Apoptosis: The Biological Recycling Protocol

How a Cell Works

Suppose that you are a cell. In order for you to go about your day, you need various tools, from a bed to a computer. Now, imagine that you use your shower a lot. Over time, the plumbing breaks down and the shower-head begins to drip. While the shower is still usable, your water bill goes up drastically as water goes to waste. Finally, when you begin to run out of cash, you decide to call the plumber to remove the broken piping and replace it. This investment, while expensive up front, saves you hundreds to thousands of dollars in the future.

This is the same process that cells put to use. Over time, the organelles within a cell begin to deteriorate and work inefficiently. This essentially creates a constant energy leak, which is the one thing living organisms do not want. However, because the organelle is still functional, there is not enough stimulation to trigger the replacement process. Especially in modern times, in a state of constant energy surplus, the cells are never “running out of cash”.

Recycling from Within

However, when the cells are sufficiently starved of energy, they begin to break down and replace inefficient organelles. The lack of incoming glucose is a sufficient alert for them to begin to consume inefficient cell parts for energy. This process of eating oneself is known as autophagy. This biological recycling is thought to be an important anti-aging process, since new organelles will produce less toxins than malfunctioning ones. Autophagy process has been seen to increase in periods of extended fasting, such as overnight or during long periods without food consumption.

Much like the macroscopic biological world, the death of one organism is not a loss to the ecosystem. The atoms present within the organism simply undergo reorganization so that they may be incorporated into another life form. This process of recycling has been developed over billions of years and continues to amaze us. The more I study biology, the more I realize how objective living systems are.

Conclusion

Unlike human societies, where death is seen as one of the ultimate benchmarks of life, biology simply sees death as the recycling of nonessential atoms via apoptosis. This unbiased physics perspective of death is what enables life to generate such complexity and efficiency from its environment. For example, approximately 300 million of your cells die every second but none of their components are wasted. These components may be used for anything from a layer of skin to the hair on our head. Life and death are simply names defining different states of the same object, both of which are essential to the proper functioning of biology.