Is there a limit to the human lifespan?

Listen 00:48:58

Guests: Jay Olshansky, David Sinclair

One hundred and fifteen years – that’s about as old as we can hope to get, according to a recent paper in the journal Nature. The authors argue that there’s a limit to the human lifespan, right around 115 years. But some scientists disagree. They believe that as we learn more about the biological mechanisms of aging, scientific breakthroughs might bring us big gains in longevity. Mary Cummings-Jordan talks with two researchers about the science of aging, whether there’s a ceiling on our lifespans, and about the ethical implications of increasing the length of our lives. Our guests are JAY OLSHANSKY, professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and DAVID SINCLAIR, a professor at Harvard Medical School and co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging.

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