<br/>The "bugs" if you will that are infecting the ship and crew are in fact a type of nanomaterial life force. Their very nature as nanotechnology infuses them with morphological features on a nonoscale.<br/><br/><br/>Their size is deceptive in that they effect the change of a structure so that it is no longer measureable by conventional means.  Their atomic properties are broken and where volume and bulk could be used to determine a properties size, now the quantisized state is changed.<br/><br/><br/>So, how does this effect biological life forms?<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Materials reduced to the nanoscale can suddenly show very different properties compared to what they exhibit on a macroscale, enabling unique applications<br/><br/><br/>Specific DNA sequence determines how we age.  The bugs are attaching to the DNA chains that determine aging and in doing so are altering them on a sub molecular level.<br/><br/><br/>Depending on where they land in that chain, determines if they progress or degress in age.<br/><br/>