7 replies to this topic

[acrossuniv1]

It seems that development is more closely associated with aging than just two stages of life.

The only period in our life which does not show aging is when we are developing in childhood and early youth.

Recent scientific research has shown aging may be a form of developmental drift. It can be understand as when development reaches the limit (mature body) then all the developmental genetic/biochemical machinaries goes to wrong directions hence the underlying driving force of aging.

Looks like one fundmental method of reverse aging is to continue development, or design biological switches turn-on and turn-off selective developmental processes when needed?

Edited by acrossuniv1, 19 January 2010 - 03:01 AM.

[niner]

It seems that development is more closely associated with aging than just two stages of life.

The only period in our life which does not show aging is when we are developing in childhood and early youth.

Recent scientific research has shown aging may be a form of developmental drift. It can be understand as when development reaches the limit (mature body) then all the developmental genetic/biochemical machinaries goes to wrong directions hence the underlying driving force of aging.

Looks like one fundmental method of reverse aging is to continue development, or design biological switches turn-on and turn-off selective developmental processes when needed?

This doesn't sound right to me. For one thing, aging is certainly occurring during childhood. Photodamage to skin can be detected in children as young as five years old. The reason aging is not apparent in children is because it is a slow, gradual process that usually hasn't proceeded far enough to be noticeable until the person's twenties. The idea of aging as developmental drift doesn't seem consistent with de Grey's seven causes of aging, as an example. Is there any documentation that lays out the developmental drift idea in some detail, or is it more of a fuzzy hypothesis?

[VictorBjoerk]

people lacking sex hormones do not develop in puberty and continue to grow slowly throughout their lives. They still age at a similar rate as normal people. A girl getting her first periods at 10 do not on average age faster than a girl who gets her first periods at 15...

there is extremely little difference between a 20-year-old and 25-year-old. Both have stopped developing. Aging is an accelerating process, the more damaged you get the quicker you pick up even more damage. That applies to all types of aging damage.

So I think it's clear for most people here that in currently living humans, development and aging are vastly different things.

[Pour_la_Science]

It seems that development is more closely associated with aging than just two stages of life.

The only period in our life which does not show aging is when we are developing in childhood and early youth.

Recent scientific research has shown aging may be a form of developmental drift. It can be understand as when development reaches the limit (mature body) then all the developmental genetic/biochemical machinaries goes to wrong directions hence the underlying driving force of aging.

Looks like one fundmental method of reverse aging is to continue development, or design biological switches turn-on and turn-off selective developmental processes when needed?

Your point is very interesting, but unfortunately, not new...

Did you know? The term of "Negligible senescence" hasn't been created by De Grey. (I don't know why exactly he's chosen this one because it creates a confusion I think):
In fact, it refers to animals which are continuously in developement: http://en.wikipedia....ible_senescence
Turtles, some fishes, are among them.
Their parrticularity : They grow continuously : The older they are, the bigger they are ! And, opposite to the other types of animals, their fecondity increases with age ! (It's the reason why the death of an old individual like turtle is so terrible for their species...)

But apparently other animals like primate (so humans) haven't chosen this type of development (They belong to the group of Gradual senescence. The other type is the group of Fast senescence like insect, salmon) : Except completely changing from one type of development to another (and we are VERY different from turtles!) this seem inconceivable...

Edited by Pour_la_Science, 19 January 2010 - 11:33 PM.

[tunt01]

there is actually a ton of evidence linking development to lifespan and aging. you have to first recognize that development is not linear in humans. it is segmented from womb+infancy to childhood and finally adolescent puberty.

different "environmental" effects in each of these growing segments of life can produce different phenotypes and lifespan/longevity outcome. some environmental effects can be positive and others can be extremely damaging (ie. a baby born prematurely to a drug/alcohol addicted mother).

i think a very large component of successful aging is just handling stress (ie. viruses/pathogens, life stress, etc.), and that is tightly linked to total health and development.

[acrossuniv1]

It seems that development is more closely associated with aging than just two stages of life.

The only period in our life which does not show aging is when we are developing in childhood and early youth.

Recent scientific research has shown aging may be a form of developmental drift. It can be understand as when development reaches the limit (mature body) then all the developmental genetic/biochemical machinaries goes to wrong directions hence the underlying driving force of aging.

Looks like one fundmental method of reverse aging is to continue development, or design biological switches turn-on and turn-off selective developmental processes when needed?

This doesn't sound right to me. For one thing, aging is certainly occurring during childhood. Photodamage to skin can be detected in children as young as five years old. The reason aging is not apparent in children is because it is a slow, gradual process that usually hasn't proceeded far enough to be noticeable until the person's twenties. The idea of aging as developmental drift doesn't seem consistent with de Grey's seven causes of aging, as an example. Is there any documentation that lays out the developmental drift idea in some detail, or is it more of a fuzzy hypothesis?

For your questions:
Stuart Kim at Stanford University is doing aging research in his lab and he is promoting "developmenta drift" theory of aging.
Also, Leonard Guarente at MIT, when talked about how he started research on aging of yeast in his book "ageless quest", mentioned he has been puzzle for a long time what parameter can be used to measure aging. He said he finally found "survival rate" can be a measure of aging. In light of this, I was just wondering why from born to 15 years old, one's survival rate actually increases, not decreases--indication of reverse direction of aging?

Edited by acrossuniv1, 20 January 2010 - 06:34 AM.

[acrossuniv1]

Thanks to replies from several of yours. I was thinking recently about development and aging so want to raise some interesting points. After read your comments I agree it is premature to draw conclusion as development is the cause of aging. Actually, in current academia majority of researchers agree "damage" instead of "development" is the cause of aging. And I do think Dr. Audrey De Grey's SENS program is certainly a effective way to combat aging. But, it is fun to discuss with you guys, I learned more knowledge and thanks!

Edited by acrossuniv1, 20 January 2010 - 06:15 AM.

[acrossuniv1]

i think a very large component of successful aging is just handling stress (ie. viruses/pathogens, life stress, etc.), and that is tightly linked to total health and development.

I would add an opinion about stress, which may be useful. I support one thoughts of evolution of aging, that is for a species to develop long lifespan (whale, turtle, clam etc), it has to be in a less stressful environment, so that the reproductive advantage of long life will not be eliminated by early life stress events. A more stressful environment will evolve species with short life span/quick reproduction.

Edited by acrossuniv1, 20 January 2010 - 06:27 AM.