research prizes.
A fair amount of the technical discussion focuses on the suitability of flies for this particular form of research. Other subjects have been nominated - the idea being to find animals that are less costly to maintain and have shorter life spans than mice. Some aspects of fly physiology - such as diapause - have been held up as a bad thing in the context of a competition for the longest-lived flies. Small African fish were one suggestion when the discussion spilled over into usenet.
All in all, it looks like preparation for a new volunteer-run prize for aging science may get underway in the near future.
For those interested in creating another life extension prize (presumably for Drosophila Melanogaster, the fruit fly) to complement the Methuselah Mouse Prize, a committee has been formed at the Immortality Institute. Interested people should send a private message (PM) to BJKlein, prometheus, or jaydfox at the Immortality Institute. Oh, and if you're not a member of the Immortality Institute, you should probably join...
Another way to volunteer is to let us know by posting in the "Looking for volunteers..." topic in the Life Extension Prizes forum at the Immortality Institute:
http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=161&t=4148&s=
Thanks everyone!