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The Infographics Show, Why Do People Actually Die?

Why Do People Actually Die?

That milk in the back of your fridge. That check your bank is no longer willing to cash.

And you. What do all these things have in common?

They all have an expiration date.

Ben Franklin said there are only two things certain in life - death, and taxes. However,

certain prominent citizens have proven it's a lot easier to get out of paying taxes than it

is to live forever. From the moment we're born, we're all ticking down towards the finish line.

It seems to be the one immutable rule of life. From that plant that never seemed

to flower no matter how much sun you gave it, to your beloved first goldfish Floaty,

to the most powerful King or President, every single living being on Earth will inevitably die.

But why? Why were we all born to eventually expire?

What purpose does this serve in evolution to give us all a limited time on this planet?

It's far from exclusive to humans - we've had the opportunity to study the life cycles of

most animals and plants and those that don't die of other causes will inevitably die of old age.

Life cycles vary, but all follow a similar pattern of growth, peak years, and natural decline as

they get older. What is unique to humans is an awareness of our own mortality, and the desire

to understand what comes before, during, and after death. End-of-life care, the branch of

medicine dedicated to making people comfortable in their last year, makes up roughly ten percent

of overall medical spending, encompassing those who die from both illnesses and from old age.

But it wasn't always this way.

Hundreds of years ago, old age was a much rarer way to go out. Life expectancy was dramatically

shorter, and people were more likely to die from injury, contagious disease, infection,

or malnutrition. Many of these causes still persist in countries and regions around the world,

but the advance of medical treatment and the industrialization of food production

has cut them down and let other causes take the lead. The leading causes of death now

include heart disease, stroke, respiratory infections, dementia, cancer, and diabetes. These

non-contagious illnesses can affect people of any age but become more likely the older people get.

And of course, there's one common cause of death - old age, right? Wrong!

Would it surprise you to know that no one has ever died of old age? Age isn't a cause of death,

it's a risk factor that eventually leads people to succumb to an ailment associated with aging.

The government mandates that every death certificate lists the cause of death,

so when someone dies suddenly or in their sleep without an obvious cause of death, it used to be

frequently listed as “natural causes” or “old age”. This is starting to change. Every one of

these cases has an underlying cause and as medical science presses forward, coroners are becoming

more skilled at pinpointing the cause of death. The exception may be when someone dies peacefully

at home after a long life, and their family doesn't want an autopsy or investigation. Also,

a very old person who has been beating the odds for a long time may have a lot of underlying

ailments and it can be hard to determine which was the one that led to their death.

So does the human body have a natural expiration date?

It's rare for a person to live past a hundred years old, although this group - centenarians - is

the fastest-growing population demographic in industrialized nations due to the advances in

medical care. There's an even rarer group, super-centenarians, who have lived to

a hundred and ten and beyond! The verified oldest person ever to live, Jeanne Calment,

was a French woman born in 1875 who died in 1997, although questions about her story have

emerged in recent years - with some claiming her daughter was impersonating her in her last years.

Most experts still credit her as being the only person to ever live past a hundred and twenty,

outliving runner-up American Sarah Knauss by over three years. They should both watch out,

though, because the person in third place is still kicking. Kane Tanaka of Japan is

currently about to turn a hundred and eighteen on the second day of 2021.

So is there a secret to living this long,

or did Jeanne, Sarah, and Kane find the fountain of youth?

Those who live to over a hundred tend to have similar characteristics, such as eating well;

exercising regularly, avoiding smoking and stress, being connected to family,

and having an overall good attitude towards life. The average centenarian is also shorter

and lighter than the average. But other factors like location and environment play a role too.

Unusual concentrations of centenarians have been found in places as far apart as Okinawa,

Bulgaria, and Sardinia. Okinawa has the highest concentration of centenarians,

with five hundred per million residents, and scientists give a lot of the credit to

their diet and comparably low caloric intake, which may reduce wear and tear on the body.

Is it possible to learn from this and extend the human lifespan further?

Research into the nature of death has led to experiments in areas like cryonics, where beings

are preserved immediately after death for possible treatment and resurrection in the future. However,

this is all theoretical at the moment, as no being has ever been resurrected after death and cryonic

freezing in tests. Techniques like reperfusion, where oxygen is pumped into the blood in a very

controlled manner to prevent cell death, have been used to test the theory but may have more

use in standard medical treatment rather than in reversing death for now. Other concepts,

like developing digital uploads of the brain and transferring them into a clone body, remain

firmly in the realm of science-fiction for now. At least at this point in time, everything dies.

But what purpose does this serve in evolution? Why have millions of years

of development never managed to outgrow death?

There are many theories for the purpose death plays in evolution, and several have

been debunked. A common early theory was that we die so that younger generations can replace us.

This doesn't make sense with the primary purpose of life, though - we're a collection of genes,

and the death of an older person makes room for only one more person by their absence. As genes

only have a fifty-percent chance of being passed on to the next generation through the parent,

it doesn't make sense for evolution to develop death to favor the offspring over the parent.

There's also the theory that we die because our cells or DNA naturally degrade with age.

