Does aging happen by chance? Is aging the breaking down of an
organism till the latter eventually stops working?

According to Valter Longo's latest research, which was published in
the September 27 edition of the Journal of Cell Biology, aging is a
programmed process. For Longo's part, aging is supposed to ensure the
premature death of the majority of a population.

The dead will then consequently provide nutrients for the sake of a
few individuals who have acquired genetic mutations. (Think of yeast
rather than big complex mammals.) These mutants are more adapted to
their environment than the other 'normal' organisms. Therefore these
'sacrificial' deaths increase the chances of reproduction of the
mutants as the latter will have more nutrients to feed on.

Now Charles Darwin may not be very happy with Longo's theory.
Darwin's natural selection happens at individual level. The better
suited to its environment an organism is, the more probable that it
will reproduce. This ensures that the species changes or evolves over
time as such type of reproduction brings genetic changes to the
offsprings. This makes the offsprings more adapted to their
ever-changing environment.

Longo's theory, however, rests on the group selection theory. Many
scientists think that this theory is incorrect. The latter proposes
that selection happens not at individual level but at group level
instead.

Longo's research is mainly based on the observation of programmed
aging in yeast. Scientists have used yeasts because the molecular
pathway that regulates its longevity is similar to other more complex
organisms like mice and possibly humans.

The results of this research are surprising. Yeasts, which were
studied, died well before they were supposed to in order to provide
nutrients for those yeasts within that same population which had
acquired genetic mutations. In short, many millions of yeasts died
early to suit the few better-adapted mutant yeasts. Can this process
happen in humans as well?

If aging is programmed in yeast and the latter's molecular pathway is very similar to human's, then isn't it possible that humans also die earlier than they have to?
Valter Longo

Apart from the possibility that we might have been wrong in
sticking with Darwin's all-too-known theory for so long - provided
Longo's theory is proven to be correct - gerontologists (scientists
studying the aging process) are now conjecturing that aging may
actually be healed.

It seems easier to tweak the programming in a computer than to try
to replace part after part in an old car that is steadily
collapsing.

For Valter Longo, most organisms undergo programmed longevity. Is
life therefore supposed to be programmed?

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