What is aging: Definition and 90 Discussions

Ageing or aging is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In a broader sense, ageing can refer to single cells within an organism which have ceased dividing, or to the population of a species.In humans, ageing represents the accumulation of changes in a human being over time and can encompass physical, psychological, and social changes. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while memories and general knowledge typically increase. Ageing increases the risk of human diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and many more. Of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two-thirds die from age-related causes.
Current ageing theories are assigned to the damage concept, whereby the accumulation of damage (such as DNA oxidation) may cause biological systems to fail, or to the programmed ageing concept, whereby the internal processes (epigenetic maintenance such as DNA methylation) inherently may cause ageing. Programmed ageing should not be confused with programmed cell death (apoptosis).
Obesity has been proposed to accelerate ageing, whereas dietary calorie restriction in non-primate animals slows ageing while maintaining good health and body functions. In primates (including humans), such life-extending effects remain uncertain.

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  1. C

    Why extremal aging, not just maximal? (for an inertial body in spacetime)

    One can use the Principle of Extremal Aging to calculate the path of a freely moving body (in an inertial frame not subject to any forces) in spacetime, curved or flat. Why extremal? Why not just maximal? All the examples I know of involve maximum proper time for a freely moving body. For...
  2. T

    Obsessed with a Bag Lady: Aging and Desires

    I know now I truly have a sex obsession. There is a bag lady that comes around collecting cans and bottles other people discard, for the refunds. What many people would call a bag lady or outcast from normal society. It's her only job as far as I can tell. Actually she must have been a real...
  3. J

    Understanding Aging and Time Dilation: The Twin Paradox Explained

    After a fairly long time of thinking I had a decent grip on the concept of time dilation, it has suddenly occurred to me that I don't. My issue is with the concept of the aging twins thought experiment (or whatever it's called) where if one shoots off at some comparable speed to the speed of...
  4. L

    Causes of Human Aging: What We Know

    What are the causes of human aging? Do we know all the causes of human aging?
  5. Ivan Seeking

    Families and Aging: Loss and Challenges

    DOWNER WARNING One of the most painful parts of growing older has been the loss of family. Perhaps the saddest part for me is that my siblings and I have grown apart. I'm only close with one of three now. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and now one parent, are gone. Geography and time...
  6. M

    Harvard scientist claims to reverse aging in mice wow

    http://bigthink.com/ideas/25265
  7. E

    What Factors Contribute to Aging and Death in the Human Body?

    Does anybody know what mechanisms in the human body contribute to the wear and tear that comes with aging, and eventually lead to death? I know that DNA telomers shortening is one. What are some others? Maybe the accumulation of DNA mutations throughout a lifetime? Thanks!
  8. K

    Plant aging Steam Generator Corrosion

    Hi I am told that steam generator is an area that is suseptible to aging effects and corrosion. I was wondering if anyone can elaborate on this a bit. Is it just due to the heat and humididty? I am studying BWRs and safety and maintanced aspects and I was thinking of focusing on this area...
  9. J

    Understanding the Twin Paradox: Exploring the Effects of Relativity on Aging

    I'm kind of a noob who's posted a question or two here before to settle arguments and such. Please don't kill me if this has been covered before. I was reading some stuff about space travel trying to get some creative ideas for a sci/fi book idea I had. Nothing serious and really nothing to...
  10. ThomasT

    Clock postulate and differential aging

    In a recent thread about differential aging in the archetypal twin scenario, I suggested that the periods of oscillators are affected by accelerations, or in other words that a clock's tick rate is affected by changes in its speed. This statement was disagreed with by some, who said that it...
  11. B

    Why do really fast speeds keep you from aging or feeling time ?

    Why do really fast speeds keep you from aging or "feeling time"? I started reading Orson Scott Card's "Speaker for the Dead" yesterday and I was struck by the fact that being able to communicate instantly with any point in the universe (as one can in Card's sci-fi world) is completely at odds...
  12. R

    What is the effect of aging during space travel?

    Hello, I have been lately very interested in time dilation. I have found out many information about it and it's very interesting for me. But I have few problems I don't quite understand, so I will be glad for your help. Let's start: There's a man traveling in a spaceship from point A to...
  13. O

    Medical Turning back the clock on aging muscles.

    This is some compelling new research... "A study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, has identified critical biochemical pathways linked to the aging of human muscle. By manipulating these pathways, the researchers were able to turn back the clock on old human muscle...
  14. B

    Can You List the Specific Mutations Responsible for Aging?

    Could somebody, possibly, provide a list of the mutations that cause aging- the specific mutations- "hotspots" and/or discuss that with me (ie you could pm me) thanks
  15. A

    Time Dilation, who is aging slower?

    So finally I can understand the time dilation principle. Correct me if I am wrong but here is how I understand it: If 2 twins on Earth conducted an experiment of time dilation, twin 2 hops into a rocket ship and flies around the Earth at a high rate of speed for years. When they meet up again...
  16. B

    Space Junk: Aging & Decomposition Rates

    Has there been any real scientific testing to determine the ratio of aging or decomposition of space junk above our atmosphere compared to atmospheric aging? I ask this because if space junk is going to be "out there" for millions of years as is, why would we even consider adding more in the...
  17. A

    Artificially aging wine via ultrasound

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1065867/The-miracle-machine-turns-cheap-plonk-vintage-wine--just-half-hour.html" I don't know enough about how wine ages to debate the above, but the following set the alarm bells off in my head: Mmm-hmm...
  18. P

    Genes that Cause Human Aging: Telomeres, Klotho & Methuselah

    What genes cause aging, most people think shortening of telomeres is the main reason of aging, but I know there are more than that, like Klotho, Methuselah. But which fews are more important than others, and what else are there?
  19. J

    Understanding the Relative Aging Equation for High Speeds: Explained Simply

    Hello, I was searching online for an equation which would reveal the effects on aging as velocities approach light speed. I found this t = squareroot of (1-(v^2/c^2)) Pardon my math ignorance (I am not a physics student) but when I entered in a velocity of 80% the speed of light the...
  20. B

    Suspended Animation and Aging: Can it Halt the Aging Process in Mice?

