A new study looks at the decline in specific blood markers and uses this to predict the maximum lifespan for humans
122 years and 164 days
That is the current longevity record for humans. That was the age of the French Jeanne Calment when she passed away on August 4th, 1997.
Since then, no one has even cleared the 120-year mark.
Unless you’re feeling biblical, of course. The patriarch Methuselah holds the longevity record for longest-living human featured in biblical stories with a whopping 969 years. (Although it might have been a mistranslation.) Then, again, I think we can dispute the veracity of this claim…
So, 122 years.
Is that it?
Or can we go further?
We’re certainly trying.
Drugs (such as metformin or rapamycin), supplements (such as resveratrol), blood exchange and/or dilution, custom-made molecules, and stem cells are all being studied for their potential effects on mitigating (some aspects of) aging. Or why not try some fasting or calorie restriction (which may not work as well as you think)?
Many questions about all of these remain, though. Are they effective — if at all — in everyone, or are there good and bad responders? Are the side effects worse than the benefits? Do these interventions actually prolong lifespan in humans? And so on.
Some researchers are pessimistic and claim that we’ve reached the biologically possible peak. Others contest this claim and suggest a certain flexibility in maximal human lifespan.
On the other hand of the spectrum, we have the longevity optimists who are confident that the first 1,000-year old is already walking among us.
Of course, this latter claim relies on imagined advances in longevity research, regenerative medicine, and — if you want to venture even farther into speculative territory — mind uploading, cyborgs, etc.
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