Scientists may have just discovered a major key to the search for immortality by discovering that our lifespan is inextricably linked to the rate by which our cells undergo genetic mutations.
Although it is logical to assume that our probability of death increases as these mutations accumulate over time, such a hypothesis fails to account for an inconsistency known as the Peto paradox. If death depends on the accumulation of somatic mutations, then larger species with more cells should receive more mutations and therefore have shorter lifespans.
For example, the authors found that human cells undergo an average of 47 replacement mutations per year, giving us an average lifespan of 83.7 years.