Cracking the Aging Code
eBook - ePub

Cracking the Aging Code

The New Science of Growing Old—and What It Means for Staying Young

  1. 338 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Cracking the Aging Code

The New Science of Growing Old—and What It Means for Staying Young

About this book

A revolutionary examination of why we age, what it means for our health, and how we just might be able to fight it.

In Cracking the Aging Code, theoretical biologist Josh Mitteldorf and award-winning writer and ecological philosopher Dorion Sagan reveal that evolution and aging are even more complex and breathtaking than we originally thought. Using meticulous multidisciplinary science, as well as reviewing the history of our understanding about evolution, this book makes the case that aging is not something that "just happens," nor is it the result of wear and tear or a genetic inevitability. Rather, aging has a fascinating evolutionary purpose: to stabilize populations and ecosystems, which are ever-threatened by cyclic swings that can lead to extinction.

When a population grows too fast it can put itself at risk of a wholesale wipeout. Aging has evolved to help us adjust our growth in a sustainable fashion as well as prevent an ecological crisis from starvation, predation, pollution, or infection.

This dynamic new understanding of aging is provocative, entertaining, and pioneering, and will challenge the way we understand aging, death, and just what makes us human.

"A thoughtful examination of the role of aging and death in supporting life." ? Kirkus Reviews

"Mitteldorf and Sagan take an extensive stroll through evolutionary theory and aging research in support of an off-center view. . . . The authors may be on to something." ? Science News

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Yes, you can access Cracking the Aging Code by Josh Mitteldorf,Dorion Sagan in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Evolution. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Notice
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraphs
  6. Preface: What This Book Is About
  7. Prologue: Your Inner Stalker (written by Dorion Sagan)
  8. Introduction: How a Lifelong Obsession with Aging and Health Became My Career
  9. 1. You Are Not a Car: Your Body Does Not “Wear Out”
  10. 2. The Way of Some Flesh: The Varieties of Aging Experience
  11. 3. Darwin in a Straitjacket: Tracing Modern Evolutionary Theory
  12. 4. Theories of Aging and Aging of Theories
  13. 5. When Aging Was Young: Replicative Senescence
  14. 6. When Aging Was Even Younger: Apoptosis
  15. 7. The Balance of Nature: Demographic Homeostasis
  16. 8. So We All Don’t Die at Once: Wiles of the Black Queen
  17. 9. Live Longer Right Now
  18. 10. The Near Future of Aging
  19. 11. All Tomorrow’s Parties
  20. Epilogue
  21. Acknowledgments
  22. Glossary
  23. Notes
  24. Index
  25. Also by Josh Mitteldorf
  26. About the Authors
  27. Newsletter Sign-up
  28. Contents
  29. Copyright