Longevity · Genetics
Why Do Some People Live Beyond 100?
The science of extreme age—and why inherited variation, life histories and environment make longevity much more complicated than a single gene.
Exceptional longevity reflects many influences, including genetic variation, lifetime exposures, socioeconomic conditions and chance. Studying centenarians helps separate patterns associated with unusually long survival from those shared by the wider population.
A major challenge is selection bias: people who survive to extreme age are not a random sample, and associations cannot automatically be interpreted as causal protections.
AI-assisted preliminary overview · Awaiting editorial review. The linked materials are research leads; some citations remain to be checked against the original works.