Our body contains literally trillions of cells. It is absurd to think that among all these cells there will be only a few mutations. Mutations will occur in all cell types all over the body.
What I find really interesting is that the mortality distribution in Gompertz's law may be predicted using the Euler-Lotka equation. This says that the reason we die is because there is an absence of selective pressure for the individual in a species to live longer (link: http://www.genetics.org/content/156/3/927.full.pdf)
The longer an organism lives the more it can reproduce, the more copies of it's genes there will be. Any gene that increases (reproductive) lifespan is strongly selected for.
Not correct, though intuitive. Consider each offspring to be 50% of the genes of the parent. A parent with three children is competing with hir own genetics, and losing.
It seems like the rate of reproduction rather than total reproductive lifespan is what matters for selection. A longer lifespan at the expense of a lower rate of reproduction would not be selected for.
What I find really interesting is that the mortality distribution in Gompertz's law may be predicted using the Euler-Lotka equation. This says that the reason we die is because there is an absence of selective pressure for the individual in a species to live longer (link: http://www.genetics.org/content/156/3/927.full.pdf)