Humans Might Be Able to Live Longer Than We Thought

The oldest person in the world, Jeanne Calment, may have lived to be 122 years old, but new research shows there may not be a limit to how long humans can live.

This new study, published Wednesday in Nature, stands in direct contrast to an Albert Einstein College of Medicine study in the same publication just last year that found the upper limit of how long humans can live is approximately 115 years (though people have evidently surpassed this, if slightly).

For their study, McGill University biologists examined the lifespans of the longest-living people in France, the U.K., Japan and the United States, beginning with the year 1968 and for every year thereafter.

"We just don't know what the age limit might be," study author Siegfried Hekimi, a McGill University biologist, said in a statement. "In fact, by extending trend lines, we can show that maximum and average lifespans, could continue to increase far into the foreseeable future."

Here's an example: The average newborn in 1920 in Canada, for instance, was expected to live to just 60 years old. That number has jumped to 82 years old for a Canadian child born today.

The Einstein researchers took into account population and mortality data in their study to determine the 115 age limit. Until April, the oldest living person in the world had been Emma Morano of Italy, who died then at age 117. That title now belongs to Violet Mosses Brown, of Jamaica, who is 117 years old, USA Today reports.

This new research, of course, doesn't mean that immortality is achievable. But the fact people are living this long today might perplex our ancestors.

"Three hundred years ago, many people lived short lives," Hekimi said in the same statement. "If we would have told them that one day most might live up to 100, they would have said we were crazy."

As for how you can live longer, countless studies are out there on how to increase your longevity.