That's true, but it's an effect, not a cause. Our cells mutate as they divide,

and the more cells divide the higher the chance of a mutation. This can cause medical problems,

but our cells are constantly reproducing and can usually overwhelm any mutated cells. The

exception? Cancer cells, which reproduce and overwhelm the healthy cells. Cells only have

a certain number of divisions before they reach the end of their natural lifespan.

Observations of other species indicate that lifespan varies dramatically between species

and species with a higher risk of death from other means are likely

to have a shorter life expectancy. We're toward the higher end of the spectrum.

So why hasn't evolution taken care of this pesky death thing yet,

or at least kept stretching it out, if it can affect life expectancy so dramatically?

The problem is, evolution isn't here to be our friend. The priority is the long-term health

and survival of the species, not any individual, and that means genes are more likely to evolve

to focus on reproduction than preservation. Any individual can be cut down by anything at any time

- a sudden heart attack, a fall down the stairs, or a piano falling on your head from the tenth

floor. That randomness of life and the chance of a sudden death means that over a long process

of evolution, the gene mutations that are likely to further the long-term survival of the species

are the ones that will remain, and those that don't further this goal will naturally die out.

At least every living being on the planet is in the same boat, right? Yes and no.

If you want to live forever, your best bet is to be a tree. When undisturbed,

these towering plants grow and grow, only to be felled by human intervention or natural disaster.

Several trees around the world are confirmed to be well over a thousand years old,

with the oldest known tree being a bristlecone pine from California's White Mountains,

clocking in at a staggering five thousand and sixty-seven years old from a sample of its core.

That means this specific tree was standing before the Great Pyramid of Egypt was built.

But what about animals? Have any of them managed to beat the strictures of mortality?

Life expectancy among animals varies dramatically, with some insects only having a lifespan of days

or weeks. It's common for small mammals to only live a few years, as many a kid whose parents

replaced their beloved hamster Snowball with an identical one while they were at school found

out. Even powerful apex predators like the bear or tiger only live ten to twenty years in the wild.

Some of our closest relatives, like the gorilla or chimpanzee, can live closer to a human lifespan

but top out at around thirty-five to forty years - barely middle age for a human. So we can feel

pretty good about our average lifespan of the seventies and beyond. We're beating the odds!

There are a few animals, though,

who have managed lifespans that would make the average human jealous.

The animals that can live well into their hundreds are diverse, and some are unexpected.

Everyone remembers flushing their pet goldfish down the toilet after an unexpectedly short stay,

but one of their close relatives, the Koi fish, live up to thirty years on average. However,

one famous Koi named Hanako was found to be over two hundred years old based on the growth

rings on her scales! Koi aren't the only sea creatures that can live longer than most humans,

with Longfin Eels living up to 106 years old and sea urchins living into the two hundred range.

Bowhead whales have an average lifespan of two hundred years,

with one being found with a fragment of a harpoon in its skin dating back to the 1800s. The likely

champ of long lives in the ocean, though, is the Greenland Shark. Located in the arctic circle,

this shark grows very slowly and doesn't even reach maturity until they're a hundred years old.

The oldest living specimen? Four hundred years old, putting it in a range only trees can reach.

But what about land animals? Can they compete with the aging kings of the seas?

There are a lot of land animals that can live close to human lifespans,

including elephants that live up to seventy years. That's a lot of time to never forget anyone. And

if you can't bear saying goodbye to another pet who will die after two to fifteen years,

consider getting a parrot. There's a good chance the colorful bird will outlive you

with a lifespan of fifty years or more. But the longest-living land animal is one that proves

the value of taking it slow. The Galapagos Giant Tortoise, native to the remote islands, can live

well past one hundred. Their most famous specimen, Lonesome George, lived to a hundred and one, but

specimens have been reported to make it past the one hundred and fifty-year mark. However,

the tortoise couldn't outlast extinction, as sadly Lonesome George was the last of his kind.

This just proves that no matter how long we or any species live,

there's a ticking clock. Death comes for every living thing - right?

It turns out there are a few species that may have come closer to beating death than

any other. These are species that avoid the typical process of senescence, the gradual

deterioration of cell function. Lobsters are able to constantly repair their own DNA,

shedding their own shells through a difficult process while the inner tissue stays healthy

thanks to an endless supply of an enzyme that repairs their telomeres. The problem that keeps

them from being truly immortal is that they get too big for their shells, and it eventually takes

too much effort to shed the old shell, and the lobster succumbs to diseases.

Of course, for many lobsters, the end comes much quicker than that, courtesy of a fisherman's trap.

Meanwhile, a jellyfish species named Turritopsis Dohrnii stunned scientists

when it seemingly unlocked the key to immortality. These tiny,

translucent animals are found in oceans around the world and have a unique method

for preventing death. They literally turn back the clock by turning back into a tiny blob

that starts the life cycle anew. Imagine if instead of dying when we hit old age,

we just turned back into a baby again. While these jellyfish can easily die for good when

they're consumed by a predator, their natural life cycle doesn't seem to have a traditional end.

