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Asked by mr epic man 56 to Praveen, Michael, Cristina on 8 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by cakeking.
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Cristina Villa del Campo answered on 8 Nov 2015:
Hi, thanks for your question!
This is a very interesting question and not easy to answer, we are still studying and trying to understand the reasons for death. Death is a part of life, and all living organisms die at some point. Our cells’ behaviour is coded in our DNA, that’s how the cells know how to perform their daily tasks, including how to divide and create more cells. Many things from the enviroment can affect our cells’ behaviour and those are the things we can control by having a healthy lifestyle, we can be “the best version” of our selves, if you may, living to our fuller potential. However, after the years, the mechanisms the cells use start failing and the cells are not that efficient, that’s why we age. Eventually, even if we are very healthy, our cells and bodies are programmed in our DNA to die.
However, thanks to science, we understand this process so much better and now people live way longer than when humans first appeared, so who knows how much we will be able to live in the future.
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Michael Schneider answered on 9 Nov 2015:
This is a really terrific question. One part of the answer has to do with evolution: until the last hundred years, people typically died relatively early in life, from infections or malnutrition. For that reason, the body “didn’t have to” be built to last 70 years or more. Another part has to do with genetics: by testing what can protect cells from ageing in simple species like mice or worms, scientists have proven some ways to make them live much longer. For humans, a key question is, would people want to live to 120, if it meant more of being frail (as if they were 90)? Or, only if it meant more years of being a healthy and active (as if they were 70)? What do you think??
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