• Question: Why do we die?

    Asked by ejrw to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 10 Mar 2012:

      There’s a lot of answers to this question. Obviously lots of people are killed by chance accidents, or from doing something dangerous.

      Then there’s diseases and stuff like that, which is when our body stops working due to bacteria, viruses and the like. Things like cancer or AIDS involve the processes of our body not working properly, going haywire or even starting to attack the body cells.

      Ultimately though, even if you are super healthy, avoid dangerous things and are lucky to avoid accidents, everyone will die of old age. This is due to our bodies gradually breaking down, building up waste products and just general wear and tear. We don’t really understand why the body will just give up at some point, but we do know about what happens to the cells as you age, and some people are trying to work out how to slow down or stop it.

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 10 Mar 2012:

      Aging and death in people isn’t really understood very well at all. Most people who live to an old age tend to die of heart failure, or a brain disease like Alzheimers gradually shutting down the brain and the machinery of the body. These are really complicated organs, and a lot relies on them, so when they start to break down, the body can’t support itself without them.

      Cells get damaged and fill up with waste products over time, and in many organs like the brain, they cannot be replaced. Some scientists are working on trying to put off death indefinitely by stopping this wear and tear happening, or reversing its effects. They believe that if they can extend the average life expectancy by 30 years, then in those 30 years they can extend it by yet another 30 years, and keep on going until death is put off for ever.

      There are good reasons for things in an ecosystem to die – because on earth we only have limited resources, like food or light or space, and if nothing ever died, the resources would get used up pretty quickly. So when something dies, it makes a space for a new creature, but also releases all the food stored in its body for other creatures to use.

      As they said in the Lion King: When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connnected in the great Circle of Life…

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 10 Mar 2012:

      If we didn’t die, we would have less children (or too many and run out of space to grow food). With less children, there is less change through natural selection and evolution. Then, life might not have evolved beyond being little bugs.

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Perhaps to give new people the chance to make the world a better place…..

      Biologically (excepting accidental death) it’s either to do with something going wrong in your body, or your cells starting to be unable to repair themselves I think.

Comments