I was thinking today that often very attractive people (providing they survive the hard knocks and fierce competition of life) still look quit attractive as they age and often live long life spans. I bet that many of the supercentenerians were quite a good looking lot in their youth. As we age the inner swan in us dies and we lose much of our beauty. Could people that stay beautiful longer have better DNA repair, better HSPs, chaperones, proteins resistant to oxidative damage and so on?
Perhaps not just for reasons of maintaining the soma but also for the benefit of the germline which has to continue forever.
So there is selection for longevity even without forcing late life reproduction.
Edited by caston, 17 July 2008 - 09:07 AM.