The human lifespan might be limited, in part, because natural selection just stops working late in life.

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

• Mortality plateau: the leveling out of the mortality rate that is observed at late ages in various species

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Script Writer: Kate Yoshida Script Editor: Alex Reich and David Goldenberg Video Illustrator: Arcadi Garcia Rius Video Director: David Goldenberg and Emily Elert Video Narrator: Emily Elert With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder

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REFERENCES

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De Grey, A (Sept 2016, personal communication)

Horiuchi S, Wilmoth JR (1998) Deceleration in the Age Pattern of Mortality at Older Ages. Demography 35: 4. https://link.springer.com/article/10.2307/3004009

Mueller, LD, Rose MR (1996) Evolutionary theory predicts late-life mortality plateaus. PNAS 26:15249-15253. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.93.26.15249

Rose MR, Rauser CL, Mueller LD, Benford G. (2006) A revolution for aging research. Biogerontology 7:269-77. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16612665

Rose, MR, Flatt, T, Graves, JL, Greer, L, Martinez, DE, Matos, MM, Mueller, LD, Shmookler Reis, RJ, and P. Shahrestani. 2012. What is aging? Frontiers in Genetics 3:134. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2012.00134/full

Rose, M. (Sept 2016, personal communication)