This raises the question, though, of what death truly is. These jellyfish may continue their life

cycle by restarting it, but this would likely be impossible for a more complex form of life

that thinks and learns. Still, scientists are avidly studying these strange creatures

to see if they can unlock more of the mystery surrounding our life cycle. Even as we study

death across the living kingdom it remains, for almost everything on Earth, inevitable.

For more on what happens to us when we die, check out “What Happens When You Die?”,

and for a very modern part of death, why not watch “What Happens to Your Online Life When You Die?”

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Why Do People Actually Die? Warum sterben Menschen eigentlich? Γιατί οι άνθρωποι πεθαίνουν στην πραγματικότητα; ¿Por qué muere la gente? 人はなぜ死ぬのか? 사람들은 왜 실제로 죽는가? Dlaczego ludzie tak naprawdę umierają? Porque é que as pessoas morrem de facto? Почему люди умирают? İnsanlar Aslında Neden Ölür? Чому люди насправді помирають? 人为何会死? 人們為什麼會真正死亡?

That milk in the back of your fridge. That  check your bank is no longer willing to cash. |||||||||||||||prepared to accept|| 냉장고 뒤쪽에 있는 우유. 은행에서 더 이상 현금화하지 않으려는 수표. Это молоко в задней части холодильника. Этот чек ваш банк больше не хочет обналичивать.

And you. What do all these things have in common? 그리고 당신. 이 모든 것의 공통점은 무엇일까요?

They all have an expiration date. ||||end of validity| ||||hết hạn| ||||Ablaufdatum| ||sahipler||| ||||有效期| ||||有效期限|

Ben Franklin said there are only two things  certain in life - death, and taxes. However, ||||||||確定的|||||稅務| 벤 프랭클린은 인생에서 확실한 것은 죽음과 세금 두 가지뿐이라고 말했습니다. 하지만,

certain prominent citizens have proven it's a  lot easier to get out of paying taxes than it |významní|občané|||||||||||||| 某些|||||||||||||||| |prominente Bürger||||||||||||||| |notable||||||||||||||| |显赫的||||||||||||||| 일부 저명한 시민들은 세금 납부를 피하는 것이 훨씬 쉽다는 것을 증명했습니다.

is to live forever. From the moment we're born,  we're all ticking down towards the finish line. |||||||||||ticken||||| means to exist|||||||||||||||| ||||から|その|||||||||||

It seems to be the one immutable rule of  life. From that plant that never seemed ||||||unchangeable||||||||| ||||||不可改變的||||||||| ||||||unveränderliche||||||||| ||||||不可改变的||||从...中||植物||| ||||||neměnný||||||||| ||||||不変の||||||||| 그것은 불변의 삶의 법칙인 것 같습니다. 그 식물에서

to flower no matter how much sun you gave  it, to your beloved first goldfish Floaty, |||||||||||||||beloved goldfish Floaty ||||||||||||||金魚 Floaty|浮浮 ||||||||||||geliebter|||Schwimmie |开花|||||||||对||心爱的||金鱼 Floaty|浮浮 ||||||||||||milovaný||| |||||||||||||||フローティ 사랑하는 첫 금붕어 플로티에게 아무리 많은 햇볕을 주어도 꽃을 피우지 못합니다, om te bloeien, ongeacht hoeveel zon je het gaf, aan je geliefde eerste goudvis Floaty,

to the most powerful King or President, every  single living being on Earth will inevitably die. ||||||||||||||nevyhnutelně| 对||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||unweigerlich sterben| ||||||||||||||certainly| ||最強大的||||||每一個||||||| 가장 강력한 왕이나 대통령에 이르기까지, 지구상의 모든 생명체는 필연적으로 죽을 수밖에 없습니다. для самого могущественного Короля или президента каждое живое существо на Земле неминуемо умрет.

But why? Why were we all  born to eventually expire? |||||||||zemřít |||||||||vergehen |||||||||pass away 하지만 왜일까요? 우리는 왜 모두 언젠가 만료될 운명을 타고났을까요?

What purpose does this serve in evolution to  give us all a limited time on this planet? ||||起到|||||||||||| ||||||進化過程|||||||||| 우리 모두에게 지구라는 한정된 시간을 부여하는 진화의 목적은 무엇일까요? Какой цели это служит в эволюции, чтобы дать всем нам ограниченное время на этой планете?

It's far from exclusive to humans - we've had  the opportunity to study the life cycles of ||||||||||||||životní cykly| |||||||||機會|||||| |||ausschließlich|||||||||||| |遠く|||に||||||||||| 인간에게만 국한된 것이 아니라 다음과 같은 동물의 수명 주기를 연구할 기회가 있었습니다. Nie ogranicza się to wyłącznie do ludzi - mieliśmy okazję badać cykle życiowe innych zwierząt.

most animals and plants and those that don't die  of other causes will inevitably die of old age. 대부분의 동식물과 다른 원인으로 죽지 않는 동식물은 필연적으로 노화로 인해 죽게 됩니다.

