Swine Flu has been declared a national emergency

[Afterburner]

Originally Posted by necrosect

No one actually dies of "old age" there's always something that gets you.

I believe what he meant is more people die from a failing body DUE to old age, rather then from an outside disease. Though technically "old age" doesn't kill you, you're organs will begin to fail because of it. It might list you as having died from heart failure or kidney failure or something, but the failure was caused by old age.

Eh? They made a virus for this string of influenza? What is that supposed to mean?

I'm sure he meant that they made a vaccine for novel H1N1 very quickly. Which can easily be explained by the fact that it's not so virulent that a vaccine can't be created for it. The reason HIV can't be vaccinated against is that you can't create a "weakened" version of it (which is all a vaccine is) as it will always infect you. Same thing with a disease like Ebola. The virus is so strong that you can't create a vaccine for it.

[Schofield]

Originally Posted by necrosect

there's always something that gets you.

Yea, it's called old age as a general term, your heart stops working because of old age for example, or something else. They just call it old age.

[necrosect]

Yes look I wasn't being facetious, simply saying that you can't cure "old age", I mean you could actively seek to repair damaged hearts, etc. Or prevent cancers, but there is no "thing" to cure.

[Junk angel]

Well technically you can cure old age. Well we can't actually but one day perhaps.
It's been a few years since my last bio class, but unless I forgot there's a part of the cell genome that get's shorter and shorter with each division. This is often attributed to causing some of the biggest "aging" problems.

But while a child is still in the womb this part does not get shortened. If we found a way to ensure that it always get's fully replicated, our cells could most likely last a whole more divisions.

[kquaker]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pedantic

Eh? They made a virus for this string of influenza? What is that supposed to mean?


More people die of old age than AIDS and cancer. Why don't you start curing that then?

If we didn't let people live so long we wouldn't have that problem. As the body ages, things happen, organs fail, everything deteriorates, and you get diseases that typically are obtained in old age (dementia, Alzheimer, osteoporosis, arthritis)

But the aids and cancer thing was more just an example, not an attack on any one disease.

[Mr. Pedantic]

If we didn't let people live so long we wouldn't have that problem. As the body ages, things happen, organs fail, everything deteriorates, and you get diseases that typically are obtained in old age (dementia, Alzheimer, osteoporosis, arthritis)

But the aids and cancer thing was more just an example, not an attack on any one disease.

So you're saying we should kill people off before they die of old age?

No one actually dies of "old age" there's always something that gets you.

I meant organ failure or other cause of death related to cellular and organismal senescence.

It's been a few years since my last bio class, but unless I forgot there's a part of the cell genome that get's shorter and shorter with each division. This is often attributed to causing some of the biggest "aging" problems.

Telomeres. It's been a while since I've heard anything about them, though. Which kind of leads me to think that nothing's been happening. However, telomeres can naturally regenerate, and I'm not sure that telomere lengthening has been linked to lengthened life span, in humans or otherwise.

Yes look I wasn't being facetious, simply saying that you can't cure "old age", I mean you could actively seek to repair damaged hearts, etc. Or prevent cancers, but there is no "thing" to cure.

Yes. But you can delay it, or prevent it from occurring.

[kquaker]

No I'm saying we should just let life run its course. By the time people are old they aren't even living anymore.. they get put in retirement homes, my grandmother was genuinely not happy. And my grandma is not happy either.. they were just ghosts before dying. I think that is a lot more painful to see than my relatives dying.

[NiteStryker]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pedantic

More people die of old age than AIDS and cancer. Why don't you start curing that then?

Ventilators, condoms, and radiation.

Done.

You're welcome.

[kquaker]

Originally Posted by NiteStryker

Ventilators, condoms, and radiation.

Done.

You're welcome.

I do agree that usually works, but what about the children born with it.

[NiteStryker]

Originally Posted by kquaker

I do agree that usually works, but what about the children born with it.

Chicken Noodle Soup.

Done.

You're welcome.