I&#x27;m no medical researcher, but I could make a guess.  The article said that in elephants cells commit suicide when damaged.<p>It&#x27;s well known that our cells have a maximum number of times they may divide.   As they divide their telomeres become shorter.  Once these telomeres reach their ends, the cells cannot further divide.<p>And so something that quickens the pace of cell destruction (via the p53 mechanism for spontaneous cell suicide), would then quicken the aging process.<p>Anyhow, I&#x27;m impressed by this research.  It really shows Out of the box, back to basics sort of thinking.  People cannot hope to alter the software of natural processes.  The best we can hope for is copy pasting solutions when we find them.