4 ms·

Does that mean we would live shorter lifespans than other apes without medicine, sanitation (and all the other stuff the Romans did for us)? I remember somethi

• masklinn 10y ago
  > I remember something about the metabolic rate being tied to lifespan. The "rate of living" theory of ageing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rate-of-living_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rate-of-living_theory Or possibly the free-radical one, which indirectly links metabolism to ageing via metabolic production of free radicals?
• emn13 10y ago
  The question is whether that's cause or effect - and regardless, the correlation between metabolic rate and lifespan clearly isn't very strong (as in there are many other factors that probably matter). In the big scheme of things, a mere 27% difference isn't all that great. I mean, heck, hummingbirds can live to be 10 which is more than twice as long as even record-breaking genetically engineered mice, despite hummingbirds having an unusually high metabolism. The 27% difference more remarkable if you consider how similar we are to other apes. Regardless, I can't imagine that simplistically extrapolating lifespan from metabolism is particularly accurate, even if it gets you in the right ballpark.