why do living things have to die?
In: Biology
Well they don’t.
Some things are [biologically immortal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_immortality). They simply don’t suffer from getting old. Lobsters, Jellyfish, some yeast and flatworms. And some forms of cancer cells keep going on for as long as they have food. It’s not common. And while they could live forever, something will get them eventually.
Most living things have a built-in timer. Human DNA snaps off the end bit every time it divides and there’s a long string of end-caps call telomeres. Once you run out of telomeres to snap off, it starts snapping off important code your body needs to function. That’s why old people have thin skin, and have health issues.
This is probably by design. Evolution finds it’s better if the previous group makes way for the new generation, who gets to try new things. Hopefully they’re better and the species makes progress. If we never changed, we’d still all be bacteria.
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