Aging is a natural part of life, but that hasn't stopped people from embarking on efforts to stop the process.
Unfortunately, perhaps, those attempts are futile, according to University of Arizona researchers who have proved that it's mathematically impossible to halt aging in multicellular organisms like humans.
"Aging is mathematically inevitable - like, seriously inevitable. There's logically, theoretically, mathematically no way out," said Joanna Masel, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and at the UA.
Masel and UA postdoctoral researcher Paul Nelson outline their findings on math and aging in a new study titled "Intercellular Competition and Inevitability of Multicellular Aging," published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Current understanding of the evolution of aging leaves open the possibility that aging could be stopped if only science could figure out a way to make selection between organisms perfect. One way to do that might be to use competition between cells to eliminate poorly functioning "sluggish" cells linked to aging, while keeping other cells intact.
However, the solution isn't that simple, Masel and Nelson say.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-10-mathematically-impossible-aging-scientists.html#jCp
Aging is a natural part of life, but that hasn't stopped people from embarking on efforts to stop the process.
Unfortunately, perhaps, those attempts are futile, according to University of Arizona researchers who have proved that it's mathematically impossible to halt aging in multicellular organisms like humans.
"Aging is mathematically inevitable - like, seriously inevitable. There'slogically, theoretically, mathematically no way out," said Joanna Masel, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and at the UA.
Masel and UA postdoctoral researcher Paul Nelson outline their findings on math and aging in a new study titled "Intercellular Competition and Inevitability of Multicellular Aging," published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Current understanding of the evolution of aging leavesopen the possibility that aging could be stopped if only science could figure out a way to make selection between organisms perfect. One way to do that might be to use competition between cells to eliminate poorly functioning "sluggish" cells linked to aging, while keeping other cells intact.
However, the solution isn't that simple, Masel and Nelsonsay.
The word "impossible" always raises a big red flag. We may not be able to "beat aging," but we certainly can greatly prolong life and vitality. Nothing lasts forever, except nothing. To read more, click here.