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life span

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life span

Time between birth and death. It ranges from a mayfly's day to certain trees' thousands of years. Its limit appears to depend on heredity, but such factors as (in humans) disease, natural disasters, war, diet, and habits such as smoking reduce it. Maximum life span is theoretical; more meaningful is average life span, which life-insurance companies and actuaries analyze and tabulate. Long-lived progenitors tend to beget long-lived descendants. A very-low-calorie diet appears to prolong life. Reduced infant mortality and improved sanitation and nutrition account for much of the increase since c. 1800—from about 35 to over 70 years in most industrialized countries. The oldest well-documented age reached by a human is 122 years.



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In the early 90s, we discovered mutations that could double the normal life span of worms," Kenyon said.
In a recent study published by the journal PLoS Genetics, scientists from the Universite de Montreal discovered that when glucose was reduced in a yeast cell's diet, their life span increased.
A recent study by the University of Minnesota found that donors had a normal life span and were as healthy as people who have two functioning kidneys After donating a kidney to a loved one, you can expect to live a life that is as normal as anyone.
 
 
 
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