Eggs can survive decades without signs of aging. Now, scientists may know why
In a high-stakes evolutionary gambit, female mammals are born with a finite supply of immature eggs. Propagating future generations depends on this reserve of pre-egg cells, or “primordial oocytes”, staying alive and out of the way of harmful, mutation-causing molecules — sometimes for decades — so they can give rise to mature eggs capable of producing healthy offspring.
Such a feat should be impossible.
