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The scientific view of what determines a life span [1]or how a person ages has swung[2] back and forth. First, a couple of decades ago, the emphasis was on environment, eating right, exercising, and getting good medical care. 47 It is the idea that you either inherit the right combination of genes that will let you eat fatty steaks and smoke cigars and live to be 100, or you do not. And the notion has stuck[3]. 48 If they can come up with an ancestor or two who lived a long life, they assume they have a genetic gift for longevity. But recent studies find that genes may not be so important in...

The scientific view of what determines a life span [1]or how a person ages has swung[2] back and forth. First, a couple of decades ago, the emphasis was on environment, eating right, exercising, and getting good medical care. 47 It is the idea that you either inherit the right combination of genes that will let you eat fatty steaks and smoke cigars and live to be 100, or you do not. And the notion has stuck[3]. 48 If they can come up with an ancestor or two who lived a long life, they assume they have a genetic gift for longevity. But recent studies find that genes may not be so important in determining how long someone will live and whether a person will get some diseases—except, perhaps, in some exceptionally long-lived families. 49 The likely reason is that life span is determined by such a complex mix of events that there is no accurate predicting for individuals. The factors include genetic predispositions[4], disease, nutrition, a woman’s health during pregnancy, and subtle[5] injuries and accident. 50 The result is that old people can appear to be struck down for many reasons, or for what looks like almost no reason at all, just chance.