Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, The man of death. Although this is not like a good nickname, it is: Ramakrishnan is one of the most famous scientists in the world in the fields of structural biology and cell processes related to. Aging and death. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 for discovering the structure of ribosome, an important cell machine responsible for manifesting gene.
In addition to being a leading researcher, Ramakrishnan is also a full author. After the great success of Genetic machineA memoir in which he recounted his scientific journey and person, he published The Mighty Why do we dieA book as its name suggests exactly to illustrate the driving force to adjust aging and that, gradually and unbelievable, leading to death.
Ramakrishnan has recently been in Italy, in Milan, where he lectured at the second version of the Summit of Milan, the most important event of Italy dedicated to longevity and psychological and quality happiness, organized by Braincircle Italia. It was an opportunity to meet him and ask him a few questions. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Wired: Professor Ramakrishnan, the important question in your book is Why do we die. But exactly what death is?
Venki Ramakrishnan: When we die, we mean the inevitable loss of the ability to work as a coherent individual. It is the result of the failure of an important system or device, for example, the heart, brain, lung or kidney failure. In this sense, there is a clear paradox: when all of our creatures, alive, millions of cells in us are constantly dying, and we don't even realize it. On the other hand, at the time of death, most cells in our bodies are still alive, and all organs are still active and can be given to those who need transplantation. But at that time, the body lost its ability to act as a whole. In this sense, it is important to distinguish between cell death and the death of the individual.
Talking about death and aging, you say in your most recent book that you want to provide an objective view of our current understanding of two phenomena. The biggest surprise or the deepest belief is that you have to review while writing and studying this work?
There were some surprises, really. One is that death, contrary to what one might think, not programmed by our genes. The evolution does not care about how long we live, but only chooses the ability to transmit into our genes, a process called Muslim exercise in evolutionary biology. Therefore, the chosen characteristics are the characteristics that help us survive our childhood and breed. And it is these characteristics, later in life, causing aging and decline.
Another curious discovery is that aging is not simply due to wear and tear on cells. The wear and tear occur continuously in all living things, but different species have a very different life expectancy. Instead, the life expectancy is the result of the balance between the resource spending needed to keep the organisms active and repair it and the people needed to make it grow, grow and keep it healthy until it reproduces and nourishes the children.