Is aging the final act in the script of developmental biology? The characteristic changes that
are part and parcel of aging appear similar to developmentally regulated programs. But why
would aging mechanisms have been evolutionarily selected as advantageous? Indeed,
evolutionary biologists might argue that aging occurs by default due to the absence of
selection in the postreproductive phase of life. By this view, the aging process is not
programmed, but, rather, the detritus of the absence of selection for maintenance (