The Biology of Death

Book excerpt: "Everyone dies, and so, we naturally associate death with the end of an individual life. However, life is much more complicated, and death is actually interwoven into biology at many levels. Normal development and life could not exist without carefully regulated death of certain cells and as one defense against disease. Other cells wear out and die and must be replaced regularly. On a larger scale, death has influenced the direction of entire species. In fact, death has shaped all life through the cycle of life and death, throughout time, and in normal development. It affects our cells, our development, and our life"--