The Penna model of 1994/5 is the most widespread model for computer simulations of biological ageing. It is based on the half-century old mutation accumulation hypothesis, though it does not necessarily contradict alternative explanations of ageing through oxygen radicals or specific longevity genes. It represents the genome by a bit-string such that bit = 0 means a healthy and bit = 1 a sick gene, acting on the body from that age on which corresponds to the position of the bit in the bit-string. The talk will emphasise in particular the question of the oldest old in humans: Do old men die like flies ?

S. Moss de Oliveira, P.M.C. de Oliveira and D. Stauffer, 
Evolution, Money, War and Computers, teubner, Stuttgart and Leipzig 1999

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