But eventually, they will all die of something. We must die eventually, he suggests, because humans have a body design that evolved to hang in there long enough for us to live long enough to reproduce, ensuring the survival of the species. Eventually, when those cells die and aren’t replaced, our brains shrink and our hearts weaken. People who live long enough for these foibles of the human body to catch up with them aren’t sick when they die, their bodies have just worn out, said Olshansky. In a bid to measure the pace at which individuals and groups of individuals age, Horvath and his colleagues have systematically looked at the activity of the epigenome.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 05, 2016 20:21 UTC