Something interested I read about the telomere theories. Humans are
a lot bigger than mice, obviously. Humans can use the telomere system
as a means of controlling cell growth, that is to say, it is sort of a
general tumor suppressor. The tumors do grow a little bit, to some
small size. However, for a mouse, that little growth which we would
call "small" if it were in our bodies would be "huge" and fatal if it
were in the mouse's body. So mice really can't rely on telomere
shortening to make their cells senesce, or else they would all be
lumpy walking tumors and die faster.
Hazel