Around 50% of a person's lifespan is determined by genetics, a new study suggests, more than doubling previous estimates of the heritability of longevity.
The new research, published Jan. 29 in the journal Science, used a carefully designed mathematical model to reach this conclusion. With the model, the team behind the work could account for external causes of death, such as accidents or infections, eliminating these environmental factors from their heritability estimates.
