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How Long Can People Live ?   She took up skating at age 85 , made her first movie appearance at age 114 , and held a concert in the neighborhood on her 121st birthday .   When it comes to long life , Jeanne Calment is the world’s recordholder . She lived to the ripe old age of 122 . So is 122 the upper limit to the human life span (寿命)? If scientists come up with some sort of pill or diet that would slow aging , could we possibly make it to 150 — or beyond ?   Researchers don’t entirely agree on the answers . “Calment lived to 122 , so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone alive today reaches 130 or 135 ,”says Jerry Shay at the University of Texas .   Steve Austad at the University of Texas agrees . “People can live much longer than we think , ”he says . “Experts used to say that humans couldn’t live past 110 . When Calment blew past that age , they raised the number to 120 . So why can’t we go higher ?”   The trouble with guessing how old people can live to be is that it’s all just guessing .“Anyone can make up a number , ”says Rich Miller at the University of Michigan . “Usually the scientist who picks the highest number gets his name in Time magazine .”   Won’t new anti – aging techniques keep us alive for centuries ? Any cure , says Miller , for aging would probably keep most of us kicking until about 120 . Researchers are working on treatments that lengthen the life span of mice by 50 percent at most So , if the average human life span is about 80 years , says Miller , “adding another 50 percent would get you to 120 .”   So what can we conclude from this little disagreement among the researchers ? That life span is flexible (有弹性的) , but there is a limit , says George Martin of the University of Washington . “We can get flies to live 50 percent longer ,”he says . “But a fly’s never going to live 150 years .”Of course , if you became a new species (物种), one that ages at a slower speed , that would be a different story , he adds .   Does Martin really believe that humans could evolve (进化) their way to longer life ? “It’s preetty cool to think about ,”he says with a smile .