Life cycles vary, but all follow a similar pattern  of growth, peak years, and natural decline as ||liší se|||||||||vrcholné období||||úpadek| ||variieren|||||||||||||| ||||||||trend|||||||| 수명 주기는 다양하지만 모두 다음과 같이 성장, 정점, 자연 감소의 유사한 패턴을 따릅니다.

they get older. What is unique to humans is an  awareness of our own mortality, and the desire |||||jedinečné||||jedinečné pro lidi|vědomí si||||||| ||||||||||||||死亡意识||| ||||||||||||||Sterblichkeit||| ||||||||||||||ölümlülük bilinci||| ||||||||||||||死の自覚|||

to understand what comes before, during, and  after death. End-of-life care, the branch of ||||||||||||||obor| ||ne olduğunu||||||||"son"||||dalı| 를 통해 죽음 전, 죽음 중, 죽음 후에 어떤 일이 일어나는지 이해할 수 있습니다. 임종 간호의 한 분야인

medicine dedicated to making people comfortable  in their last year, makes up roughly ten percent |专门用于|||||||||||大约|| ||||||||||||yaklaşık olarak|| 마지막 해를 편안하게 보내는 데 전념하는 의약품이 약 10%를 차지합니다.

of overall medical spending, encompassing those  who die from both illnesses and from old age. ||||including both|||||||||| ||||umfassend|||||||||| ||||kapsayan|||||||||| ||||涵盖|||||||||| ||||zahrnující|||||||||| ||||包括する||||||||||

But it wasn't always this way.

Hundreds of years ago, old age was a much rarer  way to go out. Life expectancy was dramatically |||||||||vzácnější||||||očekávaná délka života|| |||||||||より珍しい|方法|||外に||||

shorter, and people were more likely to die  from injury, contagious disease, infection, ||||||||||nakažlivá nemoc|| ||||||||||传染病|| ||||||||||ansteckend|| ||||||||||spreadable illness|| ||||||||||感染症|| krótszy, a ludzie byli bardziej narażeni na śmierć z powodu urazów, chorób zakaźnych i infekcji,

or malnutrition. Many of these causes still  persist in countries and regions around the world, |poor nutrition||||||||||||| |Unterernährung||||||fortbestehen||||||| |yetersiz beslenme|Birçoğu|||||devam etmektedir||||||| |营养不良||||||持续存在||||||| |podvýživa||||||||||||| |栄養失調||||||持続する||||||| lub niedożywienie. Wiele z tych przyczyn nadal występuje w krajach i regionach na całym świecie,

but the advance of medical treatment and  the industrialization of food production ||||||||工业化||| ||||||||mass food production||| ||||||||工業化|||

has cut them down and let other causes take  the lead. The leading causes of death now zmniejszyła ich liczbę i pozwoliła innym przyczynom przejąć inicjatywę. Głównymi przyczynami zgonów są obecnie

include heart disease, stroke, respiratory  infections, dementia, cancer, and diabetes. These ||||Breathing-related||cognitive decline disorder|||| ||||Atemwegserkrankungen||Demenz|||| |||ictus||||||| ||||呼吸系统||痴呆症|癌症||糖尿病| |||mrtvice|||demence|||| |||脳卒中|呼吸器系||認知症|||糖尿病|

non-contagious illnesses can affect people of any  age but become more likely the older people get. |nakažlivé|||ovlivnit|||||||||||| |传染性|||||||||||||||变得 非|感染性の|病気|||||||||||||| Choroby niezakaźne mogą dotknąć osoby w każdym wieku, ale prawdopodobieństwo ich wystąpienia wzrasta wraz z wiekiem.

And of course, there's one common  cause of death - old age, right? Wrong! I oczywiście jest jedna wspólna przyczyna śmierci - starość, prawda? Błąd!

Would it surprise you to know that no one has  ever died of old age? Age isn't a cause of death,

it's a risk factor that eventually leads people  to succumb to an ailment associated with aging. |||||||||give in to|||health condition||| |||||||||erliegen|||Krankheit||| ||||||||||||malattia||| |||||||||屈服于|||疾病||| |||||||||podlehnout|||onemocnění spojené se stárnutím||| |||||||||屈する|||病気|||

The government mandates that every death  certificate lists the cause of death, ||nařizuje||||||||| ||要求||||死亡证明书||||| ||verlangt||||||||| ||requires||||||||| ||義務付ける|||||記載する||||

so when someone dies suddenly or in their sleep  without an obvious cause of death, it used to be 所以||||||||||||||||||

frequently listed as “natural causes” or “old  age”. This is starting to change. Every one of

these cases has an underlying cause and as medical  science presses forward, coroners are becoming ||||||||||advances, progresses, moves||medical examiners|| ||||||||||voranschreitet||Gerichtsmediziner|| ||||||||||||medici legali|| ||||潜在的||||||||验尸官|| ||||základní||||||pokračuje vpřed||koroneři|| ||||根本的な|原因|||||||検視官||

more skilled at pinpointing the cause of death.  The exception may be when someone dies peacefully |zručnější||určení přesné příčiny|||||||||||| |||确定|||||||||||| |||genauer bestimmen|||||||||||| |||identifying precisely||||||||||||

at home after a long life, and their family  doesn't want an autopsy or investigation. Also, ||||||||||||尸检||调查| ||||||||||||Obduktion||Untersuchung| ||||||||||||解剖|||

a very old person who has been beating the odds  for a long time may have a lot of underlying |||||||||||||||||||skryté problémy |||||||||||||||||||zugrunde liegend ||||||生き延びてきた|打ち勝っている||確率||||||||||

ailments and it can be hard to determine  which was the one that led to their death. |||||||určit||||||||| Krankheiten|||||||||||||||| 病気||||||||||||||||

