Re: Why don't you rot when you are alive?

Hello Michelle,

It is indeed a question that is worth to think about for a moment.

A VERY simple answer would be that we do not rot because we are alive!

Too easy? OK.  Let's see...

One way to see it I think is that we, in fact, DO rot all the time even 
when we are alive.  What I mean is that at every moment of your life, 
cells die in your body and they become garbage that your body has to 
dispose of either by recycling (like blood cells) or by throwing them away 
(like your intestinal epithelial cells - I'm sure you don't want anymore 
explanations on that).

The fact is that these cells get replaced by fresh ones all the time and 
since mechanisms of recycling and disposal are very efficient in a live 
organism, no appearence of rot (smell, texture, color, etc.) is shown.

When the organism, or a part of an organism (as for gangrene), dies, the 
cells are no more replaced and the recycling/disposal system ceases.  
This, combined with the fact that EVERY cells in the body slowly begin to 
die, accelerate rotting of the tissues (like any piece of meat) and then 
every signs of rotting become slowly VERY obvious.

I hope that this answered your question.

Ciao!

Mike