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Thanks for the link. Very interesting stuff. Also worth noting that there's a difference between mutation and cancer, although of course they're related. Just

Thanks for the link. Very interesting stuff. Also worth noting that there's a difference between mutation and cancer, although of course they're related. Just as mice and people get cancer at similar rates, so do elephants, which have many more cell divisions, but have more elaborate anticancer mechanisms (presumably because elephants lacking them died of cancer).

nonbel 9y ago
If you give humans 2^53 divisions (as in that paper) and elephants have ~100x the mass of humans, as a rough estimate they would require 2^60 divisions. So about 7 more divisions per stem cell to live as long as the usual human (they usually don't live that long).
- nonbel 9y ago
  Instead of "per stem cell" that should be 7 more divisions from the zygote.
  - reubenswartz 9y ago
    For some of the cells, like neurons, that to a first approximation don't divide in adulthood, this seems true. But for things like blood cells that are constantly getting turned over, it seems like there would be a lot more opportunities for bad mutations in a larger creature (although as your link suggests, there seems to be some fairly strong defense against this).