DNA Mutation Time Bombs May Dictate When Animals Die

Animals carry “mutational clocks” in their cells that dictate how quickly their DNA picks up mutations. And across species, animals tend to die once they reach a certain number of mutations, according to new research.

It turns out that in long-lived mammals like humans, these mutational clocks run slower than in short-lived mammals like mice, which means that humans reach a threshold number of mutations at older than mice. This finding, the researchers say, could help solve a long-standing mystery in biology.