Your Body Is Younger Than You Think



Your Body Is Younger Than You Think

Directions: Read the New York Times article “Your Body Is Younger Than You Think” by Nicholas Wade and answer the below questions in your lab journal.



Answer the following questions:

1. Why is most of you "just 10 years old or less?"

2. How did Dr. Frisen discover which types of cell renew and which do not?

3. What is carbon 14, and how is it relevant to Dr. Frisen's research?

4. What are epithelial cells, and how long, on average, do they last?

5. What is the "prevailing belief" about brain cell renewal?

6. Who is Elizabeth Gould, and how did her research affect the accepted understanding of the brain?

7. Which other organ's cellular renewal is a point of contention? Why?

8. Why doesn't regeneration of the cells and organs continue in the human body forever?

9. Complete the table with the following cell types: Rib Muscle, Liver, Skin, Lens of the Eye, Stomach Lining, Visual Cortex of Brain, Bones, Red Blood Cells.

10. In the table below list the types of cells from the article (column 1) and their ages (column 2) from youngest to oldest.

|Cell type |Age of cells |My birth age/ |Number of times cells replaced in my |

| | |age of cells |body |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

11. Now convert your age in years into days. (365 days in a year * your age) Place in column 3 and divide by the age of cells from column 2.

12. Now determine the number of times each cell type has been replaced in your body. Divide your birth age in days by the age of cell and place answer in column 4. (column 3/ column 2 = column 4).

13. What kinds of cells live for the longest time?

14. What kinds of cells live for the shortest time?

15. What do you think are some reasons why cells should divide or have a need to divide?

16. Why does Dr. Frisen think people behave their birth age, not the physical age of their cells?

17. What are the 3 hypotheses (or science theories) of why we age when some many of our cells are so young?

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