Carl Zimmer’s article in the New
York Times titled, Signs of Aging, Even
in the Embryo, is an intriguing article that summarizes the findings a
recent experiment. These recent discoveries have to do with certain cells
called senescent cells which are characterized by the stopping of growth after
dividing around 50 times. The experiment has discovered that, “senescent cells
are involved in many of the ravages of the old age.” This basically means that
senescent cells are the cells in our body that cause us to age and grow old.
This research has also uncovered that senescent cells are actually found in
embryos and may be crucial to proper development. This has raised the very
thought provoking question about how “the dawn and dusk of life are intimately
connected.” Surely this will lead to further research of senescent cells and it
truly brings on a lot of questions about the essence of the cycle of life.
This
article affects humanity as a whole in big ways. First off, this sparks
questions about what it means to grow old and what is really happening inside
of our bodies. This discovery will lead to dramatic investigations on the true
purpose of senescent cells and their function in the human body. In theory,
removing senescent cells sounds like a good way to prevent aging; however, this
is not the case as senescent cells have multiple key functions in the body such
as preventing cancer and ensuring proper development of the embryo. All these
questions are vastly interesting and hopefully, more research is done soon.
I
really enjoyed this article for a variety of reasons; one being that we are
studying embryos and the development of life in Biology at the moment and I
thought that this was a perfect article to review. Additionally, I am vastly
interested in the purpose and cycle of life and I am interested to see how this
will change the way we look at “growing old”. Maybe some day, we will harness
the senescent cells and develop a line to immortality. Only time will tell.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/science/signs-of-aging-even-in-the-embryo.html?ref=science&_r=0
Mia Gradelski
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology C Odd
Current Event 19 Comment
Zimmer, Carl. “Signs of Aging, Even in the Embryo.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2013,
The writer had composed a very interesting review on the article, “Signs of Aging, Even in the Embryo” from the New York Times. It was interesting to read an “out of the norm” science article from this site since newspapers aren’t known for their credibility in science, yet this article was extremely fascinating to read about. The writer immediately draws our attention in summarizing the findings of the article. They write, “This is an intriguing article that summarizes the findings a recent experiment. These recent discoveries have to do with certain cells called senescent cells…” In addition, towards the middle of the review, the writer deeply connects with the idea of humanity as a whole and how it reflects to people’s daily lives. They state, “This article affects humanity as a whole in big ways. First off, this sparks questions about what it means to grow old and what is really happening inside of our bodies.” I was constantly making connections with my own life which made the article seem more empowering and relevant to all readers. Lastly, the writer did a great job in discussing many of the effects of this discovery. They write, “In theory, removing senescent cells sounds like a good way to recent aging;.” Throughout this review, the sense of hypothesizing and questioning the future studies n this topic was fascinating to learn about due to the credibility and honesty put into this review.
The writer did a great job developing the central theme of this article and making sure that readers were connecting to the new advances in aging, yet, at times there were a few mistakes that lead me to be confused. At the start of the review, the writer immediately wrote about the recent discoveries without delivering any background on what this article is about. They state, “Is an intriguing article that summarizes the findings a recent experiment.” This statement is very bland, general and doesn’t make sense. They should have included more descriptive details and gotten to the point of the article. Lastly, I would’ve liked to of read about the discoveries that scientists around the world are finding from the signs of aging and what this could mean. Instead, she uses the world “basically” and “surely” which imply a lack of understanding of this topic. Instead, there should have been more investigations and evidence that could have been pulled out from the article, since I had encountered many examples.
Overall, my learning experience was very enthusiastic and I had learned lots of new findings and developed questions that I would’ve never thought to of had before. Throughout the review, there was a constant connection of reasons why and how the studying of aging could be affected at such a young age. This makes me curious about the effects that it could have for newborns and I would like to possibly study this one day. I had chosen this review to comment on due to the fascinating with new ideas and exploration that is soon coming into effect into our world since 2013.