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Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

spiegel.de

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Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#11

Post by lukev »

Interesting, and I hope that we can learn from her condition.

However, I wouldn't call it "immortality" until she's 70 and has the body and development of a teenager. Unfortunately, unless that happens, it's just a rather sad medical condition. Even if we can learn from it.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#12

Post by cullenking »

VladRussian wrote: post #6

"The length of the telomeres, on the other hand, corresponds to her actual age. " how come "immortality" comes to play here?

I must have read the article a bit too quick, I missed that part :( In that case, then this isn't really immortality. I wonder what it does imply then.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#14

Post by reasonattlm »

This case has no application in aging research, and is of no interest to the biogerontology community. It's an interesting developmental abnormality, but nothing more. Aging is caused by accumulated biochemical damage, and this person is apparently aging normally at the level of cells and macromolecules.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#15

Post by danielnicollet »

Why the journalists and PR folks probably figured out calling her condition "immortality" would attract more attention just like it did here on HN, it appears obvious that there are many possible explanations for her condition, other than retro-aging. She could simply be suffering from a combination of genetic or non-genetic disease creating her very small stature and mental disabilities.

See a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBbG2tSDfOo

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#16

Post by guynamedloren »

I've always wondered about the human body. Right now I am studying engineering, but eventually I would like to delve deep into anatomy and biology. An automobile can theoretically run forever as long as it is properly maintained, even if that means replacing major parts - engine, transmission, even frame (but at a certain point the repairs are no longer financially feasible). Why then, can't the human body last forever? As long as we are able to make repairs and replace parts when they fail, I don't understand why people have to die.

With all of the knowledge and advanced technology of today, something tells me we should be able to figure out how to stop aging - or at least slow it. We should be able to cure cancer. We should be able to cure AIDs. We should be able to regrow missing appendages or failed body parts. Am I the only one that thinks about these things? I would love to get involved in this field one day. I know there have been great advancements in these areas, but it seems like there is so much more that we could be doing.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#17

Post by astine »

reasonattlm wrote: post #14

This case has no application in aging research, and is of no interest to the biogerontology community. It's an interesting developmental abnormality, but nothing more. Aging is caused by accumulated biochemical damage, and this person is apparently aging normally at the level of cells and macromolecules.

Exactly. Failing to go through puberty is a developmental problem and it is doubtful that this child will live any longer than an ordinary human being, assuming her condition doesn't present complications that kill her long before that. I don't know anything about this Walker fellow, but from what I get from this article, he strikes me as a charlitan.

Re: Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging

#18

Post by stagas »

Who knows for sure that this isn't even a rare condition? In theory, there could be people living among us that are centuries old and might look like 20-30. If I was, I wasn't going to tell everybody. If you travel a lot people won't notice your condition. I believe this is just proof that the condition exists, not the magnitude of it.
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