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September 16, 2005

Comments

BB

Disappointed!!:( I loved the thought of periodic rebirth. This is worse than debunking Santa.

Wende

Hmmm... I never labored under that impression. But I have always heard that women have a hormonal "shift" every 7 years... and doesn't your skin regenerate every 14? I should ask the 8 year old as he knows *everything*.

Wende

oh... that should have been "14 days". oops.

alys

Cells do renew themselves and now it has been found that adult brain cells regenerate. We age because our cells have developed habits - just as we do and so when they reproduce, the habits are passed on. Why do you think Dolly died?
If we could change our 'thinking' or habit patterns or addictions of our cells, then we would not age, but sadly parts of our genetic coding has been switched off. We will have to learn to switch things on again.

graham

Don't understand the debunking theory. Skin sheds and reproduces. Cancer cells are "reproducing body cells in mutated form". So what's illogical about all body cells reproducing. Body wounds heal. Whats this if not a reproduction of tissue cells ?

Enlighten me please.

Christene

Yes, they do.
And I can say this with conviction because I have personally experienced the change, twice.
You can laugh all you want, "debunk" me.. whatever.
But I didn't hear about this cell change idea until after I experienced it, years later...and realized it was every 7 years incidentally these changes were happening to me. Coincidence?

To what extent, why or how...I am no scientist. Just another human if you will.
As those that say they "saw the light"... you can believe or not. But you can be damned sure when you as your own person say you have experienced something, no-one can debunk you. They are not you.

A Scientist

Neurons - "brain cells" - aren't replaced. That means you don't get a new brain. Unfortunately.

Also, it's not that you spontaneously regenerate yourself every 7 years. You don't go into a cocoon and come out all brand new all of a sudden. It's a constant process and cells regenerate at drastically different rates. You'd never notice it.

So, any change you notice is purely psychological.

loqk

As I understand it, the idea wasn't about cells, it was about atoms.

With the rate of turnover of cells and the constant repair of cells, the longest atoms were supposed to stay in your body was 7 years.

Many atoms, such as those in your lungs are lost every breath, so this “7 years” was a maximum. Also, it would have been a statistical calculation.

You loose x carbons and y hydrogens in n years, therefore your body has used enough carbon and hydrogen to replace itself.

The calculation would have involved all the elements, probably as an average uptake and excretion thing.

If I find a reference for it i will let you know :-)

JimP

You can go to http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_the_human_body_regenerate_every_7_years

for some interesting information on this concept and references for further study

Cinders

It's not at all illogical, cells renew on a daily basis, the epigenome can change in the transcription stage causing mutations which is what causes diseases.

Our body is constantly adapting to it's environment it would make a lot more sense if it did completely regenerate, it would explain aging as dna and protein production becomes weaker each time we re generate, it's like a photocopier it'll eventally break after so many copies have been made.

J C

The photocopier analogy is apt but not, I believe, in quite the way it's been suggested.
I think it's probably more accurate to hypothesise that each copy of the original document will be progressively flawed until it will eventually become illegible.

Toria Burrell

This scientific and detailed article (see link below) is useful, and suggests that current evidence can back up, or at least explain the 7-year theory. It seems most of our atoms "turn over" in approximately 7-10 years, while some do take less or more time.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2005-08/1123273958.Bc.r.html

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