With the development of medical technology, people have discovered a helpless fact, that is, the average life span of human beings has increased, but the limit of human life span has not exceeded .
So, why do humans age, and this pace of aging cannot be stopped by technology?
The reason is that the human lifespan has been set deep down in the genes.
Wrinkles at the corners of the eyes
So, if you want to extend your life, you must start with genes.
However, human genes have a total of .16 billion base pairs . Which pair or group of base pairs determines our lifespan is like finding a needle in a haystack.
After continuous searching, humans finally discovered that perhaps human life span is expected to be improved in the future.
Gene double helix structure
The limit of lifespan
Why is human lifespan limited instead of infinite?
Why medical technology has been so advanced, but we cannot increase the limit of life span ?
Perhaps, all this is related to the small section of at the end of our chromosome. There is a substance called telomere at the end of the
chromosome. It can only shorten , will not lengthen , and every time the chromosome divides , will shorten a part of until it cannot shorten . .
Chromosomes and Telomeres
When telomeres cannot be shortened, it means that cell will no longer divide , and without cells will divide . After the old cells undergo apoptosis, the entire life is not far from the end.
For humans, this is also the moment when bids farewell to the world .
Human telomere length shows that the number of cell divisions in a person's life is 50 to 60 times, which translates into a human lifespan of 100 to 120 years..
Usually humans do not live to this age because they encounter many life-shortening things in the process, such as smoking, drinking, pollution, disease and so on.
Human chromosomes
In ancient times, medical conditions were poor and there were many things that damaged life span, so the average life span of ancient people was shorter than today.
But there were people with long lifespans in ancient times. They are no different from today's maximum lifespan .
In other words, human medical treatment has changed the external factors that damage lives , but it has never changed the essence of limited lifespan - telomere shortening.
Telomeres shorten
Telomeres are a very magical existence. When humans are still embryos, no matter how they are divided, telomeres will automatically repair their own length.
At this time, the gene will direct RNA to participate in the synthesis of telomerase , which is used to extend the shortened telomeres.
When the life leaves the mother , telomerase stops synthesizing , and the human body's telomeres begin to shorten each time they divide.
So, if we can find the gene that directs the synthesis of telomerase and activate it again, can we extend telomeres and thus extend life?
The immortal who symbolizes longevity
Prolongs lifespan
Scientists think so too. Over the years, they have been constantly searching for which gene controls the synthesis of telomerase during the embryonic period.
Finally, the research team of Chinese Academy of Sciences found that KAT7 gene has a certain relationship with life span.
The KAT7 gene also exists in the body of the white mouse . Scientists discovered a surprising result by controlling the KAT7 gene in the mouse to varying degrees.
Among the mice whose KAT7 gene was activated, 1% had their lifespan extended.
Experimental mice
Generally speaking, the life span of mice is 8 to 20 months . The life span of mice controlled by the KAT7 gene is generally more than years , which is about 25% longer than ordinary mice .
Based on the human life span of 0 years , if the KAT7 gene is controlled, the life span will reach 00 years .
Moreover, scientists’ research on the KAT7 gene has just begun. It can extend life span even longer than it does now.
It is very likely that will extend the life span of 80 years to 400 years .
The mice whose KAT7 gene was controlled lived longer
400 years. What is the concept? You must know that many ancient dynasties could not last 400 years.
Human beings will need 00 to 200 years to reach the first level of cosmic civilization.
A person who lives to be 400 years old can witness a leap forward in human civilization, just like a person who Ming Dynasty witnessed the Olympic Games .
However, some people have suggested that the factor that limits human life span is not just the KAT7 gene. It seems not ideal to extend human life span by relying on just one gene.
Higher civilization
cannot reverse the phenomenon of entropy increase
lifespan. This phenomenon not only exists in life on earth, but also in celestial bodies in the universe.
From an energy perspective, any substance has a state transitioning from order to disorder. This process is called entropy increase .
Human beings are composed of billion pairs of bases . These base pairs are originally organic molecules , and their state should originally be disordered .
They form human genes into the ordered state of . It does not occur naturally and requires to expend energy to maintain .
In other words, the essence of human individuals is moving towards a mass of chaotic organic molecules . This process is the normal death of human beings.
The trend of entropy increase
Human death is actually the orderly human body moving towards disorder.
If human beings extend their lifespan through technology, then the process of human entropy increase will be extended by . In the process, will require more and more energy , which will result in human population requiring more and more energy. Come more and more.
The key is, can the earth provide so much energy to keep everyone alive for 400 years or even longer?
This may be difficult to do. The original intention of the gene to set the life span is to ensure the healthy growth of the population. Only when the old life dies, will there be enough space to provide new life.
The cycle of natural life
This is why predators rarely catch young and middle-aged prey. Those they prey on are all old, weak, sick and disabled.
Although humans have jumped out of part of the natural laws , they are no longer troubled by the jungle laws .
However, we still can't escape the fact that resources are unevenly distributed .
If human lifespan is extended indefinitely, it will inevitably trigger friction among people of all ages. Humanity will fall into a sinful vortex of resource competition, and finally move towards cannibalism..
War breaks out
Does immortality exist?
There is a creature in nature that has "eternal life", it is Lighthouse jellyfish, but there is a big difference between the "immortality" of lighthouse jellyfish and the immortality understood by humans.
The "eternal life" of the lighthouse jellyfish is more like rejuvenating and starting over.
The lighthouse jellyfish we see in the water is its jellyfish body. It also has another form called hydra.
This is like the relationship between flowers and branches. They are different parts of the same plant.
The jellyfish is like the flower that blooms from the polyp, and the polyp grows from the eggs laid after the jellyfish reproduces.
Lighthouse jellyfish
Lighthouse jellyfish's jellyfish body will sink to the bottom of the sea at some point, changes back to the polyp , and then emerges from the jellyfish body and is released into the sea water.
These new-born lighthouse jellyfish, and the lighthouse jellyfish that turned back into polyps, are actually the same DNA as . They can be regarded as and the same jellyfish , except that it starts growing from its juvenile stage.
If we use a human analogy, it means that after a person grows into an adult, at some point changes back to a newborn baby , and then grows from a baby again.
After growing up, he returns to being a baby again and becomes an adult again. is endlessly rejuvenated .
The life of a lighthouse jellyfish
The terrifying immortality
There are actually cells in the human body that can live forever, which are the cancer cells that make people jealous.
To a certain extent, cancer cells are immortal . They will continue to divide and eventually occupy the entire human body.
However, at this time, the person dies, and the cancer cells that lose the human form become no different from dead objects.
If provides enough nutrients to the cancer cell , then it will always exist in and will always split into .
For example, the most famous cancer cell in human history- HeLa cell .
HeLa cells under the microscope
It is cervical cancer cells extracted from a woman in 1951 in the last century.
After 70 years of division, today's HeLa cells weigh 0 million tons.
If it continues to divide, one day the total weight of HeLa cells will exceed the total weight of humans on earth.
If human lifespan is extended, or even immortality is achieved, then are we considered cancer cells for the earth?
When longevity becomes an existence that can be set, will humans be divided into different levels based on the length of their lifespan?
Life is coming to an end
Why do humans desire longevity on the one hand, but on the other hand continue to promote the legalization of euthanasia?
Perhaps life has no life span at the beginning of its birth, until a disaster makes life know its limited role.
The history of life on earth for more than 3.5 billion years is actually written by limited lives one after another. Human beings are also the writers. We have not faded in the long river of time just because our lives are limited.
History of Life on Earth
On the contrary, it is limitation that makes human beings learn to cherish.
