Humans Can Live Long, But Cannot Achieve Immortality: What Causes This Immortal Paradox?
The current global average lifespan is 71 years for men and 73.5 years for women. However, in many countries, these figures are significantly higher, especially in Japan, Spain, Australia, and Switzerland.
About 10,000 years ago, humans had little hope of living past 30. Just 100 years ago, the average lifespan was only around 50 years. We have made astonishing progress over the last century and continue to change our fate through science.
Each of us has a biological clock that is programmed and has an expiration date.
Research indicates that a range of interconnected factors influences an individual’s lifespan, such as genes, living environment, diet, and external influences like smoking, radiation, and toxins. Each of us has a biological clock that is programmed and has an expiration date. Thus, it seems we are programmed to die.
There is a growing trend in research that explores the inevitability of aging, suggesting that science can only slow down the aging process. The key to halting this process lies in controlling the cell division that gradually erodes our DNA as we age.
Each cell divides as part of the natural aging process, creating a copy of DNA. These fundamental copies form our 23 chromosomes but are imperfect and are gradually removed during replication. To protect against the degradation of important DNA as we age, we have telomeres, structures that repeat DNA sequences that will eventually be lost.
However, telomeres cannot last indefinitely as they, too, are divided during replication, and when they diminish, our cells cease to divide.
Immortality is present in certain species of flatworms that can naturally regenerate their telomeres. This protects them from extinction risks and facilitates cellular regeneration. Hence, humanity is always eager to find ways to regenerate telomeres to stop the aging process and death.
