Humans age faster than other animals because of dinosaurs, study finds

According to a study, published on November 30, by a professor of molecular biogerontology, an expert in aging University of Birmingham If humans age faster than other animals it might be because of dinosaurs. For example, on amphibians and reptiles it is as if time had little influence. Even though they live shorter lives, they show almost no signs of senescence.

Senescence is the process of slowing down of vital activity that we observe in older people. Dinosaurs ruled the earth for 150 million years. A domination over other animals and in particular mammals, our very distant cousins, which were then at the very bottom of the food chain. And this would explain the link between dinosaurs and the way humans age.

Getting older would make decision-making easier

Throughout the animal world, there are plenty of pretty remarkable examples of tissue regeneration, or DNA repair, but according to the Birmingham scientist behind the study, which has just been published, this genetic information for tissue regeneration was useless to early mammals who were most concerned about not ending up as a snack for a T-Rex. Clearly, mammals were more concerned about their survival than their old age.

This very long period would have had an impact on the way humans age today. Researchers have thus proven that older people’s cluttered memories make them more creative by creating more connections between ideas. Getting older would even make decision-making easier. And then science also shows that by generating more oxytocin, a natural hormone created by the brain, humans are more capable of loving as they age. After all, as Victor Hugo wrote, “the young man is handsome, but the old man is tall, and if we see flame in the eyes of young people, in the eye of the old man, we see light.”