Is there a limit to human lifespan

What is it about?

While average human life expectancy has increased dramatically in the last century, the maximum life span has only modestly increased. These observations prompted the notion that human life span might have reached its maximal natural limit of ~115 years. To evaluate this hypothesis, we conducted a systematic analysis of all-cause human mortality throughout the 20th century. Our analyses revealed that, once cause of death is accounted for, there is a proportional increase in both median age of death and maximum life span. To examine whether pathway targeted aging interventions affected both median and maximum life span, we analyzed hundreds of interventions performed in multiple organisms (yeast, worms, flies, and rodents). Three criteria: median, maximum, and last survivor life spans were all significantly extended, and to a similar extent. Altogether, these findings suggest that targeting the biological/genetic causes of aging can allow breaking the currently observed ceiling of human maximal life span.

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Photo by Matthew Bennett on Unsplash

Photo by Matthew Bennett on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Is there a limit to human lifespan? in this paper we discuss this question, and introduce empirical evidence suggesting that the current supposed limit could be broken by aging interventions, affecting average as well as maximum lifespan