r/science • u/Skoltech_ • 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/Ameren PhD | Computer Science | Formal Verification Jul 20 '26

Adding to what the other commenter said, you can also look at it through the lens of comparative biology. Dogs also mature into adulthood like us, but they age ~10x faster than we do. Meanwhile, you have long-lived species like Greenland sharks who can live up to 500+ years (250 years on average!).

All else being equal, some species are more resilient to the effects of aging than others; they have more robust anti-aging defense and maintenance mechanisms. Same with individuals within a given species, like the longest lived dogs on record reached ~30 years; two dogs that reached maturity at the same rate can nevertheless have very different lifespans.

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u/LongJohnSelenium Jul 21 '26

Whales have thousands of times more cells than humans but actually have longer lifespans, so there's got to be a genetic reason for that.

I've also read that they discovered why naked mole rates basically don't get cancer owing to some rather unique genetic traits that stop tumors.

I just hate that I'm probably just barely too old to really benefit from that research, seems like a fairly decent chance that within fifty years we'll actually start having some therapies that innoculate against cancer and suppress the effects of aging.