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Article: The Philadelphia Inquirer Carnal Knowledge column: Elder sex helps humans scale 'wall of death'.(Column)
- Article from:
- The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)
- Article date:
- September 3, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 The Philadelphia Inquirer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Faye Flam
Sep. 3--When the New England Journal of Medicine reported two weeks ago that people in their 60s, 70s and even 80s were having sex, some younger types whined all over the Web that the idea was distasteful, even gross.
Don't judge so fast. Not only will you get old eventually, but the entire human race may owe its longevity to older people having sex. Put simply: If some of our ancestors hadn't played a reproductive role in their later years we might all kick off around 50.
"From the perspective of natural selection, if you're not reproducing there's no real point in your being around," says anthropologist Michael Gurven of the ...