The Guardian
Scientists have provided explanations on why humans are never going to be able to live beyond 150 years of age. They developed an app to predict the maximum lifespan.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Experts in biology and biophysics fed an artificial intelligence system vast amounts of Deoxy ribonucleic Acid (DNA)/genetic material and medical data, on hundreds of thousands of volunteers in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US).
This allowed them to develop an AI-driven iPhone app that, with simple input from a user, can accurately estimate the rate of biological ageing and maximum lifespan.
As part of the big data study, they found there were two key parameters responsible for human lifespan, both covering lifestyle factors and how the body responds.
The first factor is biological age, linked to stress, lifestyle and disease, and the second is resilience, reflecting how quickly the first factor returns to normal.
This allowed the team to determine that the longest any human is likely to ever live is 150 years; almost double the current UK average lifespan of 81 years.
The discovery is based on blood samples from two different longitudinal DNA studies, analysed by the team from Gero, a Singapore-based biotech company and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York.
When do human brains become “old”? The human brain becomes ‘old’ at just 25, research suggested in February 2017.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is found in the brain and spinal cord, changes its speed of movement in people older than their mid-20s, a Lancaster University study found.
These movements are linked to breathing and heart rates, with CSF changes previously being associated with conditions such as multiple sclerosis and high blood pressure.
It is unclear if these CSF changes are associated with brain disorders that typically affect the elderly, such as dementia.
Previous research suggests the volume and weight of the brain begins to decline by around five per cent per decade when a person reaches 40 years old.
On the back of these findings, study author, Prof. Aneta Stefanovska, added further research “may open up new frontiers in the understanding and diagnosis of various neurodegenerative and ageing-related diseases to improve diagnostic procedures and patient prognosis.”
The discovery came to light during the development of a new method of investigating brain function, which has revealed the stage in life when the brain starts to deteriorate.
Previous research carried out by Imperial College London suggests brains’ grey matter, which enables the organ to function, shrinks during middle age and is related to cell death.
White matter, which enables communication between nerve clusters, also appears to decline at around 40.
This is also when the deterioration of myelin sheath occurs. Myelin sheath is a fatty substance that surrounds nerve cells and ensures proper function of the nervous system.
