Immortality Essay

Biological immortality

There are several methods of achieving immortality, each with its own problems. The first of this methods is to reverse or stop aging, as this is logically one of the main causes of death. In scientific terms this is called biological immortality. A cell or organism that does not age, or stops to age at some point, is biological immortal. Though this seems impossible there are in fact some species which naturally have this ability. An example of this is the Turritopsis nutricula, a jellyfish. Once the jellyfish has become mature it is capable of reversing its aging cycle and to turn itself into a younger version of itself, making it technically immortal.

Researchers have found out that the aging of cells is a result of damage in the molecules which make up the cells, such as proteins, lipids, DNA and RNA. These building blocks of our cells get damaged over time, this causes the cells to function less well. The cells in their turn build up the different tissues in the human body, therefor if these cells operate less well the entire human body will be affected by this in the form of aging.

Many research try to find new ways of stopping the aging process. Research discovered that the damage to the molecules which make up out cells is done by highly unstable molecules called reactive oxygen species. Humans need oxygen to stay alive, as this plays an important role in the energy production of cells. Normally the oxygen molecules are converted into water, but sometimes when they don’t take up enough electrons they become highly reactive. These reactive oxygen species which are left after the energy production process can damage the biological molecules, mutate genes, damage lipids which make up the cell membra...

... middle of paper ...

...cientists haven’t found a way yet to revive people. There are several possible technologies which could realise revival, but these methods like mind-uploading still seem very science-fictional.

Nanotechnology includes nanorobots which are so small that they can be injected into the human bloodstream after which the nanorobots can do investigations or repair at cellular level. Nanorobots could optimize the delivery of pharmaceutical products, these means that medicines which are targeted on a specific type of cells can be delivered to only those cells by the nanorobots. The robots can attach to the cells after which they can inject the drug into the target cells. This could be a great breakthrough for cancer treatments such as chemotherapy because there is a minimal chance of injecting healthy cells with the drug and therefor negative side effects can be avoided.