Phenomenological theory of mortality and aging

There are many theories of mortality, but no consensus even on the basic problem: is it genetically determined? in a general case, the problem is mathematically unsolvable. Yet, in the case of mortality. a physical approach yields its universal law. The law predicts, e.g., that mortality and senescence may decrease with age. Experiments verify it. I suggest experiments, which are supposed to produce genetic Methuselas, who live, e.g., over 20 eta (eta is the mean life span), but whose biological age is less than eta/2. If the universal mortality law is convincingly proven, it may lead to a quantitative model and theory of mortality and aging. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.