So why not aim high and become more?

By tracing radioactive pollution created by the nuclear tests of the 1950s, researchers have settled the question of whether the human heart creates new cells during a person’s lifespan. “The dogma has always been that cell division in the heart pretty much stops after birth…. In medical school, we teach that you’ll die with the heart cells you’re born with” [Science News], comments cardiovascular expert Charles Murry. However, a new study has overturned this dogma, and found that the heart does regenerate, albeit slowly.

Well, okay, you have to live to about 100 or more to completely replace all the cells in your heart, as it regenerates pretty slowly:

In the study, which will be published tomorrow in Science, researchers took heart cell samples from cadavers and preserved hearts. Using multiple samples, the researchers estimated that a 20-year-old person renews about one percent of heart muscle cells in a year. By age 75, the rate of cell turnover slows to about 0.4 percent a year

However, being as I was born in the latter half of the 14 billionth year or so of this universe’s evolution, I don’t see 100 as any sort of realistic age to be aiming for. 200 would be the very minimum to aim for, and hope that by then they can step you on your way to immortalize your consciousness until at least this universe ends.

Tags: hah i knew it, reason's we're less fucked than last century, sci-fi, yes please i'd like it now

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 22:50.