{"id":1190,"date":"2009-11-30T17:38:52","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T21:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/?p=1190"},"modified":"2009-11-30T17:38:52","modified_gmt":"2009-11-30T21:38:52","slug":"carleton-biology-professor-answers-real-world-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2009\/carleton-biology-professor-answers-real-world-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton biology professor answers real world questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"float: left;\">(Ottawa)\u00a0\u2013 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The following story, written by Larisa Schieven, appears in the December, 2009 issue of Glebe Report.<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>Some of us may have wondered why we age. Answers vary from \u201cinevitable wear and tear\u201d to \u201cmaking room for future generations.\u201dCarleton Biology professor Dr. Tom Sherratt has recently come up with his own theory for aging which he suggests better explains the facts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>On December 9, Sherratt will be hosting a lecture at Carleton\u2019s biweekly science caf\u00e9 in the Glebe, organized by the Faculty of Science entitled \u201cWhy do we age?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>The lecture aims to explain a number of theories of aging, including Sherratt\u2019s own. According to Sherratt, the idea for the research came primarily from wondering why his own body was gradually falling apart.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>His arguments are described in his new book, <em><span>Big Questions in Ecology and Evolution<\/span><\/em> (Oxford University Press) which addresses a number of evolutionary and ecological questions such as \u201cWhy do we age?\u201d and \u201cWhy are the tropics so diverse?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>Sherratt says that his theory of aging, conducted with postdoc Rob Laird, began with a growing suspicion that none of the most popular and commonly accepted theories are completely accurate. \u201cIt is easy to think that living organisms age for much the same reason that household appliances eventually break down -bad things happen and then you die,\u201d says Sherratt, \u201cbut that\u2019s not the real answer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>Sherratt\u2019s theory assumes that all organisms have evolved mechanisms to prevent and repair the chemical and physical damage that they receive during their lifetimes. However, some forms of mortality (e.g. death by accidents, or predators) are ultimately unavoidable, so the prevention and repair mechanisms that have evolved in organisms do not have to be perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>Instead, \u201cthey just need to be sufficient to keep the organism alive for long enough until the inevitable happens.\u201d \u201cBiologically speaking, a Reliant Robin engine in your car will be just as dependable as a Rolls Royce engine, if it has to go to the scrapyard after one year,\u201d says Sherratt. \u201cSo, aging arises as a consequence of accumulated damage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>In a nutshell, Sherratt argues that aging occurs because natural selection \u201cdoes not care about the fate of old individuals.\u201d \u201cAging is one of the most universal properties of living organisms, but on a personal level, it is nice to know why I haven\u2019t evolved to last forever,\u201d says Sherratt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>\u201cWhy do we age?\u201d will take place on December 9, at the Wild Oat Caf\u00e9 at 817 Bank Street, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Seating is limited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 14.25pt;\"><span>For more information on this and other science caf\u00e9s, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.carleton.ca\/science\/cafe\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">http:\/\/www.carleton.ca\/science\/cafe\/index.html<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Ottawa)\u00a0\u2013 \u00a0 The following story, written by Larisa Schieven, appears in the December, 2009 issue of Glebe Report. Some of us may have wondered why we age. Answers vary from \u201cinevitable wear and tear\u201d to \u201cmaking room for future generations.\u201dCarleton Biology professor Dr. Tom Sherratt has recently come up with his own theory for aging [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Carleton biology professor answers real world questions - Department of Biology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(Ottawa)\u00a0\u2013 \u00a0 The following story, written by Larisa Schieven, appears in the December, 2009 issue of Glebe Report. 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