Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 May 13

= May 13 =

Life expectancy and DNA repair
Is there a study on a correlation between life expectancy of life forms and their ability to repair DNA? 2A02:908:424:9D60:410D:5:DD2C:326F (talk) 20:51, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
 * There are many studies demonstrating a correlation. There's a causality problem; species (or populations) that are selected for long lives have generally better or more active DNA repair mechanisms, but are likely to have evolved them in response to the selection for long life spans. Us humans are already maxed out on all known life-extending genes, alleles, pathways, etc. No intervention will increase our lifespans, unlike those tried successfully in mice and fruit flies. Abductive  (reasoning) 21:14, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
 * @Abductive Do you have a reliable source for that last sentence? Life expectancy says "there is no evidence for [a] limit on human lifespan". Mike Turnbull (talk) 15:15, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
 * that should read no evidence for a "hard" limit... Abductive  (reasoning) 17:16, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
 * So the apparent fact that everyone dies is merely anecdotal? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:39, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
 * A Source would be great. 2A02:908:424:9D60:F060:FADC:D109:CB60 (talk) 16:07, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
 * The source is, every hyped discovery in the lay media in mice or fruitflies, followed by it already maxed in humans in the scientific literature. Abductive  (reasoning) 17:16, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
 * As a lifelong follower of science news (and a former science textbook editor), I am familiar with the first half of your assertion, but not the second. Can you give us two or three specific examples of relevant discoveries that were found to be "already maxed in humans in the scientific literature."? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.210.77 (talk) 06:50, 15 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Try superoxide dismutase. Abductive  (reasoning) 18:39, 15 May 2023 (UTC)