Gompertz Law of human mortality

What do you think are the odds that you will die during the next year? Try to put a number to it — 1 in 100? 1 in 10,000? Whatever it is, it will be twice as large 8 years from now. This startling fact was first noticed by the British actuary Benjamin Gompertz in 1825 and is now called the “Gompertz Law of human mortality.” Your probability of dying during a given year doubles every 8 years. For me, a 25-year-old American, the probability of dying during the next year is a fairly ...

 Different Cells are Replaced at Different Rates

Different types of cells have different lifespans, e.g.:  we shed our skin cells about every 35 days red blood cells live about 120 days, platelets 6 days and white cells less than a day most of the adult skeleton is replaced about every 10 years the average age of a fat cell seems to be about 10 years a 25-year-old heart replaces about 1% of all its cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells ) over the course of a year, while a 75-year-old heart replaces about half a percent ...