Biological Senescence: Loss of Integration and Resilience

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe flow of time can be conceptualized either as a cycle or an arrow. We offer a combined view: a helix. Chronological age (geophysical time reference) is not necessarily identical to biological age (internal time reference), and aging does not necessarily imply senescence. A new scheme of senescence, based on homeodynamics (nonlinear mechanics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics), is introduced as a plausible physical basis for understanding senescence. We propose that energy throughput, initially constructive of forms and functions, becomes destructive once most of the available degrees of freedom have been “frozen out” by the construction. Senescence becomes manifested at that point.