Is There a Limit to the Human Lifespan? - The Wall Street Journal. June 25 2018
Excerpts:
- To some researchers, this suggests there’s a natural limit to how long humans can live—and we’ve pretty much reached it. Yes, average life expectancy has increased, thanks to things like clean water, improved living conditions and modern medicine. But these improvements can only do so much, and eventually the body wears out.
- Others say, in effect, that past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. New and emerging medical technologies, they say, might be able to slow aging to such an extent that not only will we live much longer, but we’ll stay biologically “younger” well into what used to be old age.
- Brandon Milholland, co-author of several research papers on aging and longevity and a research associate at pharmaceutical-consulting firm Michael Allen Co., says that 125 is probably the upper limit for the human lifespan. Joon Yun, the president of Palo Alto Investors and the $2 million founding sponsor of the National Academy of Medicine’s Grand Challenge for Healthy Longevity, says it may be possible to extend the human lifespan by increasing the body’s ability to respond to stress.
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