IUBio

repression of telomerase as natural selection

ufotruth at ix.netcom.com ufotruth at ix.netcom.com
Thu Jan 21 13:35:38 EST 1999


 
>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





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