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Somatic vs Germline Mutations: The mutations shown above accumulate in your
body cells (somatic) and affect YOUR healthβcancer risk, aging, organ function.
These are NOT passed to children.
However, germline mutations (in sperm/egg cells) ARE inherited. A key insight:
sperm cells divide continuously throughout a man's life (~23 divisions/year),
accumulating copy errors. A 50-year-old father's sperm has undergone ~800 cell divisions vs ~200 for a 20-year-old.
Eggs are differentβwomen are born with all eggs already formed. Older eggs don't
have more point mutations, but do have higher chromosomal error risk due to
degrading cellular machinery.
Patriarchal Ages: Genesis records men like Noah fathering children at 500 years.
At ~23 sperm divisions/year, that's ~11,000 cell divisionsβeach an opportunity for copy errors.
This may explain the declining lifespans after the flood as mutations accumulated across generations.
At 80 years, you're within the typical human lifespan range.