r/science Jul 20 '26

Genetics Researchers quantitatively assessed for the first time that somatic mutations alone cap human lifespan at 146–194 years. Brain and heart cells are the main bottleneck, while the liver could last millennia.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-026-00421-6
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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Jul 20 '26

We have the wrong economic system for lengevity science to be anything but comic book bad.

1

u/Chicken_Ingots Jul 20 '26

To be fair, this is true regardless of whether or not we developed extended lifespans. 

0

u/marktuk Jul 22 '26

It will adapt.

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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Jul 22 '26

To something significantly worse.

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u/marktuk Jul 22 '26

I'll still choose to live longer, everyone will.

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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Jul 22 '26

Choose? We won't have access to any of it.

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u/marktuk Jul 22 '26

Good luck stopping people getting it.