Description: Robert Butler talks about the force of mortality.

Question: Why do we age?

Robert Butler:  Well, we are built that way, unfortunately, at the molecular and cellular level so that we lose every seven years further ability to stay alive.  It is called the force of mortality.

Robert Butler:  From what we know, it is related very much to mitochondria, which are energy producing organelles in our bodies, which keep us alive and provide the energy that sustains us and those begin to change because of free radical damage, because of other processes that damage our ability to sustain life.

Recorded on: Mar 17 2008