December is my birthday month, infamous holiday family time emotional regression month, and New Year’s, that so-called moment for reflection and resolution, so it’s a ripe month for losing all sense of exactly how old I am and where I am going.
Science says this disorientation to my proper age is actually sort of close to reality.
I bring you glad tidings of choose your own age adventure.
Each of us has atoms in our bodies that are at least 4.6 billion years old, which is when our solar system formed. Astrophysicists believe the hydrogen in our bodies is as old as the Big Bang. The iron in our bodies might be as old as 13.7 billion years old, when the first ancient stars appeared in the universe. The iron, calcium and carbon in our bodies probably come from reactions in ancient nuclear stars.
You have nerve cells that can live to be 100, that have been with you since before your birth. Your liver cells replenish every 200 to 300 days. You have white blood cells that last 2-3 days.
Here’s a PRI Update from the archive that dives deeper into said questions:
The New Year can be an opportunity, an ominous warning, an admonishment, and also- the blink of an astronomical eye. You are not who you were last year in terms of personality- the 63-year long study by science really says so!- your carbon isn’t really yours, it is the stuff of the stars, and your skin will be different next month- so there’s nothing to cling to after all.
You are stardust, you are golden,
Perrin
Love this! Also a question for you: what happens to the nerve cells in people who live past 100?
these are the affirmations I need right now! 🌟💥✨