That really is pretty interesting, Abe. I'm not a biologist, but I have read
Nature pretty faithfully for a long time now, and "programmed cell death" has only really been a Big Deal for maybe a decade. But these guys were describing it in '78.
Now of course, the fundy reply to your post is, "See! Death entered the world at the Fall!"
Though I'm not sure that fundies want Adam, Eve, or God to have tails.....