In <3ndu2f$3tj at larry.rice.edu> Mark Gardner <mrg at ruf.rice.edu> writes:
>steve at chambers.ak.planet.co.nz (Steve Chambers) wrote:
>> Any common process with the capacity to increase adult mortality,
>> or degrade adult function, in an age-dependant manner.
>So as a child grows older and becomes an adult. Is this not aging?
>We have a method to stop us from growing for ever. We may reach 6'
>tall and then our growth process begins to shut down. Is this
>the same process as aging? Maybe this is what causes aging. I think
>lobsters and turtles continue to grow in size and they tend to have
>long lives. The lives of humans have increased as we extended our
>childhood. Our puberty is at about 12 years old compared to a couple
>of years for other primates. This has postponed adulthood and thus
>extended our entire lifespan.
>Could it be that the same process that matures us also causes us to
>grow old?
Yes it (they) could. So too could those processes that arrest early
growth and maturation. Bidder (1932) first suggested such a possibility
and Cutler summarised subsequent thinking with his DLBPs (developmentally-
linked biosenescent processes).
DLBPs would fit within the proposed definition because they "increase
adult mortality, or degrade adult function".
Steve
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(I_lurk,_therefore_I_am!_\ ,,, Steve Chambers
(o o) steve at chambers.ak.planet.co.nz
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(c) Steve Chambers 1995. All rights reserved
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