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Why do living things get old & die?

F

flunky nassau

Senior member
Seriously. Is it a law of the universe that everything "living" must age & die?

During the evolution of living species, did some mutation suddenly occur that generated an internal clock that determines lifespan?


So if we eventually discover alien life that isn't carbon-based, but are sulfur-based or methane-based, will they also have an aging mechanism also? If so, why does there have to be one? Why can't we continuously grow new cells replacing old ones & live forever?

If it has something to do with the half-life of carbon, then MAYBE i'll understand. Otherwise, WHY?

Perhaps in another dimension, the speed of light is different & all living things live forever.

Ok bye.
 
Originally posted by: flunky nassau

During the evolution of living species, did some mutation suddenly occur that generated an internal clock that determines lifespan?
Click to expand...

Her name was Eve.

 
Humans often get old because of imperfect replication of DNA. Eventually, after enough cell divisions, bits and pieces of DNA are lost which damage the cell's ability to function.
 
:music: It started with a low light
Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed
And then they took my blood type
It left a strange impression in my head
You know that I was hoping
That I could leave this star crossed world behind
But when they cut me open
I guess I changed my mind

And you know I might
Have just flown too far from the floor this time
Cause they're calling me by my name
And the zipping white light beams
disregarding bombs and satellites
Oh that was the turning point,
That was one lonely night

The star maker says it ain't so bad
The dream maker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says everybody look down
It's all in your mind

Well, now I'm back at home
And I'm looking forward to this life I live
You know it's gonna haunt me
So hesitation to this life I give
You think you might cross over
You're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea
You better look it over
Before you make that leap

And you know I'm fine
But I hear those voices at night
Sometimes
they justify my claim
And the public don't dwell on my transmission
Cause it wasn't televised
But it was the starting point
On a lonely night

The star maker says it ain't so bad
The dream maker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says, everybody look down
It's all in your mind

The star maker says it ain't so bad
The dream maker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says, everybody look down
It's all in your mind

My global position systems are vocally addressed
They say the Nile used to run from East to West
They say the Nile used to run from East to West

I'm fine ,
But I hear those voices at night
Sometimes

The star maker says it ain't so bad
The dream maker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says, everybody look down
It's all in your mind

The star maker says it ain't so bad
The dream maker's gonna make you mad
The spaceman says, everybody look down
It's all in your mind

It's all in my mind (x6) :music:
 
wouldn't be very convenient for living organisms in total if they, or even one species didn't die, no? how the hell could they be sustained?
 
There is a bunch of crap at the ends of all DNA strands, and each time the DNA strand is replicated it loses a tiny bit of that useless crap. After the useless stuff is gone, you start losing the code you need.

Or you get hit by a bus.
 
Originally posted by: flunky nassau
Hasn't there been research on this? I'm sure they have isolated this internal clock in some cells. I just can't remember.
Click to expand...

telomeres, which are the caps on your chromosomes, shorten as one ages (as cells continue to divide).

this is the clock you are referring to.

Actually, I was listening to a cancer/longevity researcher on NPR yesterday and the primary focus of his research is engineering a method to lessen telomere decay, whether by locating and isolating a possible gene that may control this, or through some other method.
 
Originally posted by: zinfamous
wouldn't be very convenient for living organisms in total if they, or even one species didn't die, no? how the hell could they be sustained?
Click to expand...
Of old age, not of tasty, tasty, murder.
 
Any system must use resources. When the resources are used up, or if the mechanism that maintains the system is not kept in a state of repair, it will eventually fail.

Living things die because of eventual cell damage, disease, toxins, and a built in "self destruct" clock.

What's cool is they're working on ways to turn this clock off, meaning people would mature and max out at an age of around 20. This ability may be needed for future space travel.
 
Originally posted by: l0cke
Background radiation
Click to expand...

And oxygen. Kind of funny that what keeps us alive also kills us.

And those telomere things.

None of it will matter when our consciousness can be backed up on hard drive then loaded into bodies grown from stem cells or cyborgs.
 
Originally posted by: dainthomas
Originally posted by: l0cke
Background radiation
Click to expand...
None of it will matter when our consciousness can be backed up on hard drive then loaded into bodies grown from stem cells or cyborgs.
Click to expand...
Sort of brings a totally different meaning to "new age religion".
 
It's called life. The evolutionary purpose is to spread life, not live forever. Take a pick. If everything lives forever, spreading the seed would result in death from lack of resources anyhow - thus, might as well make a more efficient short life than a pointless limitless life.

Cells have programmed death, to try and avoid things like cancer and terrible mutations (though cancer works by overruling apoptosis - ie, programmed cell death).

In the human body, iirc, each cell has a limit of 50 generations of cell division.

This is specifically designed to curb unwanted genetic damage, as the risk of genetic code errors increases with each passing duplication. Life adapted to the physical laws of life here on Earth, which meant lifeforms had to have 'programmed' methods for preventing damage.
Because if these genetic mutations pass on, untold things could happen. Granted, it still happens, and that is called evolution when that mutation is good, but this genetic damage could kill before breeding could occur, and in general, mutations are always bad, and is why millions of years can pass before a beneficial mutation finds its way into the gene pool and cascades into an evolutionary split.

Not to forget, that the chemical we require to live, also kills us. One of the things that causes us to age is damage caused by free radicals. A free radical is oxygen in the body that attaches to, or steals, other chemicals in the body before escaping. Oxygen is a nasty chemical, loves to bind to things. It oxidizes the body, if you will. What oxygen is not used by metabolism can become a threat, and antioxidants are what help fight that. But not enough to cause you to live 50 years longer. Some people are just freaks, are able to survive the environment, and somehow their body doesn't fail as early as others.
 
Originally posted by: zinfamous
wouldn't be very convenient for living organisms in total if they, or even one species didn't die, no? how the hell could they be sustained?
Click to expand...

If there was a species that didn't die of old age, wouldn't they just reach equilibrium by reproducing at a rate that only replaced members killed through accident? Of course the equilibrium would only be likely to happen after they had already gone through an initial population explosion, wrecked their environment, and were 90% dead of starvation I would think.
 
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