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Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

quantamagazine.org

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Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#91

Post by omeid2 »

speedylight wrote: post #90

Aging should be classified as a disease because there has to be a set of biological levers that we can manipulate with drugs or other forms of medicine which will have an effect on the aging process across the entire. Like using RNA to reprogram the cells in the body to do things outside of what’s encoded in our base DNA. I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible, I’ve heard some people say it’s an impossible task be…

> I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible

Aging is loss of information, you can't reverse that. You can prevent it though.

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#92

Post by redmen »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #16
LASR wrote: post #3

You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…

Group Selection is not a thing[1]. There's an equilibrium of honesty and dishonesty. If everyone is dishonest, no one trusts, and the dishonesty doesn't pay off. If everyone is honest, everyone trusts, and dishonesty pays off all the more. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_selection#Criticism

[dead]

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#93

Post by redmen »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #16
LASR wrote: post #3

You know, I've recently wondered quite a bit about aging and how any of it makes sense. What has perplexed me is the notion of honest signals[1] in a world governed by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Why wouldn't cheating exclusively emerge as the only strategy? Why wouldn't a species evolve a mechanism to survive longer and longer till it completely dominates? Then it dawned on me that the surviva…

Group Selection is not a thing[1]. There's an equilibrium of honesty and dishonesty. If everyone is dishonest, no one trusts, and the dishonesty doesn't pay off. If everyone is honest, everyone trusts, and dishonesty pays off all the more. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_selection#Criticism

[dead]

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#94

Post by huytersd »

troupe wrote: post #21
huytersd wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The longer you live, the less adaptable your species is. The more generations you can have in a shorter amount of time, the faster you can have beneficial mutations that help your species survive changing conditions.

I'm not seeing how longevity slows the number of generations you can have per unit of time. That seems like it would be determined by how quickly a species reproduces after being born...not how long they live.

Yes, I thought about that but I went with the general assumption (based on life history theory) that longer lifespans equals longer times to reach sexual maturity.

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#95

Post by Fbnkigffb66tfbj »

omeid2 wrote: post #91
speedylight wrote: post #90

Aging should be classified as a disease because there has to be a set of biological levers that we can manipulate with drugs or other forms of medicine which will have an effect on the aging process across the entire. Like using RNA to reprogram the cells in the body to do things outside of what’s encoded in our base DNA. I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible, I’ve heard some people say it’s an impossible task be…

> I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible Aging is loss of information, you can't reverse that. You can prevent it though.

The human body has trillions of cells. Surely there are enough copies of our DNA to recover its original form even if individual copies have extensive damage.

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#96

Post by oceanplexian »

omeid2 wrote: post #91
speedylight wrote: post #90

Aging should be classified as a disease because there has to be a set of biological levers that we can manipulate with drugs or other forms of medicine which will have an effect on the aging process across the entire. Like using RNA to reprogram the cells in the body to do things outside of what’s encoded in our base DNA. I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible, I’ve heard some people say it’s an impossible task be…

> I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible Aging is loss of information, you can't reverse that. You can prevent it though.

Why can’t you reverse loss of information? It’s not like the information is particularly unique, we all have the same blueprints. Copy some DNA from someone younger and fill in the gaps Jurassic Park style.

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#97

Post by mlyle »

Fbnkigffb66tfbj wrote: post #95
omeid2 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible Aging is loss of information, you can't reverse that. You can prevent it though.

The human body has trillions of cells. Surely there are enough copies of our DNA to recover its original form even if individual copies have extensive damage.

Yah, I don't think it's the loss of information, but a related concept: it's a decline in order.

We have a whole lot of redundancy and mechanisms to restore/repair redundancy. But even so, there's a march of entropy upwards; oxidation, genetic damage, cell death, tissue damage, neuron loss, etc.

We don't have repair mechanisms for everything the body knows how to build, and the repair mechanisms that we do have become less effective to use (and often less safe) as the body ages.

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#98

Post by omeid2 »

oceanplexian wrote: post #96
omeid2 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t see why aging can’t be reversible Aging is loss of information, you can't reverse that. You can prevent it though.

Why can’t you reverse loss of information? It’s not like the information is particularly unique, we all have the same blueprints. Copy some DNA from someone younger and fill in the gaps Jurassic Park style.

Substitution isn't reversal.

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#99

Post by antihipocrat »

polishdude20 wrote: post #61
JoshTriplett wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your brain at 90 is mostly useless even if you're not afflicted with a serious condition. You can't learn and adapt You are factually incorrect. You can, in fact, learn and adapt in your 90s. Sometimes (not always) the brain has degraded and can't do so as well , but that's a problem we should work to fix. And there is some evidence to suggest that cause and effect go in both directions there: if you keep learning…

They won't help us change our minds though. The problem with having people in their 90's capable of the same things as people in their 30's is that they'd hold positions of power longer. Old ideas would live on much longer

Many people change their ideas as they age, the ones that don't are more noticeable and reinforce the stereotype.

Re: Cells across the body talk to each other about aging

#100

Post by omeid2 »

mlyle wrote: post #97
Fbnkigffb66tfbj wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The human body has trillions of cells. Surely there are enough copies of our DNA to recover its original form even if individual copies have extensive damage.

Yah, I don't think it's the loss of information, but a related concept: it's a decline in order. We have a whole lot of redundancy and mechanisms to restore/repair redundancy. But even so, there's a march of entropy upwards; oxidation, genetic damage, cell death, tissue damage, neuron loss, etc. We don't have repair mechanisms for everything the body knows how to build, and the repair mechanisms that we do have becom…

> it's a decline in order.

That is another way of saying loss of information and increase of entropy.

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