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The link to neo-tech.com does not seem to be a scientific document. It is more a religious/philsophical document. It may be written by a scientist but how does that relate to the strict scientific definition that this page is run through? Ansell 00:37, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
The point of the comments restricting the meaning of immortality is to make it clear that the "immortality" is being used by biologists in a narrow sense. --Ben Best 22:37, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
Jeeez people. Let's say you upload your mind into a nanotech body created for you by a genie, are you any less mortal than a nonscenescent meatspace person? Duh, of course not, since you would still end up just as dead in the event of your mind being sufficiently erased or your magical na-nu-tech body destroyed. Now stop cluttering up the article. 72.235.10.209 (talk) 10:10, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
Aren't cancer cells immortal? I remember this from biology class. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.17.154.61 (talk) 23:58, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
Nope, like other cells they either die in the traditional way or divide into two new cells (which some people consider an immortality of sorts.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.220.119.187 (talk) 00:13, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
- That's not true. Cancer cells do not die in the traditional way, and some maintain telomere length with telomerase, rendering them, effectively, immortal. --Stevehim (talk) 06:41, 28 March 2014 (UTC)
Some Cancer cells are biologically immortal in that they are not limited in their mitosis by the Hayflick limit which normally apllies to non-cancerous cells, this is what makes them so dangerous. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.219.232.92 (talk) 15:15, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
Why is a citation required for the statement that any cell or organism is capable of being destroyed physically? This is very obviously true. To take an example, any physical object with substructure may be destroyed by excessive heat. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.226.1.229 (talk) 19:20, 25 January 2008 (UTC)
The leading par of an article is the most important one, because it is here that the reader will decide if he/she is capable of understanding it, and it is also here that he/she will likely become confused concerning the remainder. The first par of "Biological Immortality" is a copybook example of this: an unnecessary use of jargon, combined with opaque phrases, together with a good deal of simply incorrect English makes for a potent farrago which is destined to turn readers off and / or confuse them. Look at the example below:
Biological immortality can be defined as the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience, or at some future point will cease aging, is biologically immortal. However this definition of immortality was challenged in the new "Handbook of the Biology of Aging",[1] because the increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age may be negligible at extremely old ages (late-life mortality plateau). But even though the rate of mortality ceases to increase in old age, those rates are very high[2] (e.g., 50% chance of surviving another year at age 110 or 115 years of age).
Some examples of how not to write an introduction:
Firstly, consider the sentence: “A cell or organism that does not experience, or at some future point will cease aging, is biologically immortal.” This is not acceptable English. It’s not a matter of debate: any book on English usage would describe it as grammatically incorrect. You should have written: “A cell or organism that does not age, or which at some point in its life will cease to age, is one which is deemed to be biologically immortal”.
Secondly, consider the sentence which immediately follows it. There should be a comma after “however”, and a careful writer would have written “has been challenged” not “was challenged”. Nor is it clear why the challenge, as it is described here, contradicts the definition that has just come before. Neither is it apparent that this fairly arcane dissent must needs be presented right here in the first paragraph, or in fact anywhere in a brief and general article of this nature.
Secondly, the use of the phrase “is a function of” is one which would confuse many non-mathematical readers. There is no need to invoke what is essentially a technical and little-known term in a context that does not absolutely require it. In non-mathematical usage, the terms “depends / is dependant on” or “is a consequence of” or “results in” or “causes / is caused by”, or "determines / is determined by”, are all ones which convey precisely the correct meaning, and utilizing words with which all general readers would be perfectly familiar.
I can’t be the only fastidious writer in the whole joint. There are hordes of writers out there who churn out great big indigestible chunks of geek boy indulgence with its characteristic features: a poor command of English usage, an inflated desire to show off one’s academic expertise by the use of jargon, and a complete disregard for the level of knowledge that we would expect a reader of a free encyclopedia might have. When I read a well-written article on a subject, it is like someone switching on a light at every sentence. Graceful and carefully written sentences expound upon the material with the patience and skill of a good teacher. Apposite examples follow lucid expositon which follow cogent illustrations. Where are the editors who would come to this dog’s breakfast of an exposition, and turn it into a thing of light and beauty? In its place, all we seem to get are more and more quibbles. I can’t be the only editor around about these parts who gives a damn. Do I REALLY have to come back here and fix THIS article up, as well as the three million like it? Sigh, because I guess I will…. Myles325a (talk) 07:38, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
What jargon?
If you don't know what mortality and chronological mean, then you probably wouldn't be interested in reading about biological immortality. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.109.198.84 (talk) 21:55, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
Can someone please re-write the cell lines section so that someone without a degree in cellular biology and/or medicine can understand it? Thanks.
Kronos o (talk) 10:10, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
Click the embedded links if you want to know what the big words mean. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.109.198.84 (talk) 21:56, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
Are any plants considered "biologically immortal"?