So does the human body have  a natural expiration date? |||||||přirozený||

It's rare for a person to live past a hundred  years old, although this group - centenarians - is |||||||||||||||století lidé| |||||||||||||||百岁老人| |||||||||||||||Hundertjährige| |||||||||||||||people over 100| |||||||||||||||百歳以上の人|

the fastest-growing population demographic in  industrialized nations due to the advances in |||||||||||Fortschritte bei| ||||人口統計||工業化した||||||

medical care. There's an even rarer group,  super-centenarians, who have lived to |||||vzácnější skupina|||||||

a hundred and ten and beyond! The verified  oldest person ever to live, Jeanne Calment, |||||a dále||||||||| |||||||验证过的||||||| |||||||||||||Jeanne Calment|Jeanne Calment |||||||確認された||||||ジャンヌ|カルマン

was a French woman born in 1875 who died in  1997, although questions about her story have

emerged in recent years - with some claiming her  daughter was impersonating her in her last years. objevily se||||||tvrdící||||vydávala se za||||| 出现了||||||声称||||冒充身份||||| ||||||||||nachahmen||||| came to light||||||||||pretending to be||||| ||||||||||なりすまし||||| В последние годы появились сообщения о том, что ее дочь выдавала себя за нее в последние годы жизни.

Most experts still credit her as being the only  person to ever live past a hundred and twenty, ほとんどの||||||||||||||||| Большинство экспертов до сих пор считают ее единственным человеком, дожившим до ста двадцати лет,

outliving runner-up American Sarah Knauss by  over three years. They should both watch out, přežila|||||||||||||| |Zweitplatzierte||||||||||||| |||||Sarah Knauss||||||||| 上回った|||||クナウス|||||||||

though, because the person in third place  is still kicking. Kane Tanaka of Japan is |||||||||还在活着||||| ||||||||||Kane Tanaka|Kane Tanaka||| |||||||||元気に活動して|||||

currently about to turn a hundred and  eighteen on the second day of 2021.

So is there a secret to living this long,

or did Jeanne, Sarah, and Kane  find the fountain of youth? ||||||||fontána mládí||mládí ||||||||青春之泉||青春之泉 ||||||||Brunnen der Jugend|| ||ジャンヌ||||||||

Those who live to over a hundred tend to have  similar characteristics, such as eating well; ||||||||||||||食事|健康的に

exercising regularly, avoiding smoking  and stress, being connected to family, regelmäßige Bewegung||||||||| |定期的に|避ける|||ストレス||つながりを持つ||

and having an overall good attitude towards  life. The average centenarian is also shorter ||||||||||stoletý člověk||| ||||||||||100-year-old||| |持っている|||||||||100歳以上の人|||

and lighter than the average. But other factors  like location and environment play a role too.

Unusual concentrations of centenarians have  been found in places as far apart as Okinawa, |||století lidé|||||||||| 异常的|集中分布||||||||||||冲绳岛 |Konzentrationen|||||||||||| |||||||||||||Japanese island

Bulgaria, and Sardinia. Okinawa has the  highest concentration of centenarians, Bulharsko||Sardinie|Okinawa|||||| 保加利亚||撒丁岛||||||| ||サルデーニャ|||||||

with five hundred per million residents,  and scientists give a lot of the credit to

their diet and comparably low caloric intake,  which may reduce wear and tear on the body. |||srovnatelně nízký|||příjem kalorií||||opotřebení těla||opotřebení||| |||相对较低|||||||||||| |||vergleichsweise|||Kalorienzufuhr||||||||| |||比較的に||カロリー|||||消耗|||||

Is it possible to learn from this and  extend the human lifespan further? |||||||||||寿命| ||||||||verlängern|||| |||||||||||Length of life|

Research into the nature of death has led to  experiments in areas like cryonics, where beings |||||||||||||kryonika|| |||||||||||||冷冻技术|| |||||||||||||Kryonik-Forschung|| |||||||||||||cryopreservation of bodies|| |||||||||||||人体冷凍保存|| Onderzoek naar de aard van de dood heeft geleid tot experimenten op gebieden als cryonics, waar wezens

are preserved immediately after death for possible  treatment and resurrection in the future. However, |zachováni||||||||vzkříšení v budoucnu|||| |||||||||复活|||| |||||||||Wiederbelebung|||| |||||||||bringing back to life|||| |||||||||蘇生||||

this is all theoretical at the moment, as no being  has ever been resurrected after death and cryonic |||||||||||||||||kryonika |||||||||||||复活||||冷冻保存 |||||||||||||wiederbelebt worden|||| |||||||||||||brought back alive||||post-mortem preservation |||理論的||||||||||復活した||||冷凍保存 dit is op dit moment allemaal theoretisch, aangezien geen enkel wezen ooit is herrezen na de dood en cryonisch

