ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences1997
The origins of human ageing.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 1997. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mistranslation protects against lifespan reduction due to mating in Drosophila melanogaster females.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Expanding evolutionary theories of ageing to better account for symbioses and interactions throughout the Web of Life.Ageing research reviews · 2023Review
- The 90 plus: longevity and COVID-19 survival.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Review
- Article
- Age-associated epigenetic change in chimpanzees and humans.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Article
- Diet mediates the relationship between longevity and reproduction in mammals.Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2013Article
- Mate choice and the origin of menopause.PLoS computational biology · 2013Article
- The evolutionary origin and significance of menopause.Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 2011Article
- Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.PloS one · 2010Article
- Testing evolutionary theories of menopause.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2007Article
- Life extension research: an analysis of contemporary biological theories and ethical issues.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2006Article
- The clinical pharmacology of ageing.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2003Article
- Understanding the Frontiers of Human Longevity in India: Imperative and Palliative Care.Indian journal of palliative careArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The origins of human ageing are to be found in the origins and evolution of senescence as a general feature in the life histories of higher animals. Ageing is an intriguing problem in evolutionary biology because a trait that limits the duration of life, including the fertile period, has a negative impact on Darwinian fitness. Current theory suggests that senescence occurs because the force of natural selection declines with age and because longevity is only acquired at some metabolic cost. In effect, organisms may trade late survival for enhanced reproductive investments in earlier life. The comparative study of ageing supports the general evolutionary theory and reveals that human senescence, while broadly similar to senescence in other mammalian species, has distinct features, such as menopause, that may derive from the interplay of biological and social evolution.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.