Body Fusion 150

Some children alive today may live to 150 years of age, suggests a prominent American scientist. Steven Austad, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center, said--in an October 21, 2004 interview for BBC's Discovery television series--that the life-span for a human being may be longer than people have considered possible.

In the industrialized world, more people are living into their 90s and 100s, and there's no sign of the trend leveling off. That life-span increase stems from better medicine, sanitation and nutrition and not from an increased natural life-span.

But the doctor points out that in some pre-industrial societies around the globe, people are surviving into their 70s and 80s--despite a lack of readily available medicines or optimum nutrition. This suggests, he theorizes, that our natural life-span may be growing. It's a controversial theory, not accepted by mainstream science.

"Even in the absence of medical advances, with just evolutionary change, in the foreseeable future, one would expect humans to age at a slower and slower rate," Austad says. Meanwhile, he added that he was so certain that someone alive today will still be alive in 2150, he had placed a bet on it with a friend. "It's a bet that I feel I'm so over-whelmingly likely to win, I feel like I've stolen the money from him."

Of course, even if he wins--since his prediction doesn't apply to those of us who have already reached adulthood--his chances of collecting on that bet are pretty slim.