People now living could break previous longevity records, and keep on going and going. But not in America, where lifespans are declining. (Brandon Vigliarolo / The Register)
Interestingly, while average longevity has steadily increased for centuries, the maximum lifespan has been relatively unchanged since the 1700s. In other words, most people are living longer, but the longest-lived people today are about the same age as the longest-lived people 200+ years ago. That leads some scientists to believe there’s a hard, biological limit to human lifespan.
Not so, according to new research.
Related: The last living person who was born in the 19th Century in the US was Susannah Mushatt Jones. She was 116 years old when she died in 2016.