>As things stand, the "defence against cancer" hypothesis is still the
>best available. The new Geron results don't challenge it. What Geron
>have shown is that cells which lack that defence are nevertheless pretty
>good at not becoming cancerous. One interpretation of that is that the
>telomerase repression makes a pretty good anti-cancer system even better.
Perhaps also it is a mechanism to make sure that evolution of a
species continues. If individual organisms lived too long, and
consumed too many important resources, they could slow down the
evolutionary development of their species.
If our ancestors a hundred thousand years ago had an extend lifespan
and lived for long periods of time (until they were killed by disease,
animal attack, or acident) then I doubt we humans would be living in
houses today. Probably because evolution would have slowed down
tremendously.
Best Regards,
William
>>Aubrey de Grey