The Conversation

A new study shows an animal's lifespan is written in the DNA. For humans, it's 38 years

Author: Benjamin Mayne, Molecular biologist and bioinformatician, CSIRO

A genetic "clock" lets scientists estimate how long extinct creatures lived. Wooly mammoths could expect around 60 years.Australian Museum

Humans have a “natural” lifespan of around 38 years, according to a new method we have developed for estimating the lifespans of different species by analysing their DNA.

Extrapolating from genetic...

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