Recently, Singaporean biotech company Gero and US-based Roswell Park Cancer Center (RPCI) published a paper in the scientific journal Nature Communications, claiming that the human lifespan can reach more than 120 years, with an upper limit of 150 years.
Guinness Book of World Records longest living person - 146 years old
In Indonesia, there is a long-lived old man named Mabagoso, who is also the Guinness Book of World Records holder, living for 146 years. The old man was born in 1870 and died in 2016 at the age of 146.
Studies have concluded that there are two factors that determine human longevity.
One is our biological age;
the other is the body's "resilience," also known as self-resilience.
The human body is made up of trillions of cells, and these cells also determine our lifespan. Usually we believe that human cells can only split 50 times, after this number of times there will be no new cells, if there are no new cells, the metabolism will be terminated, when a large number of old cells die, by the cellular composition of the internal organs will fail, and ultimately triggered the death of the human body. The average cell division cycle of human body cells is 2.4 years.
We know that the human body has a large number of cells to maintain the normal operation of the human body, and the cell is through the division of the way to replicate itself, in short, "one minute two, two minutes four, four minutes eight," a cell can be split into many cells.
But these cells can't divide and replicate themselves indefinitely, but have their own end of life.
It actually has to do with telomeres.
The telomere is a small DNA-protein complex at the end of a DNA strand, and it exists for no other purpose than to act as a cap at the end of the DNA strand.
But telomeres reduce their length as they divide, which simply means that each time a cell divides, the telomeres on each chromosome get progressively shorter.
Let's take an example, if the first telomere is 100 yuan, in the beginning, a DNA strand contains 100 yuan, but the cell divides once into two cells, and each cell can only have 50 yuan, and then along with the cell division, the yuan is divided again. Until the RMB is no longer divisible, the cell will activate the apoptosis mechanism. Therefore, telomeres are also known as the "clock of life" by scientists.
In 2009, the discovery of how telomeres and telomerase protect chromosomes earned three scientists the Nobel Prize in Physiology (Medicine) that year.
In 1961, the American scholar Heilfli observed, based on experiments, that the number of embryonic cell divisions is regular, while the human body's cells are divided to 50 generations when they all die, and the cycle of division is about 2.4 years.
So in terms of the telomere factor, the theoretical lifespan of humans should be 120 years.
But there are many factors that affect the length of telomeres, and in 2005 there was an article in The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal magazine, which mentioned that drinking and smoking shorten the length of telomeres, and therefore life expectancy is less. In addition to this, scientists have also found that telomeres are not as long as they should be, for example, the development of cancer has been linked to telomeres that are too long, or no longer shortened.
Currently, scientists have successfully used nanotechnology to keep telomeres long in the lab, which has extended the life of brain cells in rats by 3-4 times. In addition, the number of cell divisions in human vascular endothelial cells has been increased from 65 to more than 200 through genetic modification, breaking the "Hayflick Limit" (i.e., the limit of cell division is 40-60 times). At this rate of discovery and with the maturity of the technology, an unlimited increase in human lifespan will not be far away.
At that time, human beings will no longer be puzzled by aging and death, and everyone will be able to live to hundreds or even thousands of years old at any time.
Of course, you may have heard of people living longer than 120 years in reality, but scientific research doesn't rule out a routine, because there are tiny variations in genes.
Scientists believe that between the ages of 120 and 150, the human body's "resilience" will be completely lost, and the upper limit of life expectancy will be reached.
With advances in medical technology and the development of related biotechnology, humans are getting closer to the 150-year-old limit.
Since the human body's own laws give us this range of life expectancy, it is logical that there should be a lot of people who have exceeded this limit, but in reality, it is extremely difficult to approach this age, let alone exceed it! In fact, there are many factors that will cause us not to reach the physiological life span, mainly the following factors:
One, our genes themselves have defects, if it is the hands or feet of these parts that do not affect the life span may not have much impact, but if the key organs to support life? Then life is like a wooden barrel, how much water it can hold depends on the length of the shortest piece!
Two, our body cells due to various external factors, such as radiation or other factors lead to the division of the wrong accumulation of more serious problems!
Three, in addition to their own factors, as well as personal lifestyle, mental health, friendships, and the living environment can have an impact on the individual life.
Four, the disease infection and medical failure to lift the pain ultimately led to death
Five, a variety of accidents and other causes of death and so on
Of course, with the development of genetic technology, cloning technology. In the future, human organs will definitely be replaceable like car parts. And if, some people can be like a car, regular medical checkups, pay attention to maintenance, it is estimated that living to 200 years old is not a problem!