Abstract
As we get old, we become weaker and more vulnerable to diseases. Sooner or later, our health fails, and we die. That happens to most, but not all, animal species. If we want to live longer, understanding why we get weaker is important. Many people work on the question of how aging happens. That is, they try to understand how the cells and living tissues behave as they get older. But there is a deeper question: why do humans and other animals get old at all? Do our bodies just wear out, like old machines? Or is there an important evolutionary reason for getting old? In this article, we will explore those questions. We suggest that getting old and dying serves an important purpose: when the old die, the young can adapt faster to a changing world.
Highlights
NISC – EACH, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS), Beijing, China
Many people work on the question of how aging happens
Evolution is the observed fact that living beings who live today are di erent from those who lived in the past
Summary
If we want to live longer, understanding why we get weaker is important. Many people work on the question of how aging happens. That is, they try to understand how the cells and living tissues behave as they get older. There is a deeper question: why do humans and other animals get old at all? We suggest that getting old and dying serves an important purpose: when the old die, the young can adapt faster to a changing world. As most animals and humans get really old, they start to get weaker. If they live long enough, that weakness will even kill them in the end.
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