From ancient byways to modern highways, glimpses of faith are everywhere...

Friday, June 29, 2018

Flies, Worms and Us


Eye-to-Eye with a Fly   (Public Domain)
What do flies, worms and humans have in common?  The answer might partially depend upon your religious beliefs.

Statistics Professor Emeritus Kenneth Wachter asserts that the commonalities are twofold:  “we are all products of evolution”
and “those who are genetically blessed can live to extreme ages.”

Although the former assertion has been hotly debated for centuries, the latter one is based upon a recent tracking of mortality rates.  Wachter and associates from UC Berkeley
partnered with Sapienza University of Rome in order to study the “death trajectories” of supercentenarians.

They found that if you make it to 105, then your chances of survival level out.  In other words, 110-year-olds have the same life expectancy as 105-year-olds!

Frail individuals tend to die sooner than robust ones, whether they be flies, worms or people.  Whereas senior years take a mighty toll on frailty, the robust keep chugging along.

Resources
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628171420.htm

Copyright June 29, 2018 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved



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