Friday, August 31, 2012

Blog 1


Danielle Mason
New York Times- Severe Diet Doesn't Prolong Life (8/27/12)
8/31/12 6:11pm 

In the article I read, scientists fed a group of monkeys a significantly reduced diet compared to the control group that was fed a regular healthy diet. Scientists were trying to prove that by living a healthier lifestyle throughout life into your mid seventies you would prolong your life expectancy by 6 years for males or 5 years for females. Scientists thought if the monkeys’ life was extended by the reduced diet, then so would humans since we are their descendants. The results of this study were wrong of course, monkeys fed a reduced diet and monkeys fed a normal diet lived about the same amount of years. Similar studies were done on mice and the results were about the same except for 1/3 of the mice actually lived shorter lives. People quickly dismissed this saying, “There is something wrong with mice”. Basically different studies on different species showed very similar results except for a few varying outcomes.
My feelings on this topic are mixed. I feel like it's a great advancement for science to be able to do experiments to extend the human life and better health. On the other hand I feel like it isn't natural for human life to be pushed beyond its natural limits. I know this advancement would be great to help people in other countries with lower life expectancy to extend their lives and reach their full potential, but if it isn't in god’s will for us to live past a certain age then I don't think it should be tampered with. Especially if the results vary slightly through different species, what if when used on humans it causes us to die sooner? I think advancement is wonderful, just not when it messes with the human nature. 

1 comment:

  1. Is this an international story? I cannot tell from the summary. You also did not put a link to the article. Remember to be looking for articles that are international in scope, or at least, if US-centric, can be applied globally. Your summary is good, but your analysis is lacking. Be objective. Discuss why this is a global problem/issue. Be objective.

    ReplyDelete