Ashley wrote an aritcle on her blog about a new advance in science. A group of scientists won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of a substance called telomere. Its this stuf at the tips of our DNA (like the plastic tip of a shoelace). Ashley says, “These caps (telomeres), when duplicated tend to fray and shrink. When this happens the DNA tends to change slightly, which could possibly be the cause of some age related illnesses such as heart disease and some cancers. Although, they don’t yet know if the telomeres have anything to do with a person’s appearance.”
Ashley believes that this could be a big advancement in science. She says that this is a stepping stone to advancements in curing diseases related to age. She even went as far as to say that humans might live forever, which makes sense. If we don’t age then we don’t die. I agree with her opinion to some extent.
This is pretty cool stuff. I found it really interesting and it would be awesome if we could cure diseases that kill us… but at the same time…
I’m worried about what this means for humanity. If science brings us to a point where we no longer age, then what is the point in living? If we don't die, then we won’t actually live either. There should be some sort of restrictions put on the advances of science... How restricted?
I think that we should keep this an open topic before we jump into “advances in science.” We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.
Article Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/07/nobel.prize.mom.telomeres/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://ashleymariemoore.blogspot.com/2010/02/scientists-get-closer-to-understanding.html#comments
Picture Source:
http://openpit.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/immortality/
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