Aging as an Emergent Phenomenon, All Trees and No Forest

Theory and modeling dominates the study of the evolution of aging, as is the case in any field in which one is presented with a snapshot of a very complex environment and no ability to conduct directly relevant experiments on that environment. Beyond the state of the natural world here on earth, astrophysics is another good example: a zoo of diverse phenomenon out there in the universe and a great deal of highly mathematical back and forth here on Earth over exactly why the night sky looks the way it does. Given the nature of the field, any discussion of the fine details of the evolution of aging should be taken as speculative. Evolution as a whole is well supported by the evidence, and a demonstrably useful concept that has informed and accelerated progress in the life sciences. But many of the specific hypotheses and mathematical models that foam and compete under the surface of the bigger picture are likely incorrect in some or all of their details. The commentary on the evolution of aging in today's open access paper might be taken as the polar opposite of programmed aging hypotheses. Here, aging is envisaged as an inevitable byproduct of the way that natural selection operates, stronger in its effects on early life. Early reproduction is an effective strategy across near all niches, since the occupants of near all niches are affected by predation, disease, and other forms of mortality. Thus mechanisms and systems that aid in early life success at the cost o...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs