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The Guardian

The Grim Reaper comes for everyone in the end, but sometimes he is in less of a rush. This was certainly true for Sodimedjo, an Indonesian man who died on Sunday, at the age of 146.
Sodimejo, who was known locally as Mbah Gotho, was born in December 1870, according to a government-issued ID card that media reports said had been verified by local officials in the Central Java town of Sragen.
Indonesian media reported that Sodimejo was the world’s oldest person, citing his identity papers. Reuters could not independently verify Sodimejo’s age.

Sodimejo’s grandson said he had been taken to hospital last week because of his deteriorating health.
“The problem was he didn’t want to eat or drink,” said grandson Suryanto, who like his grandfather, goes by one name.
But whether he was the full 146 years he claimed remains doubtful – not least because his purported birth date is 30 years before local birth records began.
Scientists have their own reasons to be sceptical.
A study published last year pointed to the existence of an upper ceiling on the natural human lifespan.
While the average life expectancy has steadily increased since the 19th century, data from the International Database on Longevity showed that the age of the very oldest people on the planet appeared to plateau in the mid-1990s – at a mere 114.9 years.

Since the apparent plateau happened at a time when the reservoir of healthy centenarians was expanding, scientists concluded that an intrinsic biological limit had been reached: even if you evade accidents and disease, your body will still steadily decline until it passes the point of no return, the data appeared to suggest.
Jan Vijg, a geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, who led this research, said: “We simply provided evidence that humans do indeed have a ceiling that they really cannot go beyond. That’s part of being human.”

There will be the occasional outlier – the French supercentenarian and oldest woman to have lived, Jeanne Calment, was 122 when she died in 1997, but most of us have a shorter intrinsic “shelf life”. The probability of someone living to 146 is infinitesimal, Vijg said.
“If somebody told you that they saw a UFO yesterday but it’s gone now, you’d probably be polite, but you wouldn’t believe it,” said Vijg.
“That’s my reaction with this story.”

Richard Faragher, professor of biogerontology at the University of Brighton, puts it this way: “how long can a human live if you don’t do anything to them? Probably around 120. But there is a separate question, how long do people last if you can do something to them?”
Until now, the steady increase in average life expectancy (as distinct from lifespan) has been driven by fewer people smoking, better nutrition and antibiotics. Drugs and surgery for heart disease and cancer have also played a part.
However, scientists are only just beginning to explore the possibility of therapies designed to target the process of ageing itself, as well as the illnesses that come with advancing years.

This field has recently taken an intriguing twist, as evidence has emerged that ageing is not simply the manifestation of environmental wear and tear. Instead, the latest work suggests that ageing is at least partly driven by an internal genetic clock that actively causes our cells and organs to grind to a halt.
This raises the intriguing possibility that ageing could be slowed or even reversed, and some animal studies have already claimed to do just this.
“I wouldn’t argue that the ceiling is unmovable,” said Vijg.
“But trying to say what the age limit is, science can’t yet say, it’s predicting the future.”
Additional reporting by Reuters


Family claims Indonesian man lived to 146. Here’s what science says

Scientists doubt that extreme natural longevity is feasible. But if lifespan is ruled by a genetic ‘clock’, that view could change

Family and friends pray beside the casket of Sodimejo, locally known as Mbah Gotho, who claimed to be the world's oldest person at 146-years-old, in Sambungmacan village, Sragen, Central Java, Indonesia May 1, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken May 1, 2017. Antara Foto/Mohammad Ayudha/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MANDATORY CREDIT. INDONESIA OUT. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

epa05939608 The 146 year old Indonesian man, Sodimejo, also called as 'Mbah Gotho' sits on a banch out side of his house in Sragen, Central Java, Indonesia, 25 February 2017. Suryanto and his family started taking care of Sidomejo on 1994 after his parent passed away. Mbah Gotho was believed to be the world's oldest man with documentation that stated that he was born in 1870. Media reports on 01 May 2017 state that Mbah Gothon died on 30 April 2017 at the age of 146 years. EPA/ALI LUTFI

epa05939604 The 146 year old Indonesian man, Sodimejo, also called as 'Mbah Gotho' (L) is taken care by his grand daughter in law Suwarni, 43, as he sits in front of his house in Sragen, Central Java, Indonesia, 02 March 2017. Suryanto and his family started taking care of Sidomejo on 1994 after his parent passed away. Mbah Gotho was believed to be the world's oldest man with documentation that stated that he was born in 1870. Media reports on 01 May 2017 state that Mbah Gothon died on 30 April 2017 at the age of 146 years. EPA/ALI LUTFI

epa05939603 A 146 year old Indonesian man, Sodimejo, also called as 'Mbah Gotho' (R)wears his hearing aid with help of his grand son Suryanto, 47, in Sragen, Central Java, Indonesia, 25 February 2017. Sidomejo is taken care by his grandson Suryanto, 47, and his family after all his children passed away. Mbah Gotho was believed to be the world's oldest man with documentation that stated that he was born in 1870. Media reports on 01 May 2017 state that Mbah Gothon died on 30 April 2017 at the age of 146 years. EPA/ALI LUTFI

The World's oldest woman, Jeanne Calment, 120 years old, is kissed by two young girls during a special ceremony in a retirement home in Arles, Southern France, February 21, 1995. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelisser/File Photo

Sodimejo, also called as 'Mbah Gotho' is assisted by his grandson Suryanto in Sragen, Central Java. Mbah Gotho was claimed to be the world's oldest man with documentation that stated that he was born in 1870. Photo: EPA

Emma Morano, last known survivor of the 19th century, dies aged 117 in Italy

Emma Morano next to a picture of when she was young. Morano, an Italian woman believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor of the 19th century, has died at the age of 117. File photo: EPA

FILE PHOTO - Emma Morano, thought to be the world's oldest person and the last to be born in the 1800s, blows candles during her 117th birthday in Verbania, northern Italy November 29, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo/File Photo

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016 file photo, Emma Morano sits in her home on the day of her 117th birthday in Verbania, Italy. An Italian doctor says Emma Morano, at 117 the world's oldest person, has died in her home in northern Italy. Dr. Carlo Bava told The Associated Press by telephone that Morano's caretaker called him to say the woman had passed away Saturday, April 15, 2017 afternoon while sitting in an armchair in her home in Verbania, a town on Lake Maggiore. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

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Scientists doubt that extreme natural longevity is feasible. But if lifespan is ruled by a genetic ‘clock’, that view could change