freezing in tests. Techniques like reperfusion,  where oxygen is pumped into the blood in a very |||||restoring blood flow||||injected or infused|||||| |||||Wiederdurchblutung|||||||||| |||||reperfusione|||||||||| |||||再灌注|||||||||| |||||reperfuze|||||||||| |||||再灌流||||注入される|||||| bevriezing in tests. Technieken zoals reperfusie, waarbij zuurstof in een zeer

controlled manner to prevent cell death, have  been used to test the theory but may have more |kontrollierte Weise|||||||||||||||

use in standard medical treatment rather than  in reversing death for now. Other concepts, ||||||||zvrácení účinků|||||koncepty léčby ||||||||逆转||||| ||||||||umzukehren||||| ||||||||逆転する|||||

like developing digital uploads of the brain  and transferring them into a clone body, remain |||nahrávání dat||||||||||| |||上传数据|||||转移|||||| |||digital transfers||||||||||| ||||||||||||クローン|| zoals het ontwikkelen van digitale uploads van de hersenen en deze overbrengen naar een kloonlichaam, blijven

firmly in the realm of science-fiction for now.  At least at this point in time, everything dies. |||domain|||||||||||||| |||Bereich|||||||||||||| |||ambito|||||||||||||| 牢牢地|||科幻领域|||||||||||||| |||říše vědecké fikce|||||||||||||| |||領域||||||で||||||||

But what purpose does this serve in  evolution? Why have millions of years

of development never managed to outgrow death? |||||překonat| |||||überwinden| |||||surpass or escape| |||||成長して超える|

There are many theories for the purpose  death plays in evolution, and several have

been debunked. A common early theory was that we  die so that younger generations can replace us. |disproved||||||||||||||| |widerlegt worden||||||||||||||| |smentito||||||||||||||| |被揭穿||||||||||||||| |vyvrácená teorie||||||||||||||| |反証された|||||||||||||||

This doesn't make sense with the primary purpose  of life, though - we're a collection of genes, ||align||||||||||||| ||||||||||||遺伝子|||

and the death of an older person makes room for  only one more person by their absence. As genes

only have a fifty-percent chance of being passed  on to the next generation through the parent,

it doesn't make sense for evolution to develop  death to favor the offspring over the parent. ||||||||||||young generation||| ||||||||||bevorzugen||Nachkommen||| ||||||||||||prole||| ||||||||||||后代||| |||||evoluce|||||||potomstvo||| |||||進化|||||子孫を優先する||子孫|||

There's also the theory that we die because  our cells or DNA naturally degrade with age. |||||||||||||退化|| |||||||||||||abbauen|| |||||||||||||劣化する||

That's true, but it's an effect, not a  cause. Our cells mutate as they divide, |||||结果||||||突变|||分裂 |||||||||||変異する|||

and the more cells divide the higher the chance  of a mutation. This can cause medical problems, |||||||||||突变||||| |||||||||||突然変異|||||

but our cells are constantly reproducing and  can usually overwhelm any mutated cells. The |||||reprodukují se||||přemoci||mutované|| |||||||||||突变的|| |||||再生する||||||変異した|| |||||||||sopraffare||||

exception? Cancer cells, which reproduce and  overwhelm the healthy cells. Cells only have výjimka|||||||||||| ||||繁殖||||||||

a certain number of divisions before they  reach the end of their natural lifespan. |||||||||||||寿命期限

Observations of other species indicate that  lifespan varies dramatically between species Pozorování|||||||||| Beobachtungen anderer Arten||||deuten darauf hin||||||

and species with a higher risk of  death from other means are likely

to have a shorter life expectancy. We're  toward the higher end of the spectrum. |||||očekávaná délka života|||||||| |||||预期寿命||||||||范围内 |||||||||||||範囲

So why hasn't evolution taken care  of this pesky death thing yet, ||||||||annoying||| ||||||||lästige||| ||||||||fastidioso||| ||||||||讨厌的||| ||||||||otravná||| ||||||||厄介な|||

or at least kept stretching it out, if it  can affect life expectancy so dramatically? ||||拉长|||||||||| ||||in die Länge ziehen||||||||||

The problem is, evolution isn't here to be our  friend. The priority is the long-term health |||evoluce||||||||||||| |||||||||||优先事项|||||

and survival of the species, not any individual,  and that means genes are more likely to evolve ||||||||||||||||vyvíjet se

to focus on reproduction than preservation. Any  individual can be cut down by anything at any time |||||zachování||||||||||| |||||Erhaltung||||||||||| |||||long-term survival||||||||||| |||繁殖||||||||||何でも|||

- a sudden heart attack, a fall down the stairs,  or a piano falling on your head from the tenth 一个||||||||||||||||||

floor. That randomness of life and the chance  of a sudden death means that over a long process ||náhodnost života||||||||||||||| ||人生の偶然|||||||||||||||

of evolution, the gene mutations that are likely  to further the long-term survival of the species ||||突然変異||||||||||||

are the ones that will remain, and those that  don't further this goal will naturally die out. ||||||||||||||přirozeně||

At least every living being on the planet  is in the same boat, right? Yes and no.

