Biology is still a vast sphere, which has yet to be explored. Despite much progress in the field over the centuries, there are still many mysteries related to Biology. Ageing is believed to be a natural process but actually it is even today, an obscure area that has not been fully understood.
Ageing and immortality are often misconceived by biologists and medical doctors. A concise definition of ageing is when people’s reproductive and survival rates weaken despite evolving in healthy and appropriate surroundings. Mortality related to aging does not include outer factors of death such as killing in war or through epidemic. Low fertility is also a sign of aging. Immortality can thus be considered as a set of organisms which do not show a degradation in biological variables such as fertility and survival incidence. Although biological immortality can be attained, people cannot survive under harsh condition.
Here are some facts about age and immortality. Aging is not a universal concept, as not everything ages. The very facts that human species have survived over thousands of years shows that replication of cells have continued. They have not become extinct. However, the individual himself is not yet immortal as the species to which he belongs. As it is not possible to obliterate all diseases in living entities, death does occur in immortality.
A relevant illustration of this issue is found in the work of Martinez who examined mortality rates in Hydra, an aquatic animal. These animals did not show any symptoms of aging over a prolonged period and they died but without actually aging.
Considering laws of thermodynamics, the peak of life is invalid since on the evolution scale, life is immortal. Life is cyclic, thus immortal as it obtains sufficient energy from sun.
Recent research on the demography of immortality.
Another common distorted concept of aging is that it is irreversible or cannot be stopped. However, it is controversial as to whether aging species are perpetually affected by mortality rates during adulthood. As evidence, decline in mortality exists in human data. For example, extremely old people did not perish as quickly as believed. Yet, advance in medicine increases longevity which makes it confusing to analyze survival data clearly.
At the beginning of 1990’s, insects were used in medical experiments to observe mortality rates in the aged. According to latest facts, death is decived in 3 categories.
1. Juvenile
2. Aging
3. Late Life
In the juvenile phase there is no exponential increase in mortality rates. In the second phase, mortality rates rise fast. In the last phase, mortality levels are approximately stable despite the inclination to sustain a high rate. Hence, organisms in the ‘late life’ are viewed to be biologically immortal, as they do not age anymore. Immortality is thus a universal concept in existence since living things are immortal while others age before reaching a period of stability known as the immortal state.
So far, the theory of evolution is the most relevant one to assess both old and new ideas of immortality. However, Darwin’s theory has its flaws because natural selection does not really function effectively in an aged specimen. During youth or first stages in life, natural selection is strong to choose those which can survive by being “most responsive to change”. Yet, natural selection weakens in adulthood but it cannot be lowered further in late life. As the natural selection ceases, so does aging; thus causing immortality.
Precise mathematical theory can validate this issue of immortality linked to evolution. For example, according to evolutionary theory, species that separate themselves in two during reproduction do not age. Therefore, natural selection subsists in the initial stage at all ages; this is biological immortality.
The manipulation of aging and immortality
Aging can be delayed by postponing the fragile part of natural selection; that is reproduction. When reproduction is deferred, natural selection remains strong and since the very feature of natural selection has been shifted, aging as well is put off.
A different way of changing life span is through medical treatment, which strengthens an individual at an early state in life. This person has less risk of aging.
Actually, laboratory experiments using fruit flies have proven that they can live longer than their life expectancy. Aging has been slowed and some flies can stop growing older during immortal phase. Eventually, immortality can occur at an earlier state too, not only in late life.
It is more desirable and practical to achieve immortality at an early stage in one’s life than later. This is so because one can better appreciate the extended life span with heightened energy and enthusiasm. Nevertheless, to reach this state, we need research and concrete action like developing and refining drugs. This will indeed be complex but feasible.
Wed, Dec 2, 2009
Anti Aging, Health And Aging, Immortality, Longevity