But senescence and death are not inevitable facets of life. There are examples of immortality all around us. Microbes live forever. Trees don’t deteriorate with time. On the contrary, as they age they get stronger and more fertile. For microbes and many plants, immortality is the rule, not the exception. There are even some animals that don’t age: clams and lobsters, for example. Death, for them, is caused solely by external factors, not internal ones.