If you want to live forever, your best  bet is to be a tree. When undisturbed, |||||||||||||||不受干扰时 |||||||||||||||unberührt ||||||||選択|||||||邪魔されなければ

these towering plants grow and grow, only to be  felled by human intervention or natural disaster. |vysoké||||||||pokáceny|||||| ||||||||||||Eingreifen||| |||||||||cut down|||||| |そびえ立つ||||||||伐採される|||介入|||

Several trees around the world are confirmed  to be well over a thousand years old, ||||||bestätigt worden||||||||

with the oldest known tree being a bristlecone  pine from California's White Mountains, |||||||borovice osinatá|borovice osinatá||Kalifornských|| |||||||狐尾松||||| |||||||Bristlecone-Kiefer||||| |||||||ancient pine tree|type of tree||belonging to California|| |||||||ブリッスルコーン|||||

clocking in at a staggering five thousand and  sixty-seven years old from a sample of its core. ||||ohromující|||||||||||||jádro vzorku 测定年龄||||惊人的||||||||||||| mit einer erstaunlichen||||erstaunliche||||||||||||| measuring at||||astonishingly high||||||||||||| 年齢||||驚くべき|||||||||||||

That means this specific tree was standing  before the Great Pyramid of Egypt was built. ||||||||||||Egypta|| ||||||||||金字塔||||

But what about animals? Have any of them  managed to beat the strictures of mortality? ||||||||||||omezení úmrtnosti|| ||||||||||||束缚|| ||||||||||||Einschränkungen|| ||||||||||||limitations of mortality|| ||||||||||||制約||死の制約

Life expectancy among animals varies dramatically,  with some insects only having a lifespan of days |očekávaná délka života|||se liší||||||||||

or weeks. It's common for small mammals to only  live a few years, as many a kid whose parents ||||||哺乳類||||||||||||

replaced their beloved hamster Snowball with an  identical one while they were at school found |||křečka|Sněhová koule|||||||||| |||ハムスター|スノーボール||||||||||

out. Even powerful apex predators like the bear or  tiger only live ten to twenty years in the wild. |||vrcholový predátor|dravci|||||||||||||| |||Spitzen-||||||||||||||| |||top-level||||||||||||||| |||predatori all'apice||||||||||||||| |||頂点捕食者|捕食者|||クマ|||||||||||

Some of our closest relatives, like the gorilla  or chimpanzee, can live closer to a human lifespan |||||||gorila||šimpanz||||||| |||||||||チンパンジー|||||||

but top out at around thirty-five to forty years  - barely middle age for a human. So we can feel |最高||||||||||||||||||

pretty good about our average lifespan of the  seventies and beyond. We're beating the odds! ||||||||siebziger Jahre|||||| ||||||||70年代||||||確率

There are a few animals, though,

who have managed lifespans that  would make the average human jealous.

The animals that can live well into their  hundreds are diverse, and some are unexpected. ||||||||||různorodá||||

Everyone remembers flushing their pet goldfish  down the toilet after an unexpectedly short stay, ||spláchnutí||||||||||| ||hinunterspülen|||||||||||

but one of their close relatives, the Koi fish,  live up to thirty years on average. However, |||||||Koi fish||||||||| |||||||鯉|||||||||

one famous Koi named Hanako was found to be  over two hundred years old based on the growth ||||the koi||||||||||||| ||||花子|||||||||||||

rings on her scales! Koi aren't the only sea  creatures that can live longer than most humans, |||Schuppen|||||||||||||

with Longfin Eels living up to 106 years old and  sea urchins living into the two hundred range. ||||||||||ježovky||||||rozmezí dvou set |Long-lived|Longfin Eels||||||||sea creatures|||||| |ロングフィン|ウナギ||||||||ウニ|||||| met Longfin Eels die tot 106 jaar oud worden en zee-egels die in het bereik van tweehonderd leven. Угри-долгопяты живут до 106 лет, а морские ежи - до двухсот лет.

Bowhead whales have an average  lifespan of two hundred years, Velryby grónské||||||||| Grönlandwale||||||||| Arctic whale species||||||||| ザトウクジ||||||||| Groenlandse walvissen hebben een gemiddelde levensduur van tweehonderd jaar,

with one being found with a fragment of a harpoon  in its skin dating back to the 1800s. The likely |||||||||harpunou||||||||||pravděpodobně ||||||piece||||||||||||| ||||||破片|||ハープーン|||||||||| |||||||||fiocina||||||||||

champ of long lives in the ocean, though, is the  Greenland Shark. Located in the arctic circle, šampion|||životů|||||||Grónský žralok|||||| |||||||||||||||Arctic Circle region|

this shark grows very slowly and doesn't even  reach maturity until they're a hundred years old. |||||||||Reife|||||| |||||||||成熟||||||

The oldest living specimen? Four hundred years  old, putting it in a range only trees can reach. |||exemplář||||||||||||| |||Exemplar||||||||||||| |||living example||||||||||||| |||標本|||||||||||||

But what about land animals? Can they  compete with the aging kings of the seas?

