Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 2d

Very sad news.

Gurdon shared the Nobel with Shinya Yamanaka for showing how we can turn the clock back inside cells through reprogramming—now one of the most promising potential longevity interventions.

University of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk · 2d

It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social

Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Roland Pease @peaseroland.bsky.social · 5d

And maybe save Science in Action from the axe?

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

BBC bosses want defence budget to help pay for the World Service

Exclusive: Executives at corporation say media monitoring and anti-disinformation are vital to national security

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 8d

Want a sub-15-minute introduction to longevity science?

This is my new go-to video: the @freethink.com team did an amazing job cutting two hours of me chatting down to this gorgeous brief intro to longevity.

Please share far and ultra-wide!

Aging is the biggest unsolved problem in medicine | Andrew Steele

YouTube video by Freethink

www.youtube.com

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 7d

Including an article on longevity science and scams by some guy called Andrew Steele…

“The first longevity medicines could be approved in time for most people alive today — maybe even in the next five years, if we get serious about the science.”

Andrew Steele

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 7d

Oh nice, the @freethink.com longevity special is out too—guess that makes sense!

Check out all the articles here: www.freethink.com/collections/...

The End of Death as We Know It?

A collection of features, essays, and op-eds mapping the frontier of longevity research and the people working to bring healthspan gains to everyone.

www.freethink.com

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 8d

Why not? :) Perhaps the video can change your mind, but hit me up with questions if you still have doubts!

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 8d

(The reason it’s ultra-wide is that they filmed it on an anamorphic lens usually used in movies…I think it looks amazing!)

A ridiculously wide shot of me in a scenic living room :)

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 8d

Want a sub-15-minute introduction to longevity science?

This is my new go-to video: the @freethink.com team did an amazing job cutting two hours of me chatting down to this gorgeous brief intro to longevity.

Please share far and ultra-wide!

Aging is the biggest unsolved problem in medicine | Andrew Steele

YouTube video by Freethink

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Alexander Panchin @scinquisitor.bsky.social · 8d

@statto.bsky.social made a great video about aging. Enjoy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pUy...

Aging is the biggest unsolved problem in medicine | Andrew Steele

YouTube video by Freethink

www.youtube.com

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 10d

Interesting/depressing finding!

Previous studies found that we get busier and less happy in middle aged but that reverses as we get fewer and more sage in retirement. This graph looks almost like the exponential risk of death graph but upside-down!

We really need to do something about ageing…

Tamkinat Rauf @tsrauf.bsky.social · 11d

Life satisfaction mostly declines with age. Previous findings (esp. the famous U-shaped age-SWB trajectory) were artifacts of misspecified models. doi.org/10.1093/esr/...

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Ben Sanderson @benmsanderson.bsky.social · 10d

Paris-Berlin sleeper: low carbon, 2 years old, constantly full, but currently losing SNCF a few million EUR/yr

Intl Jet fuel tax exemptions are 80 years old and cost the EU 22 million EUR/yr for the Paris-Berlin route alone.

And you're cutting... the sleeper?

www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

It’s goodnight Vienna as Paris sleeper train to Austria and Berlin hit by cuts

Some Nightjet services suspended from mid-December after French withdrawal amid public budget crisis

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 12d

Is it magic?

Photograph of a garbage can that appears to float. A puddle in front of the garbage can looks like a shadow cast as the garbage can floats in the air.

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Prof Chris Jackson @seismatters.bsky.social · 16d

Ooof.

“Miliband poised to overrule local opposition to build nuclear waste dumps” ☢️

Now this IS interesting, noting if I had one thing in my gift, it would be to remove the word “dump” from all reporting on a highly engineered geological disposal facility…

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Miliband poised to overrule local opposition to build nuclear waste dumps

Opposition to nuclear waste dumps in the English countryside could be bypassed as Ed Miliband considers scrapping the need for local consent.

www.yahoo.com

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 16d

Just got an email from a university based teacher trainer about “Why Don’t Things Fall Up? saying he has used it for “examples of good clear science communication, pitched to the right level for the right audience”. The audience is *you* and it is just 99p on Kindle for few more days (til end Sept)

Why Don't Things Fall Up?: Seven fundamental science questions explored and explained eBook : Shaha, Alom: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

www.amazon.co.uk

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 17d

(or, more probably, if we'd invested tens of billions in standards and the rest in AI, we'd have slightly worse AI but vastly better interoperable standards.)

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 17d

This is one of those use-cases where AI is terrible: we should just create a standard format for flight times so app data are interoperable.

AI makes baffling mistakes some significant minority of the time. If we'd invested the $00bns in standards instead of AI, the world would be a better place.

Chris Kendall 👊🇪🇺🧶 @ottocr.at · 17d

Apple Intelligence is so clever, it found my mum’s flight details buried in an email and sent me a notification at 4am to go to the airport. To catch my mum’s flight. Who isn’t me. And is in another country.

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 18d

Interesting, please do share when it’s done!

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 18d

And here’s a big recent review of the ITP’s history, which spends a while thinking about the sex differences observed:

Sex as a major determinant of pro-longevity drug efficacy: a review of two decades of the NIA Interventions Testing Program

Abstract. Aging is the primary risk factor for frailty, sarcopenia, and functional decline, as well as cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease

academic.oup.com

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 18d

Check out the original paper here:

Extension of lifespan by epicatechin, halofuginone and mitoglitazone in male but not female genetically heterogeneous mice - GeroScience

Mice bred in 2021 were tested by the Interventions Testing Program (ITP) for possible lifespan benefits of 2BAct (2BA), dichloroacetate (DCA), Epicatechin (EPI), Forskolin (FSK), Halofuginone (HAL) an...

link.springer.com

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 18d

…so maybe we’re just the weaker sex and easier to fix the biology of?!

But there are obviously many potential explanations that we can only really settle with more testing in both mice and people—one of many reasons to fund longevity science!

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 18d

In fact, of 14 previous ITP winners, 8 only made male mice live longer—and zero, none, nada only worked in female mice.

Does this mean male humans are more likely to benefit from longevity drugs?! We don’t know, but it is interesting—women live longer than men almost universally…

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 18d

The ITP, or Interventions Testing Program, is the most thorough and rigorous test of drugs that might extend lifespan in mice.

Cool that we have another three—but 5–10% are small-ish effect sizes, and it’s weird that so many ITP tests only work in male mice!

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 18d

New ITP paper just dropped! 🧪 #longevityscience

• Epicatechin, a flavanol found in cocoa, increased average lifespan by 5% in male mice.
• Halofuginone, a compound that simulates protein restriction, +9%, again only in males.
• Mitoglitazone, an experimental diabetes drug, also +9% in males only.

Survival curves showing what’s described in the main text

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

British Society for Research on Ageing @bsrageing.bsky.social · 22d

🎙️ Ep1 of @briancoxtalks.bsky.social A Question of Science is out & it's on ageing research!

As @statto.bsky.social says “The single most important thing… is to campaign for more funding for ageing research!”

Here's how 👉 bsra.org.uk/donate/

#BSRA #AgeingResearch #SciencePodcast

DONATE - BSRA

About ageing Why donate? Understanding the ageing process will have wide reaching social, health and economic benefits as a better world for older people is a better world for all. The BSRA funds vita...

bsra.org.uk

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 23d

Watch or listen at steele.link/qofs or wherever you get your podcasts™

A Question of Science

Professor Brian Cox and panels of the world’s top scientists and experts are tackling your questions about the biggest issues facing society. Can we cure cancer? How do you separate nutrition fact fr...

steele.link