The length of your life may depend more upon your genes than scientists thought.
Once you remove from consideration events that cut life short — such as infections and injury — genetics account for about half the factors that determine human life span, researchers report in the Jan. 29 Science. The findings challenge the prevalent view that life span is determined mostly by lifestyle and environmental factors.
Determining how much of human life span results from genes is important for understanding aging more generally. “If we can understand why there are some people who can make it to 110 while smoking and drinking all their life, then maybe, down