The process of biological aging or the state of an organism being biologically old.
19
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5answers
441 views
Why do we age? or Do we have a theory of senescence?
There seem to be a number of ideas about why we age. Hypotheses include the gradual accumulation of cell metabolic products affecting organism function and the reduction of telomere length during cell ...
11
votes
4answers
304 views
Why is the Hydra Biologically Immortal?
I have heard that the Hydra organism is biologically immortal (later I found that there are more immortal organisms). Now I know that its immortality is related to its telomerase. The thing is that we ...
11
votes
1answer
297 views
Are human bodies programmed to die?
Following from this question: What is the evolutionary advantage of death?:
Is there any evidence that human bodies have systemic self-destruction built into their developmental program? I'm not ...
11
votes
1answer
395 views
Is there an advantage to linear chromosomes?
The DNA copying enzymes have a hard time working to the end of a chromosome. For circular chromosomes this is not a problem, since there is not a sharp 'end'. However, for a linear chromosome, without ...
4
votes
1answer
282 views
How do caspase proteins kill a cell?
Wikipedia just says...
The active effector caspases then proteolytically degrade a host of
intracellular proteins to carry out the cell death program.
Okay, but what parts of the cell do they ...
3
votes
1answer
124 views
Could inhibition of progerin formation slow the rate at which a body ages?
According to wikipedia, progerin is activated in senescent cells. The protein itself is known to be the cause of a rare affliction 'progeria' - a disease marked by accelerated aging of the body. This ...
