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Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

bbc.com

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Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#11

Post by fsloth »

s_dev wrote: post #8
mandelken wrote: post #7

Funny they don't mention the hydra, an amazing little creature, almost(?) immortal: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-hyd...

Lobsters and some jellyfish are functionally immortal as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii

Smithsonian magazine disagrees on the immortality of lobsters:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dont-listen-to-...

Although, since they will eventually die of energy depletion from growing too large, if they actually stopped growing they might go on ... a lot longer?

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#12

Post by yread »

mandelken wrote: post #7

Funny they don't mention the hydra, an amazing little creature, almost(?) immortal: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-hyd...

Well, mole rats and whales are a lot closer to us so there is a higher probability that they will find something that translates well. Although even mice have their limits

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/9/3507.abstract

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#13

Post by mikekchar »

wobbleblob wrote: post #3
melling wrote: post #2

The BBC has a few interesting articles on aging. Here's another: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140520-the-girls-who-never... If you read these articles, you're left wondering if there's some existing genetic solution waiting to be found that'll add a healthy 50 years to our lives.

If I could only live to be 80, but as healthy as I am now, I'd sign for it

Exercise. It's not "as healthy as I am now", but it makes a big difference. Anecdotal evidence, but my 73 year old father still rides his bike over mountains (and shot his best ever golf score last month). He does complain that he wishes he had the body of a 60 year old ;-) My wife's uncle has to be pushing 90 and still runs 2 km every day. If you just keep going, it's amazing what you can accomplish even in the later stages of life.

Obviously this is survivor bias, but if you look after yourself and have a bit of luck, there's no reason you can't be healthy enough to enjoy life well past 80.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#14

Post by wobbleblob »

mikekchar wrote: post #13
wobbleblob wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could only live to be 80, but as healthy as I am now, I'd sign for it

Exercise. It's not "as healthy as I am now", but it makes a big difference. Anecdotal evidence, but my 73 year old father still rides his bike over mountains (and shot his best ever golf score last month). He does complain that he wishes he had the body of a 60 year old ;-) My wife's uncle has to be pushing 90 and still runs 2 km every day. If you just keep going, it's amazing what you can accomplish even in the late…

I do a minimum of 5-10 hours a week of aerobic exercise (mostly cycling), to make time for more, I'd either have to quit my job or board the kids somewhere.

I also have some anecdotal evidence. My father was always an avid cyclist as well, until his hip joint wore out. He had to give it up, and in the space of a year turned into an old man. I'm sorry, unless something else kills you in your prime, it will happen to all of us sooner or later.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#15

Post by eli_gottlieb »

sanxiyn wrote: post #4

Re: the title. What are inevitable facts of life?

Well, there's the laws of physics, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics pushing the arrow of time forwards. Beyond that, not much is actually inevitable: people just prefer to rationalize anything awful as Inevitable because this gives them a comforting sense of metaphysics.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#17

Post by creshal »

fsloth wrote: post #11
s_dev wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lobsters and some jellyfish are functionally immortal as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii

Smithsonian magazine disagrees on the immortality of lobsters: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dont-listen-to-... Although, since they will eventually die of energy depletion from growing too large, if they actually stopped growing they might go on ... a lot longer?

> Although, since they will eventually die of energy depletion from growing too large, if they actually stopped growing they might go on ... a lot longer?

If humans stopped ageing they'd go on a lot longer, too. But as long as they can't it's a hypothetical scenario in both cases.

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#18

Post by ionwake »

yread wrote: post #12
mandelken wrote: post #7

Funny they don't mention the hydra, an amazing little creature, almost(?) immortal: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-hyd...

Well, mole rats and whales are a lot closer to us so there is a higher probability that they will find something that translates well. Although even mice have their limits http://www.pnas.org/content/110/9/3507.abstract

Other animals that are negligibly senescent: Aldabra Tortoise, Rockfish, Red woods, Koi

Re: Ageing is not an inevitable fact of life

#20

Post by reasonattlm »

s_dev wrote: post #8
mandelken wrote: post #7

Funny they don't mention the hydra, an amazing little creature, almost(?) immortal: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-hyd...

Lobsters and some jellyfish are functionally immortal as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii

A few years back researchers found a way to measure lobster age, something that had been a challenge until then:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/lobster-age_n_22159...

So give it a few more years and there should be some firm data on how negligibly senescent they actually are. Much of the present situation was a lack of good data.

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