In particular, the articles list of long-living organisms and maximum lifespan#In plants mention several currently-living trees that are each over 3,000 years old. Are those trees considered "biologically immortal", or is there some reason to expect that those trees will eventually die of old age? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 02:28, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
Just because religious nuts believe in it doesn't mean it's relevant. People have all kinds of crazy opinions. So what. Their opinions should not be included in an encyclopedia, unless mentioned as such. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.109.198.84 (talk) 21:59, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
Hi! Why are tardigrades in here? Sure, they're tough, but the tardigrade page says that they live from 3-30 months. That's definitely not biological immortality. Can I just remove the section? Or is there some evidence that particular tardigrades don't age? Thanks, William Pietri (talk) 14:58, 30 November 2010 (UTC)
The diet bit is bad. I am not much of a Wikipedia user so I decided to leave it there, but I am tempted to delete it outright. There is no scientific knowledge and it seems more like an advertisement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.163.250.68 (talk) 03:47, 1 June 2011 (UTC)
Agree. As far as i'm aware there is litle scientific evidence to support the paleolithic diet as profoundly better than modern diets for human health. The only reference for this section claims that humans can achieve biological immortality - rather implausible - and even it only talks about what proponents of the paleo diet argue, rather than stating it as fact as this section does. Statements like "Foods that became available after the Neolithic such as grains, dairy, and processed foods do not help" are at the very least gross simplifications, and probably not true at all. Thewebb (talk) 03:21, 9 July 2011 (UTC)
An explanation of the differences between the two could help clear up the misunderstandings that might otherwise arise. Everything Is Numbers (talk) 16:23, 25 September 2012 (UTC)
Biological immortality is a misnomer. If you die of physical trauma or infectious diseases then biology has failed to keep you alive. Staying alive is the basis of immortality. Biological immortality is also a bit redundant unless we're comparing it to some nonbiological immortality. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.237.93.117 (talk) 12:36, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
In the Jelly fish section, the link to the article Turritopsis nutricula should be replaced with a link to the article Turritopsis dohrnii. Blackbombchu (talk) 00:24, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
The Organisms section should inclue a section "Flat worms" and under it should be a link to the article Planarian. Blackbombchu (talk) 00:43, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
The article should include http://www.express.co.uk/news/science-technology/442287/Peter-Pan-girl-s-DNA-may-hold-key-to-immortality as a reference and add information from that reference. Blackbombchu (talk) 19:16, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
BioViva has just announced results from their gene editing experiment on their CEO Elizabeth Parrish. Read this article at http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45947/title/First-Data-from-Anti-Aging-Gene-Therapy/ and add information from that source. I am reluctant to edit the article directly since I am new at this subject and I don't want to create extra work for volunteer editors. However, some mention of the company's results needs to be inserted in the article. Leaving it up to those who are better informed than me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Scruples98 (talk • contribs) 19:17, 28 April 2016 (UTC)
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I read the kings holly lives more than 40,000 years. Should this be in the main article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:6C55:7001:400:3526:88A0:5723:F775 (talk) 01:45, 29 July 2018 (UTC)
Comment: I restored the disputed text that has been in place since September 2018. The anonymous IP made a bold edit, which was reverted. Per WP:BRD, this should be resolved through discussion. However, for policy reasons (WP:COI, WP:NOR) that were cited, I did not restore the primary source in question, which appears to be another issue in and of itself. Also, to be clear, I don't have a personal interest in this topic. I'm here because Joanna brought it to my attention as she wanted an outside perspective. As always, I believe contentious issues such as these should be resolved through discussion. I have worked with Joanna in the past and have found her to be a diligent and credible WP editor. I have also seen works of the other two editors (MrOllie and I am One of Many) from a distance and I believe them to be just as dedicated and sincere in their efforts in wanting to improve this article. You guys are all veterans. You can work it out. Play nice ;). danielkueh (talk) 20:31, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
This page does not take a NPOV. The possibility of biological immortality is not a consensus position in the scientific community, and criticism should be included for balance. I have tried to do this by adding the text below, but it has repeatedly been deleted.
Some deletions failed to give grounds. One stated that the reference does not support the claim made - but it does. One complained about a primary source, so I added a second commentary source. Final, COI grounds were cited, since I am an author of the primary source. Note that self-citing is not forbidden WP:SELFCITE. The policy is:
I believe that the single sentence I have added conforms to these guidelines, and the community editing this page currently has a WP:NPOV problem of failing to include all the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic. A WP:NOR problem was also cited, but I don't see how this is the case, because the PNAS paper cited does make the claims, i.e. self-citing is not original research. I'd like to hear a broader set of editors chime in.Joannamasel (talk) 20:11, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
References
@Max Exon: 13:37, May 10, 2021 I only wanted to point out that you should settle down your dispute over here. Even though the sources you have provided are relatively fresh (2019/2016) I don't agree with MrOllie on that animal studies are prohibited. Relatively to WP:RSCONTEXT it's ok. What you have added in referenced diff is related to human health only remotely and doesn't fall under WP:BMI. I would suggest to shorten these claims anyway though as such studies are often speculative and are discouraged to use over here. --AXONOV (talk) ⚑ 22:29, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
in that section is ... about human healthLet's see what Max Exon has to say about that.--AXONOV (talk) ⚑ 23:11, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the Mayo Clinic employed genetic and pharmacological approaches to ablate pro-aging senescent cells, extending healthy lifespan of mice by over 25%. The startup Unity Biotechnology is further developing this strategy in human clinical trials.The "in humans" section of the subheader title also means that, by definition, WP:MEDANIMAL will apply to this section. —Wingedserif (talk) 23:19, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
Sea anenomes have also been identified as being biologically immortal. They are immune to aging just like several other species that have been identified here. References: Article here (https://scitechdaily.com/forever-young-scientists-reveal-the-secret-to-a-strange-animals-eternal-youth/) and published paper here (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124722012025). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.91.75.30 (talk) 18:04, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
Immortality refers to such a being which simply cannot die. Biologically immortal beings aren't really immortal as they can die. So calling it actual 'immortality' would be wrong and it can create a misconception that these species simply cannot die, even from any natural causes. Asaduzzaman Khan Shahriar (talk) 19:25, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
They do age with time indeed. 2600:6C44:117F:95BE:1D7:21AA:C97F:8A43 (talk) 13:38, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
Not sure why naked mole-rat merits a mention. The list of animals with negligible aging does not contain it. Many other animals also have late-life mortality plateau. It's like a random info that is not in the appropriate place. 2600:6C44:117F:95BE:CCC4:CE98:1CDE:184A (talk) 13:49, 4 June 2024 (UTC)