About This Project

Human lifespan has long been a topic of discussion and interest in the United States and throughout the world; people want to know how they can live longer. By investigating demographic data from the United States and India, we have found a relationship between average internal body temperature, outdoor ambient temperature, and human lifespan. We hope to further investigate these relationships which may in turn allow for the development of new methods to prolong human lifespan.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Humans are predicted to have a maximal average life span of about 104 years and a maximum age of 115 years. But what factors govern this parameter besides biochemical mechanisms such as reactive oxygen species or telomere truncation? One major subject of recent interest has been ambient temperature and its effect on human senescence at a macro-level. Meta-analysis is necessary to digest the trends in average life span across geographic regions.

What is the significance of this project?

The significance of this project is that it could lead to the development of new methods to increase human lifespan. Current evidence suggests that internal body temperature does indeed influence human lifespan. By decreasing average internal body temperature, it is likely that human lifespan can be increased. Discovering the influence of outdoor ambient temperature on internal body temperature will allow for a better understanding of how human lifespan can be increased via temperature control. Additional research could then investigate the optimal temperature for an increase in lifespan without an increase in disease risk. The results of this project could create a research field that focuses on the implementation of temperature control to prolong human life.

What are the goals of the project?

The primary goal of this project is to determine if outdoor ambient temperature has an effect on human lifespan. A large amount of work has already been performed through the analysis of past research as well as demographic data of the United States and India. By gathering data regarding average internal body temperature, outdoor ambient temperature, and human lifespan, a mortality function has been developed with these variables. With an additional variable for the external factors that influence human lifespan such as health care, epidemic diseases, etc., the mortality function has revealed a relationship between outdoor ambient temperature and human lifespan in India but not the United States. Further analysis will allow us to explain and reinforce our current findings.