Scientists named the maximum human lifespan

Scientists from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology have determined that even if the medicine of the future learns to completely defeat aging, immortality is still not in the cards for humans. There is a hard biological limit to lifespan that cannot be overcome.

According to the researchers' calculations, the maximum human lifespan ranges from 146 to 194 years, the Daily Mail reports.

The scientists focused on somatic mutations — random breakdowns in DNA that imperceptibly accumulate in cells day after day throughout a person's life. The body is capable of correcting such errors, but over time some of them slip past the repair systems. The gradually increasing burden of mutations undermines the functioning of tissues and organs and ultimately becomes one of the causes of the organism's death.

The study's authors created a mathematical model in which somatic mutations were the sole aging factor — all other mechanisms were deliberately excluded.

The results proved quite telling: even if all other age-related changes were completely eliminated — such as the decline in cells' ability to regenerate — accumulated DNA damage would still place an insurmountable barrier on the path to longevity.

The researchers emphasize, however, that this is not a specific prediction but rather a theoretical limit. According to them, the findings help identify which aging mechanisms are most important to study in order to develop effective methods of life extension.

The scientists also noted that different tissues age at different rates. Skin and liver cells are constantly renewed, whereas heart and brain cells are virtually never replaced over the course of a lifetime, which is why mutations accumulate in them significantly faster.