Comment on He did though.

• Knusper@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Hmm, I have no expertise in this field. I recently read that aging happens, because when cells replicate their DNA a gazillion times, then sometimes they introduce slight inaccuracies or mistakes, which I guess, means tons of tiny chunks of our body will have slightly different DNA from what we got born with…?

  From the little I’ve just read about telomeres, it sounds like they help to prevent some of these mistakes. Is that you mean?

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  • Sabre363@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    IIRC, telomeres are essentially the self-destruct button for DNA. They get shorter everytime DNA replicates and when they are all used up, DNA stops replicating and the cell destroys itself. The telomeres help prevent too many mutations from building up or cancer from forming.

    They was some research on animals that indicates that resetting the telomeres can extend the lifespan of the animal. But, without the telomeres, cancer and mutations eventually kill the organism.

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    • Knusper@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Interesting. Yeah, it sounds like the only real way to prevent aging, would be to create a clone of yourself, let that clone grow up until their body is fully developed and then organ-harvest them to replace all of your organs one-by-one, until you’ve eventually ship-of-theseus-ed yourself. Well, and repeat that process every thirty years or so.

      Certainly not quite as sexy of a process as some skincare lotions promise…

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      • Sabre363@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        You would never be able transplant the brain, and it’s still subject to the mutations and telomeres. The only way would be to transplant the personality Altered Carbon style or completely cure brain cancer.

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