how do we die? – Fluorine Zone

Question: how do we die?

Asked by nitrogen to Sarah, Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: General. This question was also asked by gracedb.
- Sarah Bardsley answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  You mean as a species? I’m not sure. It could be war, or massive climate change, or a freak incident like a meteorite striking Earth. Who knows!
- Mark Roberts answered on 24 Jun 2010:
  
  Wooo – lots of reasons really
  
  We die when our body stops working (often when the biochemistry fails!) but that can be for lots of reasons, disease, old age (your bodies components do ware out over time), or just bad luck (crossing the road at the wrong time)
  
  So there are lots of ways – though if you want more detail about one or more let me know.
- Paul Roche answered on 24 Jun 2010:
  
  If you want to see the most common causes of death, have a look here:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_causes_of_death_by_rate
  
  You’ll see that almost 30% of deaths are caused by heart problems, so that is the most common cause.
  
  Ultimately, when your heart stops beating and your brain stops working, you die – but there are ways to keep the heart beating, even when the brain is “dead”, so modern medicine is able to keep people (sort of) alive even after things happen that should have kille dthem

Question: how do we die?