Revisiting Programmed Aging

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(From Innovations Report). Steven Austad argues that aging is not programmed in most organisms - it is just decay. On the other side of this debate Valter Longo and Paola Fabrizio have authored a paper suggesting that aspects of aging in mammals may indeed be programmed. "Programmed human aging is just a possibility. We don't know whether it's true yet or not. But if aging is programmed in yeast, and the pathway is very similar, then isn't it possible that humans also die earlier than they have to?" This discussion is still at the level of educated hand-waving - much more work is needed to settle it one way or another. My suspicion is that the genetics and biochemistry will turn out to be more complex than a simple yes or no.

Link: http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/biowissenschaften_chemie/bericht-34049.html