Ageing studies in five animals suggests how to reverse decline

Re:Ageing studies in five animals suggests how to reverse de... by AlecSchueler on Thursday April 13, 2023 @10:57AM (#35556461)

I don't really get the distinction. I do get your point but x% of a species needing glasses is a species level error. And our entire species was susceptible to things like smallpox before we had vaccines for that stuff.

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Re:Ageing studies in five animals suggests how to reverse de... by Retric on Thursday April 13, 2023 @11:04AM (#35556572)

The threshold where kids “need glasses” isn’t the same threshold where people would be unable to survive in the wild without them.

Also, species level survival is based around fairly large families you see before birth control. Not everyone needs to make it.

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Re:Ageing studies in five animals suggests how to reverse de... by AlecSchueler on Thursday April 13, 2023 @11:06AM (#35556612)

That's the point though: we have much better infant mortality rate now, and the kids who grow up don't need to worry about their eyesight etc., ergo we're doing better than evolution alone.

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Re:Ageing studies in five animals suggests how to reverse de... by Retric on Thursday April 13, 2023 @11:16AM (#35556766)

Better by our own yardstick, but evolution can get plenty of people to adulthood without any medical issues.

A frog egg would presumably prefer an evolutionary strategy that involved fewer eggs and a more caring parent. But having more kids and a smaller percentage survive to adulthood has advantages in terms of rates of adaptation to environmental changes.

Humans do use a similar strategy where sperm are subjected to an extreme environment which weeds out many cellular issues.

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