Genetics

I have written in the past about the rigors of  aging ... see: Growing Old Is Not For Sissies.

Now it seems that techno-weenie wealth is tempting some Silicon-Valley entrepreneurs to feel that they can forget their appointment with the Grim Reaper ... achieving eternal life. It's as though Ponce de Leon just bought the fountain of youth with his IPO money ... see: Washington Post Article. This is a rather long and meandering piece on how someone, who can restrict communication to 140 characters, can, as a result of this stock market windfall, possibly live forever. It nevertheless is worth a read for its many interesting factoids. Do so and then return for a brief discussion.

While perusing this article a thought struck me ... clearly random mutations in our genomes that occur over time (when cells replace themselves) are one reason why we age (and get some diseases). Yet scientists believe that many of our DNA sequences have no real use biologically. Could this surfeit of DNA sequences be an evolved defense mechanism so that many of these mutations occur in unimportant areas of our genome? In other words is aging a matter of probabilities? Growing old and other bad things begin happening to us when more vital DNA sequences are eventually mutated. The more sacrificial areas of our genome there are, the longer we might possibly live ...