Somatic mutations impose an entropic upper bound on human lifespan https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.23.689982v1 > ABSTRACT > Somatic mutations accumulate with age and can cause cell death, but their quantitative contribution to limiting human lifespan remains unclear. We developed an incremental modeling framework that progressively incorporates factors contributing to aging into a model of population survival dynamics, which we used to estimate lifespan limits if all aging hallmarks were eliminated except somatic mutations. Our analysis reveals fundamental asymmetry across organs: post-mitotic ***cells such as neurons and cardiomyocytes act as critical longevity bottlenecks, with somatic mutations reducing median lifespan from a theoretical non-aging baseline of 430 years to 169 years.*** In contrast, proliferating tissues like liver maintain functionality for thousands of years through cellular replacement, effectively neutralizing mutation-driven decline. ***Multi-organ integration predicts median lifespans of 134-170 years*** —approximately twice current human longevity. This substantial yet incomplete reduction indicates that somatic mutations significantly drive aging but cannot alone account for observed mortality, implying comparable contributions from other hallmarks. https://stacker.news/items/1330227

Microsoft drops AI sales targets in half after salespeople miss their quotas https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/microsoft-slashes-ai-sales-growth-targets-as-customers-resist-unproven-agents/ > one US Azure sales unit set quotas for salespeople to increase customer spending on a product called Foundry, which helps customers develop AI applications, by 50 percent. Less than a fifth of salespeople in that unit met their Foundry sales growth targets. In July, Microsoft lowered those targets to roughly 25 percent growth for the current fiscal year. In another US Azure unit, most salespeople failed to meet an earlier quota to double Foundry sales, and Microsoft cut their quotas to 50 percent for the current fiscal year. https://stacker.news/items/1306568