Why Do We Grow Old and Die?

“WITH the exception of the discovery that age changes occur within individual cells,” Dr. Leonard Hayflick admits, “we do not know much more today about the fundamental cause of aging than we did a century ago.” In fact, he says: “We know of no good reason why aging should happen.”

Laboratory experiments conducted about 30 years ago revealed that when normal human cells taken from a fetus were cultured under the best of conditions, death followed after some 50 doublings. On the other hand, cells taken from a very old person divided only between two and ten times before they died. Thus, the National Geographic Society book The Incredible Machine observed: “Experimental evidence supports the idea that death is programmed in each of us at birth.”

However, is the cessation of cell division inevitable? No, it is not. “Indeed,” opined two experts on aging, Professors Robert M. Sapolsky and Caleb E. Finch, “it appears that nonsenescence [not aging] was the original state of living things on earth.” Ironically, even some abnormal human cells today do not age.

The book The Body Machine, edited by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, who performed the first human-​to-​human heart transplant, explained: “The discovery of ‘immortal cells’ presented a major headache to biologists interested in senescence, until it became clear that such cells were abnormal.” Yes, some lines of cancer cells can be sustained in continuous culture through seemingly endless doublings! The World Book Encyclopedia noted: “If scientists can determine how such abnormal cells survive, they may gain an insight into the process of cell aging.” Thus, today some cancer cells can apparently proliferate indefinitely in the laboratory, but normal cell cultures grow old and die.

A Defective Mechanism

Are human aging and death the result of, as The Body Machine puts it, “the loss of proliferation capacity in [normal] cell population”? If so, the book said, “it is important to locate and understand the mechanism that controls this finite repetitive capacity in order to manipulate it in an attempt to increase the human lifespan.”

As you may recall from the previous article, Dr. Hayflick spoke of “the miracles that take us from conception to birth and then to sexual maturation and adulthood.” He then referred to “a more elementary mechanism to simply maintain those miracles forever.”

Despite years of concerted efforts, scientists have failed to discover a mechanism that would maintain life forever. “The causes of aging remain a mystery,” admits the book The Incredible Machine.

How You Can Live Forever

SINCE the human body clearly has the potential for a much longer life than humans enjoy today, some put their trust in science to discover how we can live forever. “As we gain a more complete knowledge of the chemicals of the body and how they interact,” Dr. Alvin Silverstein wrote, “we will unravel the essence of life. We will understand . . . how a person ages.”

With what consequence? It will lead to “a new era in human history,” Silverstein said. “There will be no more ‘old’ people, for the knowledge that will permit the conquest of death will also bring eternal youth.”