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Aging is a natural part of life, but that hasn't stopped people from embarking on efforts to stop the process. Unfortunately, perhaps, those attempts are futile, according to University of Arizona researchers who have proved that it's mathematically impossible to halt aging in multicellular organisms like humans. "Aging is mathematically inevitable - like, seriously inevitable. There's logically, theoretically, mathematically no way out," said Joanna Masel, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and at the UA.
Masel and UA postdoctoral researcher Paul Nelson outline their findings on math and aging in a new study titled "Intercellular Competition and Inevitability of Multicellular Aging," published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Current understanding of the evolution of aging leaves open the possibility that aging could be stopped if only science could figure out a way to make selection between organisms perfect. One way to do that might be to use competition between cells to eliminate poorly functioning "sluggish" cells linked to aging, while keeping other cells intact. However, the solution isn't that simple, Masel and Nelson say.
Two things happen to the body on a cellular level as it ages, Nelson explains. One is that cells slow down and start to lose function, like when your hair cells, for example, stop making pigment. The other thing that happens is that some cells crank up their growth rate, which can cause cancer cells to form. As we get older, we all tend, at some point, to develop cancer cells in the body, even if they're not causing symptoms, the researchers say. Masel and Nelson found that even if natural selection were perfect, aging would still occur, since cancer cells tend to cheat when cells compete.
https://phys.org/news/2017-10-mathematically-impossible-aging-scientists.html
[Abstract]: Intercellular competition and the inevitability of multicellular aging
So, either you die of old age or you die of cancer. Choose wisely !!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Tuesday October 31 2017, @04:51PM (1 child)
These "scientists" are complete idiots. (Either that, or TFS is totally misrepresenting them. I'll assume not for now.)
For one thing, there are organisms out there which do not age. They are biologically immortal. So that alone disproves their BS.
Secondly, when humans reproduce, we're using our own cells to create an offspring organism which starts out young without all the issues of old-age. So it's not that much of a stretch to co-opt this biological mechanism to keep ourselves alive longer; this is what stem-cell research is all about.
Finally, where is it written that conquering aging has to be done within our own bodies entirely? We don't rely on our natural biology to keep our teeth from rotting and falling out; instead, we brush them at least once a day (at least I hope everyone here does...), and visit a dentist 2-3 times a year for a cleaning and maintenance/repair, which can include filling caries in the teeth with an artificial filling material. Being immortal in the future will most likely involve having to visit a doctor periodically for some type of artificial maintenance treatment, which counteracts our biological tendency to age.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 31 2017, @05:43PM
The abstract is not as alarmist as the headlines this study produced, but it also seems to ignore "immortal" [wikipedia.org] non-human multicellular organisms. Unless they are not as immortal as claimed when it comes to cancer.
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