Okay, maybe not forever, but would you take 150 years?

好吧，也許不是永遠，但你會接受活 150 年嗎？

A new study is shedding light on how we age and may even show us a way to push the limits on human lifespan.

一項新的研究揭示了人類是如何衰老，甚至可能讓我們了解突破人類壽命極限的方法。

So, not to get all metaphysical, but what is age, anyway?

所以，不是要搞什麼玄學，但年齡到底是什麼？

Let's start by talking about the age we're most familiar with: chronological age.

先來談談我們最熟悉的年齡：時序上的年齡。

You know, the one that's marked on the calendar as your birthday.

你知道的，就是在日曆上標註你生日的那個。

But this isn't the best way to gauge your health.

但這並不是衡量健康狀況的最佳方式。

If you wanna find out what toll all that mileage has taken on your body, you need to know your biological age.

如果想知道這些時間上的里程對你的身體造成了什麼影響，你需要先了解你的生理年齡。

Biological age describes the accumulated damage to your cells caused by genetics and factors like pollution, disease, and chronic lack of sleep, as well as the natural decline of cells over time.

生裡年齡能顯示你的細胞因遺傳、汙染、疾病和長期缺乏睡眠等因素而累積的損害，以及隨著時間的推移，細胞的自然衰退。

As age increases, DNA accumulates damage, mitochondria break down, and the telomeres at the ends of our chromosomes shorten.

隨著我們年齡的增長，DNA 積累損傷、線粒體分解、染色體末端的端粒也縮短。

This functional decline causes our organs to deteriorate, increasing our biological age as a result.

這種功能衰退導致我們的器官衰弱，增加我們的生理年齡。

Until recently, scientists thought the process was irreversible.

直到最近，科學家們都認為這個過程是不可逆的。

But within the last couple (of) decades, scientists are learning that cells can revive through a process known as "Anastasis", Greek for "rising to life".

但在過去的幾十年裡，科學家們逐漸瞭解到，細胞可以通過一種叫 Anastasis 的過程恢復活力，在希臘語的意思是 「起死回生」。

In a breakthrough study in 2008, a group of biologists conducted an experiment where they put human cancer cells in ethanol to initiate cell death.

在 2008 年的一項突破性研究中，生物學家進行了一項實驗，將人類癌細胞放進乙醇中促使細胞死亡。

When the cells were removed from the toxin and put in a fresh petri dish, they came back to life, which is huge!

當細胞被從毒素中取出並放在新的培養皿中時，它們又活過來了，這可是件大事！

Then, in 2019, a group of scientists from Yale gained worldwide attention when they briefly revived the cellular function in brains of pigs just four hours after they passed.

然後，在 2019 年，來自耶魯大學的科學家們獲得了全世界的關注，因他們在豬死亡四小時後，短暫地恢復了豬大腦的細胞功能。

But why do this?

但為什麼要這樣做呢？

Well, experiments like these could help us better understand how cells regenerate, and maybe one day, even extend human lifespan.

這樣的實驗可以幫助我們更瞭解細胞如何再生。也許有一天，甚至可以延長人類的壽命。

But before we do that, we first need to know what those lifespan limits are.

但在這之前，我們首先需要知道限制壽命的是什麼。

To explore that question, a team of researchers in 2021 used a standard blood test to measure wear and tear on the body.

為了探索這個問題，2021 年一個研究小組使用了標準血液檢測來測量身體的耗損程度。

They collected data from more than 500,000 people of all ages.

他們收集了超過 50 萬名不同年齡層大眾的數據。

But instead of looking at individual data points associated with aging, they combined them into a single number called the "dynamic organism state indicator", or DOSI for short.

但他們並不是將這些衰老相關的數據分開來看，而是把它們合併成一個數字，稱為「動態生物體狀態指標」，或簡稱 DOSI。

A person's DOSI value changes over time depending (on) how their body responds to stress.

人的 DOSI 值會隨著時間的推移而變化，取決於他們的身體對壓力的反應。

When a person gets sick or injured, their DOSI value goes up.

當一個人生病或受傷時，他的 DOSI 值會上升。

The length of time that it takes for them to recover⏤and their DOSI to return to normal⏤is what's known as resilience.

DOSI 值恢復正常所需的時間，就是所謂的復原力。

Unsurprisingly, the researchers found that resilience decreased steadily with age.

不出所料，研究人員發現，隨著年齡的增長，復原力會逐漸下降。

This explains why taking a tumble at age 20 is no big deal, but that same fall at 90 would be a lot harder to get up from.

這就解釋了為什麼 20 歲時摔一跤沒什麼大不了的，但 90 歲時同樣摔一跤就很難爬起來了。

People's physical activity over time was also analyzed, and the data showed a decrease in recovery rates as people aged.

他們還分析了人們隨著時間推移，身體機能的變化。數據顯示，隨著人們年齡的增長，康復率也在下降。

This matched the decline in resilience measured by the DOSI data, which confirmed the results were telling us something important about how people age.

這與 DOSI 數據得出的復原力下降相吻合，而這些研究結果告訴了我們關於老化的重要資訊。

What the team found was a trend of declining resilience over time.

研究小組得出，隨著時間推移，復原力有下降的趨勢。

Let's say, you're perfectly healthy and do everything right.

假設你非常健康，並且做了所有對的事情。

If you were to hit somewhere between 120 and 150 years old, your resiliency would putter out and get to a point where your recovery time is so long you don't recover at all.

假設你的年齡在 120 歲到 150 歲之間，抗壓能力會下降到一個程度，使你的恢復時間長到根本就無法恢復。

The TLDR: Even if you're living your best life, according to this study, you won't make it past 150.

長話短說，根據這項研究，即使用最好的方式過生活，你也不會活超過 150 歲。（譯註：TLDR 為 Too long; don't read 的首字縮略詞，表示「太長了，別讀；已做摘要」）

But here's the upside.

但這也有好處。

If we treat the underlying causes of resilience loss, we could develop life-extending treatments that can one day help us live beyond the known limits.

如果我們醫治復原力喪失的根本原因，就可以開發延長生命的療法，並幫助人類超越已知的生命極限。

And while increasing our lifespan sounds nice, if we're able to boost resilience, we have the potential to increase our health span, too,

增加壽命聽起來是不錯，但如果能夠提高復原力，我們也能增加健康壽命的長度。

which helps us gain more healthy years alive, and that sounds like a life better lived to me.

這可以讓我們獲得更長的健康生活時間，而我認為這是種更好的生活方式。

Do you know any 100-year-olds?

你認識任何 100 歲的人嗎？

Projections suggest there will be 3.7 million centenarians across the globe by 2050.

根據預測，到 2050 年時，全球將有 370 萬名百歲老人。

If you wanna know about one way to live longer with your telomeres, check out this video from Maren!

如果想瞭解更多透過端粒活得更久的方法，請看 Maren 的這支影片！

Don't forget to subscribe and keep coming back to Seeker.

不要忘了訂閱並持續收看 Seeker。

Thanks for watching.

謝謝你的觀看。