Expert Tinkers With Evolution To Create Human "Built-To-Last"

Found : University Of Illinois At Chicago Expert Tinkers With Evolution To Create Human "Built-To-Last"

If humans were designed to live beyond age 100 and remain free of many of the diseases and disorders associated with aging, we might have looked like short, stout elves.

This conclusion may be drawn from illustrations that accompany the article, “If Humans Were Built to Last,” by UIC Professor S. Jay Olshansky and his colleagues in the March 2001 issue of the magazine Scientific American.

Our bodies evolved to survive long enough to reproduce and raise our young, says Olshansky, professor of biostatistics in the UIC School of Public Health and noted demographer of aging. Human ingenuity has made it possible for us to extend our lives well past our reproductive years.