Why do our bodies get older, and why do we all eventually die of old age?
In: 0
I remember some of this from college biology.
Most of our cells have these bits of protein at the ends of our chromosomes. Every time a replication is made, a tiny bit of that protein is shed.
Over time, and many divisions, those protein bits finally fall away completely. The cell can reproduce no longer. The cell dies without having any replacement.
As we age, we have less capacity to produce newer cells with fresh proteins for reproduction / duplication. This is partly responsible for the ageing process.
Cancer cells lack this kind of “self destruct” mechanism. Those protein bits never shed away and the cancer cells can reproduce *ad infinitum* so long as they are fed.
Someone help me out here. I’m not totally off-base but I’m not getting the details precise at all.
I remember some of this from college biology.
Most of our cells have these bits of protein at the ends of our chromosomes. Every time a replication is made, a tiny bit of that protein is shed.
Over time, and many divisions, those protein bits finally fall away completely. The cell can reproduce no longer. The cell dies without having any replacement.
As we age, we have less capacity to produce newer cells with fresh proteins for reproduction / duplication. This is partly responsible for the ageing process.
Cancer cells lack this kind of “self destruct” mechanism. Those protein bits never shed away and the cancer cells can reproduce *ad infinitum* so long as they are fed.
Someone help me out here. I’m not totally off-base but I’m not getting the details precise at all.
Bigger picture, there’s an evolutionary advantage to keeping new generations rolling through. Humans live a long time because we take so long to mature and educate. But at the other extreme it’s better to have an influx of people with new ideas that to try to reeducate the old. Our lifespan is a compromise between the wisdom of the elderly and the innovation and adaptability of the young.
The cells have DNA and telomeres which shorten each time a new copy is produced eventually they can do this any more without damaging the DNA along with this the general wear and tear on the body becomes cumulative and basically everything grinds to a halt a bit like an old car. https://youtu.be/x-NOhJ1VlOQ
Bigger picture, there’s an evolutionary advantage to keeping new generations rolling through. Humans live a long time because we take so long to mature and educate. But at the other extreme it’s better to have an influx of people with new ideas that to try to reeducate the old. Our lifespan is a compromise between the wisdom of the elderly and the innovation and adaptability of the young.
The cells have DNA and telomeres which shorten each time a new copy is produced eventually they can do this any more without damaging the DNA along with this the general wear and tear on the body becomes cumulative and basically everything grinds to a halt a bit like an old car. https://youtu.be/x-NOhJ1VlOQ
Some people have already answered why we get older, but I’ll answer the part about dying of old age.
It’s not real.
As we age, our body gets less and less effective at doing the normal functions of a body. Eventually, *something* will stop working. And that’s the thing that will kill you. Some sort of organ failure or some disease that your immune system can no longer handle or an injury that you can no longer recover from. “Dying of old age” used to be an official cause of death that basically boiled down to “we don’t know exactly why this person died because they were old and they had a lot of things wrong with them”. But, with modern medicine, it is easier to pinpoint the exact cause, even when there are many potential causes.
Some people have already answered why we get older, but I’ll answer the part about dying of old age.
It’s not real.
As we age, our body gets less and less effective at doing the normal functions of a body. Eventually, *something* will stop working. And that’s the thing that will kill you. Some sort of organ failure or some disease that your immune system can no longer handle or an injury that you can no longer recover from. “Dying of old age” used to be an official cause of death that basically boiled down to “we don’t know exactly why this person died because they were old and they had a lot of things wrong with them”. But, with modern medicine, it is easier to pinpoint the exact cause, even when there are many potential causes.
You don’t really “die of old age”, it’s symptoms that kill you.
To be fair, in nature it was probably “Not intended” For a human to live a whopping 80+ years.
However the cellular aging helps in preventing cancer. So it’s basically how in games devs sometimes do stuff that is “this THEORETICALLY can cause problems in like, integer limit amount of years, but it’s easier to do, and no one will be able to run the app for THAT long. ”
(For example, games breaking after several billion years because timer reached integer limit. Is it possible to reach it in theory? Yes. Is easier to implement? Yes. Will it realistically happen? No.)
The games of course, have ridiculous and physically impossible amounts of time, but it’s a nice example of something needing so much time to break, that there’s no reason to try to prevent it.
You don’t really “die of old age”, it’s symptoms that kill you.
To be fair, in nature it was probably “Not intended” For a human to live a whopping 80+ years.
However the cellular aging helps in preventing cancer. So it’s basically how in games devs sometimes do stuff that is “this THEORETICALLY can cause problems in like, integer limit amount of years, but it’s easier to do, and no one will be able to run the app for THAT long. ”
(For example, games breaking after several billion years because timer reached integer limit. Is it possible to reach it in theory? Yes. Is easier to implement? Yes. Will it realistically happen? No.)
The games of course, have ridiculous and physically impossible amounts of time, but it’s a nice example of something needing so much time to break, that there’s no reason to try to prevent it.
Latest Answers