India, July 29 -- We often romanticise the past, imagining a time when people lived closer to nature, ate only organic food, drank pure water, and breathed clean air. It's easy to assume those were the keys to a longer, healthier life. In a July 28 episode with Hasan Minhaj on the podcast Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson challenges that idea, offering a reality check on what truly shaped human longevity. (Also read: Jimmy Carter, the longest-lived president dies at 100: 7 key longevity lessons from his remarkable, century-long life )

Reflecting on human survival over millennia, Tyson explained how dramatically life expectancy has changed, thanks to science, not just clean living. "When we were all living in c...