As far as I know, trees don't die of old age. When they die, it's because they were killed... either by a pest, fungus, fire, drought, loggers, etc.

I've heard that fish, catfish in particular, will live and continue to grow as long as there is enough food to sustain their ever-increasing size. In some places like by dams where the food is so plentiful that it basically just floats straight into their mouths all day, they can get several hundred pounds and get much older than normal.

I was taught in school that our cells are always dying off and being replaced by new cells. So I am curious why we grow old and die of natural causes. I googled it and found a wide range of explanations. It seems that the scientific community is not in total agreement on the matter but the most likely explanation is that our DNA gets damaged (by what?) Over time.

There is a common theme in ancient literature that people used to live much longer than they do today. I wonder if that is true, and if so, what changed. I wonder if the "fountain of youth" is actually more attainable than previously thought. There have been experiments that caused lifespan to increase four-fold in worms. I wonder if anyone will be able to do the same for humans.

If nothing else, it would make a good plot for a sci-fi movie/show. In all the vampire movies, they are "immortal" and can't be killed except by weird methods. Imagine a story about a race of people who lived thousands of years but were still just people (who don't drink blood) who can be killed by traditional means (disease, bullets, arrows, fire, etc.). It would be more believable than current themes.

And another thought... If human lifespan could be extended to hundreds or thousands of years, how long would our memory span? Imagine being 8,000 years old and only remembering the last 200-300 years. In order to have a sense of identity you might have to keep an encyclopedia of diaries and transcribe them every few hundred years. But what if you wrote the first few tomes in a dead language that you no longer remember?

Well anyway, that's the kind of stupid stuff I think about while falling asleep.

 

I don't think humans die of 'old age'. We are killed by diseases like flu when our defences weaken with age or like cancer or dementia which are diseases that tend to happen more as we get older and these aren't conceptually different to a tree succumbing to pests or fungus.

 

I don't think humans die of 'old age'. We are killed by diseases like flu when our defences weaken with age or like cancer or dementia which are diseases that tend to happen more as we get older and these aren't conceptually different to a tree succumbing to pests or fungus.

Our bodies deteriorate over time until we are weak enough for something inconsequential to kill us off. Trees stay strong until met with a force strong enough to kill them. I do not think trees deteriorate over time like we do.

 

As far as I know, trees don't die of old age. When they die, it's because they were killed... either by a pest, fungus, fire, drought, loggers, etc.

I've heard that fish, catfish in particular, will live and continue to grow as long as there is enough food to sustain their ever-increasing size. In some places like by dams where the food is so plentiful that it basically just floats straight into their mouths all day, they can get several hundred pounds and get much older than normal.

I was taught in school that our cells are always dying off and being replaced by new cells. So I am curious why we grow old and die of natural causes. I googled it and found a wide range of explanations. It seems that the scientific community is not in total agreement on the matter but the most likely explanation is that our DNA gets damaged (by what?) Over time.

There is a common theme in ancient literature that people used to live much longer than they do today. I wonder if that is true, and if so, what changed. I wonder if the "fountain of youth" is actually more attainable than previously thought. There have been experiments that caused lifespan to increase four-fold in worms. I wonder if anyone will be able to do the same for humans.

If nothing else, it would make a good plot for a sci-fi movie/show. In all the vampire movies, they are "immortal" and can't be killed except by weird methods. Imagine a story about a race of people who lived thousands of years but were still just people (who don't drink blood) who can be killed by traditional means (disease, bullets, arrows, fire, etc.). It would be more believable than current themes.

And another thought... If human lifespan could be extended to hundreds or thousands of years, how long would our memory span? Imagine being 8,000 years old and only remembering the last 200-300 years. In order to have a sense of identity you might have to keep an encyclopedia of diaries and transcribe them every few hundred years. But what if you wrote the first few tomes in a dead language that you no longer remember?

Well anyway, that's the kind of stupid stuff I think about while falling asleep.

DNA replication (necessary for cell division) needs a sort of quiet zone or initialization zone. The ends of each chromosome has these non-genetic encodable sequenses on the ends before the important genetic information starts. These ends are quite long in a newborn. Some is lost each time a cell divides so they are shorter in older people. The amount that is lost with each division (and the frequency of cell division) is related to general health and stress of the organism.