    How much could suspended animation put the aging of mice on hold for? ie in this context? http://io9.com/371726/suspended-animation-now-possible-++-using-sewer-gas Would it do that at all? (if for example the mice had maintained telomeres)
  21. B

    Germ Line Cells & DNA Damage: Causes of Aging?

    Do germ line cells accumulate DNA Damage like the rest of the body? I've heard things about them that make them seem to have very different characteristics to the rest of the body. Ie could germ line cells, or anything, contain your original DNA when you're like 50 or 100, or would the only DNA...
  22. F

    Time Dilation and aging Problem

    Homework Statement You fly 5000 km across the United States on an airliner at 250 m/s. You return two days later traveling at the same speed. How much less have you aged more then your friends at home. Homework Equations I think the time dilation equation is used: delta_t= delta_t'/...
  23. B

    Copies of the SIR6 gene help reverse aging

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  24. B

    The Impact of Delta Protein Expression on Aging Cells

    Can you force older cells to express more delta protein? Would the cells expressing more delta protein be good or bad?
  25. B

    Ckg733 the so-called anti-aging molecule - how to control aging?

    ckg733 the so-called "anti-aging molecule" - how to control aging? I've heard ckg733 be called the "anti-aging molecule" and apparently it can reverse aging of cells? Could this be used to reverse/stop the aging of an organism? I mean if you can control the age etc of every cell you could use...
  26. M

    Time Dilation and Biological Aging

    Having read a whole lot of discussions about the "twin paradox" in this forum, I have a question that probably only serves to shine a bright light upon my ignorance... Clocks running slower at near-lightspeed, OK. Sounds reasonable. I'll buy that. But why does this mean that the...
  27. H

    Biological explanation for accelerated aging of amphetamine victims?

    I was seeing a documentary on amphetamines the other day and I was looking for a biological explanation for the accelerated aging that was apparent in the drug victims' faces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_meth#Effects It doesn't list my observation on Wikipedia...
  28. J

    Aging related to speed of the Earth

    Hey, I am by no means a physics expert so don't get on my for being somewhat uneducated in the topics of relativity but I have been trying to figure out many seemingly mind boggling questions lately and I was hoping some of you could help. First of all, as it is commonly stated that time...
  29. T

    Principle of extremal aging

    I have heard of this principle before, but how can we show that it is true?
  30. W

    Loctite and/or Hernon product aging

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  31. DaveC426913

    What's the Difference Between Aging Beef and Spoiled Beef?

    Well-aged beef is hung for as much as 30 days until it goes green. The green is scraped off and you have a very expensive, tasty piece of meat. Beef in my fridge goes off after a week or two and if I eat it I will get sick. What is the difference? I'm sure the first responses will talk...
  32. T

    Determining Someone's Age Through Body Examination

    Just a simple question for people knowledgeable in biology: what are some specific examples of determining someone's age by studying their body? I know you can use bones and teeth, and perhaps hair or something, but what specifically is it that the coronor, let's say, looks for to determine...
  33. Astronuc

    Healthy Aging: Discussing Senescence

    It might be worthwhile to discuss aging, or more importantly, healthy aging, in addition to longevity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senescence http://www.senescence.info/ http://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/sens/...
  34. S

    Time Dilation and Differential Aging

    I know very little about SR -- just the transformation equations I learned in high school. I remember reading somewhere that time dilation is a symmetric artifact of the synchronization convention, and that, by itself, it isn't the reason for differential aging. The reason, if I'm...
  35. Ivan Seeking

    Can Severe Emotional Distress Speed Up Aging by Shortening Telomeres?

    http://www.soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment.php4?seg=471 full article http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/40/1/27 better http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/49/17312
  36. F

    Even aging can't be so easily cured

    I just read that "Even aging can't be so easily cured by replacing someone's whole body: our brain seems to contain the circuits causing us to age, and you'd just see the replacement aging very rapidly. (The circuits aren't just electrical but chemical too. And this experiment has even...
  37. S

    Aging & Telomeres: Is There More to Know?

    okay...i know that as DNA replicates, telomeres fall off/get shorter, and when they reach a certain point, the cell reaches senescence and can no longer replicate. I know that...but that's too simple. Is there more to it?...i.e. maybe anythign about when the cell reaches senescence, or any...
  38. M

    Exploring Deeper Reasons for Aging: A Non-Expert's Viewpoint

    Hello people I wrote e little text to (try) explain non-expert people the reasons we age. I don't know if my point of view if correct, and so I would appreciate graduate student in genetics or biology take little time to read it and return here their comments about. I think there are more...
  39. Greg Bernhardt

    Aging: Evolution's Unexpected Result

    Aging is a result of evolution, not something selected by evolution, but something outside the selective powers of evolution. As research uncovers more and more about the mechanisms behind aging the exact nature of this fact is being realized more and more...
  40. Ivan Seeking

    180 years old? Experts debate limit of aging

    "I think we are knocking at the door of immortality," said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. "I think by 2075 we will see it and that's a conservative estimate." http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/07/19/aging/index.html
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