X-Message-Number: 26239 Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 09:40:40 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: To Mike99 re. evolution of aging To Mike99: The problem with the notion that deterioration of our genes explains our aging is very simple. There is no special reason why our gene repair systems, or genes themselves, might not become more resistant to damage. In animals (bacteria, actually) living in nuclear reactors we see exactly that: they have duplicates of their genes, so that repair uses a majority vote to repair all of the genes. (No, that's not perfect, but it makes them much more resistant to radiation than we are or even normal bacteria are). I'm not at all the originator of a standard biological theory of how aging evolves, but you can look at the very first paper on that subject by GC Williams, "Pleiotropy, natural selection, and the evolution of senescence", EVOLUTION 11(1957) 398-411. I hope that it's now on the net but haven't checked that myself. I would add that others have produced math based on Williams' original idea, and it now looks pretty firm. Best wishes and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=26239