Venki Ramakrishnan says, “We are not planned to die.”
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Man of death. Although this does not seem like a good agent, Ramakrishnan is one of the world’s most prominent scientists in the fields of structural biology and cellular processes related to aging and death. In 2009, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the ribosome structure, an important cellular device responsible for gene expression.
In addition to being a prominent researcher, Ramarishan is also a prolific author. After the great success Gene MachineThe memory of his human and scientific journey, he published his powerful Why we dieA book – as its name – to indicate the dynamics of aging and gradually and indescribable, leading to death.
Ramakrishnan was recently in Italy in Milan, where he lectured in the second version of the Milan Summit, the most important Italian event dedicated to the lifetime of mental and physical well -being, held by Braincircle Italia. It was an opportunity to meet him and ask a few questions. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Wired: Master Ramarishnan, Important Question in Your Book is Why we dieWhat is human but exactly death?
Venki ramakrishnan: With death, we mean the irreversible loss of the ability to function as a coherent person. This is the result of the failure of a critical system or system, for example, heart, brain, lung or kidney failure. In this sense there is an apparent paradox: When our organism is generally alive, millions of cells within us are constantly dying, and we don’t even understand it. On the other hand, at the time of death, most of our body cells are still alive and the whole organs are still working and can donate to people in need of transplantation. But at that stage the body has lost the ability to function as a whole. In this sense, therefore, the difference between cell death and one’s death is important.
Talking about death and aging, you say in your latest book that “you wanted to give an objective look at our current understanding of these two phenomena.” The greatest surprise or deepest belief that you have to revise this when writing and researching this?
There are actually some surprises. One is that death is not planned by our genes, contrary to what he may think. Evolution does not care about how long we live, but merely chooses the ability to pass through its genes, a process known as “fitness” in evolutionary biology. Therefore, the attributes that are selected are the things that help us survive and reproduce in childhood. And these attributes, later in life, cause aging and decline.
Another curious finding was that aging is not just because of abrasion and rupture on the cells. Tear and rupture constantly occur in all living things, but different species have a very different life span. Instead, the lifetime is the result of the balance between the cost of the resources needed to preserve the organism and repair it, and the items needed to grow, keep it healthy and healthy until their children’s reproduction.
