QuoteWhy do we animals have to age?
There is an increasing body of evidence that suggests that:
1. Aging is a product of evolution.
2. Aging is a process.
3. That process can be halted.
The result of halting that process would result in cancer as telomere length would never be shortened and a cell would be allowed to divide indefinately. At a DNA transcription error rate of 1 in 500,000 cancer would be rampant if cells were allowed to divide indefinately. Whenever cellular division occurs, the telomeres shorten by breaking off. When the telomere's shorten to a certain point, the cell will no longer divide and dies. This helps reduce the potential errors that will propogate down a cells family line. This process is also believed to be a huge factor in causing 'age'.
In effect, it is believed (with strong scientific evidence) that aging is one of our evolutionary defenses against DNA transcription errors that result in cancer.
Oh, slightly off topic, well... one of the things that makes me go hmmm.
I will never know 99.9999% of the knowledge that can be known. That makes me sad.
Jessica
