What Processes Cause Aging

I think it was interesting how the reading selection described aging as oxidizing or browning, and also how metabolism is necessary for life, but also plays a role in collecting byproducts that play a role in aging.  Also, at the beginning of the reading, I think it does a good job of proving a point that even the most accomplished and strict diet follower, body builder, and "fitness nut" can't beat aging.  They can sure seem to slow down the process a lot compared to other people who don't partake in any physical activities; however, eventually aging will eventually catch up to them.  We are only human, not some fictional immortal species.  I also, as a genetics major with pre-vet concentration, thought the bit about the lab that "crashed" after 30 minutes exactly was pretty interesting.  I actually was involved in an internship last summer at a vet clinic, and we had the exact same type of case come in to us.  I thought it was very interesting and still do, how even the smallest alterations in a cell can cause such a noticeable defect.

Why Does Aging Happen?

I thought it was a great point to bring up the concepts of proximate and causal answers; with the topic of aging, according to the article, one person had come up with over 300 different aging theories, most of which were proximate, or mechanistic - the same way it is today.  Sure there are many scientists researching many of the different mechanistic aspects of the aging and evolution spectrum, and though many of them may be able to describe how different processes in the body function to induce aging, they still fail to describe exactly why we age, rather than how we age. Scientists are answering why we age with respect to cellular functions and properties, but they can't describe why species do age - what made species begin to activate as the article refers to as " a suicide switch" and keep aging until the organism dies? To me, this question has no real answer that we will ever know; we may get close to answering it, but we will never know the true reason as to why we age.
As for the different theories of aging, the "good for the species" theory makes sense, but as with the concept I was relating to earlier, it still doesn't answer the question of why exactly do they age.  The reasoning of adaption and natural selection as means to better a species generation to generation gives a reason as to what happens when different species age throughout a lifetime; an animal simply does not wake up one day and say "Hey, I want to start aging and keep aging until I die because I want to trigger positive mutations as a result from my environment in hope of bettering my species under natural selection."  Aging happens whether the organism want it or not, granted some exceptions as we discussed in class.  I think that there are some other theories that will become unearthed and revealed in the future, but as stated earlier, I don't think that there is an answer as to why we age in the first place.  I think it would be one of the greatest answers to know in life, along with what is the purpose of life? However, I just believe that the answer will never be known, in other words, the mystery is unsolvable.  As i study genetics, I like to try and understand how from organism to organism, every different gene, every allele, every transposon, every environmentally induced mutation, and how every everything in the genome relates to it's corresponding functional phenotype.  And whenever scientists can figure out how to incorporate mutations and tweak the genome in the areas that translate into the aging spectrum of phenotypes, then maybe we can begin to figure out all the different factors that disable cells/tissue from being immortal.  Until an even greater, more complete understanding of the genetics of aging occurs, I don't know how much people can expect to know about why they age.  I as well as everyone in the class find it interesting and would love to know why exactly we age in the first place; however, I accept the fact that there is much more research to do on the topic, and until we gain a more clear understanding, I feel that the answer is still out of our grasps...this is why this is such a great discussion and critical thinking topic.  And this is also why I love to work in a lab and research how the genetics of different mechanisms of life work, relate, and communicate.

Intro

Hey, my name is Brandon and I'm a sophomore at ISU; I am from Spirit Lake, Iowa, which is right next to Okoboji.  I joined this class pretty much because I'm interested in the topic of development and aging.  My major is genetics/pre-vet, so I am very interested in the development and aging at the genetic level.