SCIENCE OF LIFE AND DEATH

For years, the most important thing in the minds of little old men and women legislators was medical research into prolongation of life. Essentially, they have failed. The failure stimulated a shift to unproven dietary supplements and schemes of which there are so many it would be impossible to name them all—a multimillion-dollar business driven by greed not science. From all of this effort, drugs and supplements and diets, scientists found only one thing that prolongs life and that is the simple expedient of simple caloric restriction. Obviously, there are limitations in the form of starvation. Various evolutionary theorists have tied this to evolution and reproduction potential. We all know various animals have different life spans. We also recognize there is a positive relationship between “good health” and length of life—the longer a species lives the longer their productive life. A young man who was given one wish and wished for a life of 600-years poignantly made the story. At ninety years of age, he was immobile, suffered from senile atrophy, his head was bowed and he drooled—he had 590 years to live.

The actual scientific result from research into death is complex and often seems irrelevant to most of us. They involve something referred to as cellular apoptosis, which leads to the anomalous sounding phrases: “natural” or ordered death verses necrosis or “unnatural” or traumatic death. Apoptosis is a product of evolution. Pathologists are capable of telling the difference when they see it happening through a microscope in addition, they are well versed in the significance of these mechanisms of death. Biochemists are learning the actual chemical details, including the part RNA and DNA plays in the process. From all of this we know in a general way, we inherit our life span but of course, like most things we categorize as behavior, what we inherit is only a part of the story. The question is do we want our scientists messing with the product of evolution. I think the answer is yes but be carful—very careful; 590 years is a long time.   

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