In general, once the telomere is worn down to the nub, cell replication errors start and death soon follows. Either by general cell death and inability for mucus membranes to remove bacteria or maintain the integrity of lungs, digestive system etc and you die of pneumonia or ulcers, etc. or it leads to improperly enclosed cells and some types of tumors start, or uncontrolled cell growth to get cancers.

These initializati9n zones are called telomeres.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370421/

Companies are popping up to measure the length of your telomeres and give you an idea of your “telomere age” vs your actual age and estimate your lifespan (there are already commercials so I won’t put there names here.

The accuracy of these companys’ measurements in humans has not been well validated yet.

Soon, they will be and we can start planning our retirements better if you know exactly how long you will live in retirement. If your life expectancy is 70, you should likely retire before 67 if you have decent savings. In theory, you could also send off your mother’s spit sample to see when your inheritance is coming.

 

I've enjoyed Mythology over the years. This year during Halloween our work wanted a theme. Since doing my DNA test on me and my Father, I found I'm not Danish at all, my Father is 62% Swiss which is (German/"Romanish" maybe means Italian - Greek /and French) I grew my Beard out and even surprised myself looking in the mirror how much I might look like someone from 400BC in Greece.

While I have no idea how to answer scientifically and sometimes wonder the same thing about mankind. The bible say's the change occurred after the last Ice Age, while the cuneiform tablets suggest something a little different they both tell a story about where the DNA change occurred but as a Myth or real the Ancient Kings list say's the oldest King Live around 30,000 years but around 10,000 years ago that changed and the kings list agrees with that timeline they no longer lived that long it was a gradual decline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List

But if you say such things you also need to know the story of "Summeria" which is that the Sons of God mated with the children of men creating a Hybrid, creating DNA change might bring longer life called from the "Anunnaki" Zecharia Sitchin in an effort to support a theory of Ancient Aliens existed said the name Anunnaki meant "From those whom the heavens came" but, he didn't know there was a Dictionary that was included in the Tablets and it has been deciphered by actual Linguist accredited in that field. Zecharia Stichin was not. So, the name Anunnaki translated is "Sons of God" to which the bible agree's and the bible "Sons of God" are "Angles" being a Mormon growing up I was taught that stuff is out there and other life exists so in my search for what to think or not to think I explored other faiths and belief systems not bound by some ideal.

So, while it's sufferable to some on the forum about Myths and Legends I find interesting to explore, maybe something protected us in the atmosphere during those days and after the flood no longer exist, either way we are not made to last like many other things, I think if the human species were to die out like the Dinosaur, the planet would consume any evidence of our existence over time from the use and reuse method the planet was perfectly designed to do.

kv

 

http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/11/do_trees_die_of_old_age.html
"The longer a tree is around the more opportunities it has to have something happen to it that leads to its death. This could be a lot of different things such as a storm, a disease, an insect infestation. Often a tree can survive numerous instances of potential death, but over time these instances can aggregate, or lead to a greater susceptibility to death. For example, a storm might knock off a tree limb, which might give the tree a higher risk of exposure to a disease....Or a tree might live for quite a long time, out growing trees in the area, making it more likely to be struck by lightning, or blown over in storm."

 

It seems that the scientific community is not in total agreement on the matter but the most likely explanation is that our DNA gets damaged (by what?) Over time.

We are being bombarded constantly by radiation from space that makes it through any protection afforded to us by the solar wind, which itself causes damage, and the earth's magnetic field.

 

Trees also die because they eventually lose osmotic pressure to bring water to the distal twigs/leaves.

Osmotic pressure is dependent on the concentration of the sugars in the sap and is dependent on the number of leaves, available sunlight density, self-shading of the tree’s own leaves, nutrients in the soil and shading by other trees and many more factors. In the end, a given tree species can only reach a certain height because they can only produce sugars of a certain concentration. They highly dependent on the osmotic pressure law (which is very similar to the ideal gas law).

 

We are being bombarded constantly by radiation from space that makes it through any protection afforded to us by the solar wind, which itself causes damage, and the earth's magnetic field.

And the natural background radioactivity from the Earth, Ultraviolet light, human papilloma virus, etc.

