• Question: What makes you die and do you think we will ever be able to stop it

    Asked by one23 to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 17 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Luna Munoz

      Luna Munoz answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      Lots of things can kill you. Because there are so many varied ways in which we can die, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to stop it. Science has come a long way in being able to treat and prevent illnesses, making us live a lot longer than we ever have.

    • Photo: David Pyle

      David Pyle answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      Unfortunately, death has many causes and no, I don’t think we will ever be able to stop it.

    • Photo: Probash Chowdhury

      Probash Chowdhury answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      Whilst our bodies are amazing machines that can regenerate certain cells during our lifetimes, all cells have a limited lifespan. After that the cells stop replacing the ones that die and eventually organs die causing a person to die. Of course there are things that speeds death along such as bullets and knives and poison etc 🙂 Disease also interferes/stops/speeds up the cells ability to replace other dead or damaged cells causing death too.

      Will we ever be able to stop death? I hope not. If everyone lived for ever it would get pretty boring after a loooong while.

    • Photo: Melanie Stefan

      Melanie Stefan answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      The cells of our body accumulate damage over time, that leads eg to mutations. Therefore, there is a mechanism of “programmed cell death” by which cells die after a while. There are some cells that don’t have that mechanism and that just live and reproduce forever: Cancer cells.

      So, really, that cells die is a kind of protective mechanism, and if they don’t, they cause a whole lot of trouble. I think individuals probably die for similar reasons. The earth would be a very weird place if everyone who ever lived was still around.

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