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Life and Death: What Is the Major Mystery?

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Developmental Biology

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Abstract

Fundamental concepts linking programmed death to the evolution of multicellularity were advanced as early as 1881 by August Weismann, a zoologist and pioneer of genetic theories designed to explain development and cell differentiation. Weismann proposed that aging and decay are not inherent to life itself but are events that became integral to development only in the course of evolution of multicellular organisms. Only the multicellular organism inevitably would be doomed, through senescence—the process of aging.

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  1. Zoologisches Institut—Physiologie, University of Heidelberg, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Werner A. Müller

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Müller, W.A. (1997). Life and Death: What Is the Major Mystery?. In: Developmental Biology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2248-4_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2248-4_22

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