 

http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/11/do_trees_die_of_old_age.html
"The longer a tree is around the more opportunities it has to have something happen to it that leads to its death. This could be a lot of different things such as a storm, a disease, an insect infestation. Often a tree can survive numerous instances of potential death, but over time these instances can aggregate, or lead to a greater susceptibility to death. For example, a storm might knock off a tree limb, which might give the tree a higher risk of exposure to a disease....Or a tree might live for quite a long time, out growing trees in the area, making it more likely to be struck by lightning, or blown over in storm."

Right, so that says to me, that if a tree were in control of its surroundings; able to brush off insects like we are, able to duck down in a storm, able to run from a fire, etc. It could potentially live forever. It is things that happen to the tree that cause it to die. We on the other hand, die before 130 years of age, no matter how healthily we live, no matter how well we protect ourselves.

 

We are all infested with mites, bacteria and viruses all the time. We can't brush them off. In the human body there are 10 times as many microbial cells as human cells.

 

Right, so that says to me, that if a tree were in control of its surroundings; able to brush off insects like we are, able to duck down in a storm, able to run from a fire, etc. It could potentially live forever. It is things that happen to the tree that cause it to die. We on the other hand, die before 130 years of age, no matter how healthily we live, no matter how well we protect ourselves.

Note that trees have telomeres too.

 

Note that trees have telomeres too.

But some, like the Bristle Cone Pine also have something like “stem cells” and can regenerate and keep them youthful.

 

Killivolt, annakim in the Bible means giants. The word 'anak' in Hebrew means huge, literally a giant.

 

But some, like the Bristle Cone Pine also have something like “stem cells” and can regenerate and keep them youthful.

I've been watching to see if anything changed the FDA's view of "Stem Cell Therapy"

http://www.lls.org/car-t-cell-immun...MI8ti0nM6E1wIVDp1-Ch3JWQYOEAAYASAAEgI8yPD_BwE

kv

 

Killivolt, annakim in the Bible means giants. The word 'anak' in Hebrew means huge, literally a giant.

So, I guess the Kings were also very large then, hmn didn't know that.

kv

 

Well anyway, that's the kind of stupid stuff I think about while falling asleep.

Maybe you should start taking Ambien (Zolpidem)?
Along with several profound statements like survival of the species is everyone's business is the true classic that death is inevitable. Maybe we need to die off to make room for the newborn's? Like the Blood, Sweat and Tears song says:
And when I die
and when I'm dead, dead and gone,
There'll be one child born and
a world to carry on, to carry on…

I really haven't a clue why a turtle on some remote island has a lifespan of 300 years and at last check I do not believe we can really place a number on human lifespan. In my world according to Ron I think that environment plays a large roll in how long we live along with DNA tossed into the mix. We have all known friends or family where certain genetic defects run in a family, for example heart disease. Fortunately looking at family history I have friends alive today as a result of advances in modern medicine. I am 67 years old and served as a US Marine in Vietnam. I came home but many serving beside me never did, I guess that was environment since being in a place with bullets zipping around can terminate your life. Then we can get into infant mortality on a global basis, matter of fact not even global but here in the US by major cities. People die and some sooner than others. That said I like the words of Hunter S. Thompson:

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

They say when your number is up your number is up but I do not see that as a reason to tempt fate.

I like the tree analogies that were presented. Trees, like people en mass have little say about their environment. I figure if we live each day like it is our last at least when the time comes we can exit happy.

Ron

 

Why do we get old and die?

I'm not sure how to tie it all together but the answer has to involve evolution, and replication of our genes. We have evolved to replicate our genes. Our ancestors that weren't effective at that chore didn't get to be our ancestors.

So from the gene's point of view, it must be equally (or more) effective for individuals to live fast and die young rather than become frozen at 21 for centuries. There is no evolutionary pressure on us, as a species, to live longer as individuals. It would be great for us individuals but it could actually slow down the pace of evolution of our species. My great-great-grandfather would still be running around, competing with my grandchildren for resources and mates.

 

Imagine being 8,000 years old and only remembering the last 200-300 years.

If our present pattern of life is anything to go by, at 8000 years old you'd remember perfectly what happened 5000 years ago but wouldn't be able to recall the most recent 200-300 years .

 

There is no evolutionary pressure on us, as a species, to live longer as individuals.

Actually, there is.

Women are waiting longer to have children.

It has been shown with fruit flies that, by delaying procreation, future generations live longer.

Will humans duplicate this result? Only time will tell.