There are a lot of land animals that  can live close to human lifespans, |||||||||||||寿命

including elephants that live up to seventy years.  That's a lot of time to never forget anyone. And

if you can't bear saying goodbye to another  pet who will die after two to fifteen years,

consider getting a parrot. There's a good  chance the colorful bird will outlive you ||||||||||||přežít vás| ||||||||||||あなたより長生き|

with a lifespan of fifty years or more. But the  longest-living land animal is one that proves |||||||||||||||||証明する

the value of taking it slow. The Galapagos Giant  Tortoise, native to the remote islands, can live ||||||||||původem z|||vzdálené ostrovy||| |||||||Patience and longevity||Slow and steady||||||| |||||||ガラパゴス|||||||||

well past one hundred. Their most famous specimen,  Lonesome George, lived to a hundred and one, but |||||||exemplář||||||||| |||||||individual or example|Solitary|||||||| ||||||||ロンソム||||||||

specimens have been reported to make it past  the one hundred and fifty-year mark. However, individuals||||||||||||||| 標本|||||||||||||||

the tortoise couldn't outlast extinction, as  sadly Lonesome George was the last of his kind. |želva||přežít|vyhynutí|||Osamělý George||||||| |||überleben||||||||||| |giant tortoise||survive beyond||||||||||| |||生き残る|絶滅||||||||||

This just proves that no matter  how long we or any species live,

there's a ticking clock. Death comes  for every living thing - right?

It turns out there are a few species that  may have come closer to beating death than

any other. These are species that avoid the  typical process of senescence, the gradual |||||||||||stárnutí|| |||||||||||Alterungsprozess|| |||||||||||aging process|| |||||||||||invecchiamento graduale|| |||||||||||老化||

deterioration of cell function. Lobsters  are able to constantly repair their own DNA, zhoršení funkce buněk||||Humři opravují DNA|||||||| Verschlechterung||||Hummer reparieren DNA|||||||| ||||Self-repairing DNA|||||||| |||機能|||||||||

shedding their own shells through a difficult  process while the inner tissue stays healthy shazování skořápek||||||||||||| abwerfen|||||||||||Gewebe|| casting off||||||||||||| 脱皮|||||||||||||

thanks to an endless supply of an enzyme that  repairs their telomeres. The problem that keeps |||||||enzymu, který opravuje||||telomery|||| |||||||||||Telomere repariert|||| |||||||||||chromosome end caps|||| |||||||enzima||||telomeri|||| |||||||酵素||||テロメア||||

them from being truly immortal is that they get  too big for their shells, and it eventually takes ||||nesmrtelní||||||||||||| ||||never dying||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||かかる

too much effort to shed the old shell,  and the lobster succumbs to diseases. ||||shodit|||||||podlehne|| ||||abstreifen|||||||erliegt|| |||||||||||falls victim|| |あまりに||||||||||かかる||

Of course, for many lobsters, the end comes much  quicker than that, courtesy of a fisherman's trap. ||||||||||||zásluhou|||| ||||||||||||dank einer|||| ||||||||||||thanks to|||| |||||||||||||||漁師の|

Meanwhile, a jellyfish species named  Turritopsis Dohrnii stunned scientists ||medúza Turritopsis Dohrnii|||||ohromila| |||||||erstaunte| |||||immortal jellyfish species|Turritopsis Dohrnii|amazed| |||||タウリトプ|ドーニー||

when it seemingly unlocked the  key to immortality. These tiny, ||zdánlivě||||||| |||||||不死の鍵||

translucent animals are found in oceans  around the world and have a unique method durchscheinend||||||||||||| semi-transparent||||||||||||| 半透明の|||||||||||||

for preventing death. They literally turn back  the clock by turning back into a tiny blob |||||||||||||||shluk |||||||||||||||tiny mass om de dood te voorkomen. Ze draaien de klok letterlijk terug door terug te veranderen in een kleine klodder

that starts the life cycle anew. Imagine  if instead of dying when we hit old age, |||||znovu|||||||||| |||||von neuem|||||||||| |||||from scratch||||||||||

we just turned back into a baby again. While  these jellyfish can easily die for good when

they're consumed by a predator, their natural  life cycle doesn't seem to have a traditional end.

This raises the question, though, of what death  truly is. These jellyfish may continue their life

cycle by restarting it, but this would likely  be impossible for a more complex form of life ||再起動||||||||||||||

that thinks and learns. Still, scientists  are avidly studying these strange creatures |||učí se||||horlivě|||| |||||||eifrig|||| |||||||eagerly|||| |||||||熱心に||||

to see if they can unlock more of the mystery  surrounding our life cycle. Even as we study

death across the living kingdom it remains,  for almost everything on Earth, inevitable. ||||||||||||nevyhnutelná ||||||||||||unvermeidlich |||生きている|生物界||||||||

For more on what happens to us when we die,  check out “What Happens When You Die?”,

and for a very modern part of death, why not watch  “What Happens to Your Online Life When You Die?”