Doctors Baffled, Intrigued by Girl Who Doesn't Age

Doctors Baffled, Intrigued by Girl Who Doesn't Age

abcnews.go.com

Years Pass, but Brooke Greenberg Remains a Toddler. No One Can Explain How or Why.
By BOB BROWN
June 23, 2009

Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler.

She turned 16 in January.
"Why doesn't she age?" Howard Greenberg, 52, asked of his daughter. "Is she the fountain of youth?"

Such questions are why scientists are fascinated by Brooke. Among the many documented instances of children who fail to grow or develop in some way, Brooke's case may

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.telegraph.co.uk

[edit on 24-6-2009 by reject]

[edit on 24-6-2009 by reject]

weird medical condition. these thoughts came to me:

1. the immortal jellyfish, Turritopsis Nutricula ; as well as some lobster
2. hancock
3. peter pan
4. aliens
5. metabolic disorders where subjects appear much younger than their chronological age
6. progeria

is nature experimenting to come up with a new life form?

abcnews.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow! That's pretty weird. Does that mean that she will live much longer than average though?

Would be interesting to find out!

Edit to change my crummy spelling

[edit on 24-6-2009 by TheOmen]

Definitely need to chart that girls genome. Could give some light on how to treat debilitating illness that come on the onset of old age.

Interesting condition.

Wow that really interesting , did not hear about this yet . I wonder if her mind ages , meaning is she maturing in her mind but stuck in a toddlers body?That would be tragic to her as she would be in matter of speaking "mind locked" They definitely need to map her genome like already suggested.

That case only shows that our bodies are capable of not aging. And that the aging process could be stopped (don't know if that is such a good idea thou)

She 'ages' in the sense that she's 16 years old, she just hasn't developed past what you would see in a toddler.

I think she will die -- probably sooner than any of us, sadly. The body still goes through wear and tear, and since the article mentions nothing about the ability to regenerate itself, this is just another case of evolution at work.

Looks like a new, but unadvantageous, mutation that will soon be weeded out of the gene pool. Mother Nature is merciless, isn't she?

reply to post by reject


I didn't know about the Turritopsis Nutricula jellyfish, that's awesome! Maybe scientists will unlock the secrets to harnessing this ability some day, or make progress in limb and organ regeneration from it.

This is weird... probably a DNA mutation... if we could give an injection to people when they are 25... or whenever they want... with no side effects... that would be real cool... being 25 years old -looking for 50 years ++...

That would be real weird for mating... The girl you saw looks like 25 years old but she's 50 in her head...

Would the hormones impact stay the same? Would there be an end of fertility for women like it's supposed to anyway? Would we have riddles anyway?

There's a ton of questions... but it's very interesting. Great post OP!

She couldn't live longer than the rest of us? Wouldn't her heart eventually wear out, along with other vital organs?

There's some weird stuff in the world... Wow.

Very interesting topic indeed.

A while back there was a baby boy with immensely dense muscle mass - he could do gymnastic movies like the iron cross, and double-digit number of pull-ups, and he could even punch holes in weaker walls - all, I think, at a few months old.

His body automatically reroutes nutrients to muscle growth instead of toward general growth, which doctors worried might result in lack of intelligence. Which would really befit the notion that "musclebound men have no brains".

It was an interesting case then. It was so... X-Men-ish.

Genome mutations?

In that case, and in this one, too?

What dyya think?

Here's the link to that article about the "Gifted" Muscle Toddler Liam:

www.ctv.ca...

[edit on 24-6-2009 by KarlG]

Wow that is amazing. I wonder why this is happening. She looks like a normal toddler but she is 16! That is crazy. I will be watching her story Friday on 20/20 that's for sure. Thanks for the thread! It is amazing what our body will do and it's even more amazing we have no idea why.

Guys, read the article! If you did you would know that her mind is still that of a 6 month old. Plus she has had countless health issues and the parents thought she would die numerous times. Google her name and you can read more.

Also, the strongest toddler has a story on TLC i believe, I caught it one night channel jumping. The above poster made some claims that were exagerated. He could never punch through walls at a few months old, it happened once during a tantrum when he was older, how ever he was walking very early. Its a very interesting story.

[edit on 24-6-2009 by coop039]

I told this story to a friend of mine and her first comments that she guessed that parents should be careful what they wish for when they say they wish their child would stay this way forever.

I don't know how these doctors can say that this girl is not aging. Are her cells and such not dying?

I would say that she simply isn't growing or developing.

There is a difference between not aging and not growing.

reply to post by Vitchilo



Yes, It would be good to not age, but we still need to die, or the world would be worse with alot more overpopulation.

There is something people do not realize... do not confuse aging, in the literal sense, with body and sexual maturation.

I have no idea of that "child" condition but I would like to know the tests they did on her, hormones and growth factors and all the molecular analysis basics.

I just don't believe they didn't find anything. Even I could find the explanation in my lab. A little bit of blood and I would find it. Either genetic or just physiological it's very easy to discover it.

Don't believe everything you read. I would think of growth hormone defect or lack of telomeres [if you don't know what this is just check it here ]. The lack of telomeres would eventually prevent your genome degeneration and make you immortal but it wouldn't explain why you don't grow up.

I can smell a rat on this one.

I agree that they most definitely need to map her genome. It would be impossible to tell if she was aging genetically or not otherwise. Throughout your life your DNA degrades every time a cell replicates. The lagging ends of the double helix are removed at each replication. This is what causes aging.

So the real question is; Is her DNA degrading over time? If so then she is aging like anyone of us would just trapped in a toddler body she would still age like anyone else would. Just tiny, and toddler like. Ever seen Curious Case of Benjamin Button? Eventually she would look like he did when he was a baby. She'd be just as she is now except with wrinkles, arthritis, cataracts, etc.

Originally posted by Kaytagg
this is just another case of evolution at work.

OR....


Devolution! Noah was reported to have lived 969 years.


Maybe, just maybe....

This is absolutely incredible, but why are we just hearing about this now? She's 16 for christ sakes and it's just hitting the MSM!?

(While I write this I just found a video of her when she was 12, watching it now)

uneasysilence.com...

Very, very strange indeed. She's had a bunch of health problems however, that's the only negative thing about this. The article nor the video gives any suggestion as to why she isn't aging. Someone above mentioned she'll be on 20/20 on Friday and she'll be on TLC on August 9th. I will definitely be tivoing those.







[edit on 24-6-2009 by truthtothemasses]