Daniel Ives retweeted
Twenty years ago, @DeryaTR_ predicted we would reverse aging by 2045. People thought he was crazy.
Now, he thinks he was too conservative, and has moved the date up to 2040 because AGI arrived earlier than he expected.
I sat down with Derya to ask if such bold predictions are too fatalistic. Is the future guaranteed? Shall we just sit back and wait for AI to save us? Derya disagreed.
The golden age for humanity is within our sights, but there is much work to be done.
Academia is failing us. If it doesn’t adapt to the pace of progress AI enables, we have no shot at curing aging this century. And we need to invest trillions into collecting the data that superintelligence will need to solve biology.
If we pull it off, the future can be brighter than anyone imagines.
Watch the full episode below, or look up Free Radicals (@FreeRadicalsBio) on your favorite podcasting platform.
Special thank you to @adamgries and vitalismfoundation.org for hosting us at @VitalistBay!
Intro
AGI arrived early, accelerating the timeline to biosingularity
Are we really in the takeoff now?
Superintelligence can help us build a world model of biology
Aging as the breakdown of biological resilience
The case for investing trillions into biological data
The economic return on curing aging
AI is accelerating science but academics are stuck in the past
How AI can liberate humanity from biological constraints
Derya’s Human 2.0 dream
Testing the latest OpenAI models and rethinking the PhD
Agency, jobs, and free will in an AI world
Science fiction & Derya’s case for a coming golden age
Daniel Ives retweeted
1/ How long do you want to live?
For most of human history, aging was inevitable.
It's now solvable.
Apply for LBF8 cohort program: longbiofellowship dot org
/THREAD🧵
Daniel Ives retweeted
“You’re born, you grow up, you have a career, and then you get older and then you die. And that's just like the acceptable plan. Even if the plan is horrible… as long as we're going to plan, everybody goes along with it.”
@realNathanCheng is one of the most prolific activists in the longevity field. He argues that aging, decline and death are not really a great plan, even if it's the way things work today. He has dedicated his life and career to finding us a new plan.
Follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech!
0:00 Intro
2:35 Why did Nathan dedicate his life to defeating aging & death? (And the absurdity of asking that question)
8:59 Why has Daniel been on the fence, despite being longevity-pilled
14:09 The agency and bravery of founders to tackle the hardest problems (like aging)
18:46 Many ways to contribute to longevity besides entrepreneurship
19:41 Is longevity underinvested into?
24:48 What does it mean to treat aging itself as the issue (vs other diseases)
32:23 Do we need more scientific arguments, or philosophical arguments?
39:50 Nathan’s experience longevity-pilling influential people
47:03 Billionaire paradox
53:18 The challenge in going from viewing aging as inevitable to malleable
57:29 What needs to change about our culture to save us from aging & death
1:16:55 Should we be intolerant of pro-death & pro-aging views?
1:22:59 Join us at Vitalist Bay!
Daniel Ives retweeted
Single-cell epigenome atlas identifies kidney epithelial cells as a driver of epigenetic aging. Lake et al. (2026) build a cross-species atlas showing that aging is driven by collapse of 3D chromatin structure in tubular epithelia. Beautiful multi-omic work.
biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
Daniel Ives retweeted
Crows discovered antibiotics millions of years before humans.
When a crow gets sick, it does something that looks insane — it finds an ant colony and deliberately pisses them off.
The ants attack. They spray formic acid everywhere in defense.
The crow? Doesn't run. It spreads its wings and just... takes it. Lets the ants crawl all over its body.
Here's the genius part: Formic acid is a natural antibacterial and antifungal compound. It kills the parasites and microbes that destroy feathers. The crow is basically giving itself a chemical bath.
Scientists call this "anting." Over 200 bird species do it. First documented in 1831, but birds have been doing it for millions of years.
It gets weirder.
When ants aren't available, some birds grab LIT CIGARETTE BUTTS and rub themselves with the smoke instead. They found a substitute for their medicine.
We spent centuries "discovering" antibiotics. Crows were running their own pharmacy this whole time.
Here's what strikes me: evolution is the original drug discovery engine. Billions of years. Trillions of experiments. No hypothesis — just relentless trial and error until something works.
Now we're building AI systems that do the same thing for antibody design — searching vast molecular spaces, predicting protein structures, optimizing binding affinity. What took nature millions of years, AI can explore in days.
Daniel Ives retweeted
Last week my shortest podcast interview dropped (Decoding Longevity). This week here's my longest just out (Free Radicals). Great wide-ranging conversation covering the aging biotech sector & companies getting to approvals but also how to think about stuff available now.
For our 10th episode of the Free Radicals podcast, @EricDai_BioE and I are excited to host @KarlPfleger
After a decade as one of the first AI researchers at Google from 2002 to 2011, Karl dedicated himself to the cause of rejuvenation biotechnology.
He is a philanthropist, community builder, and prolific angel investor with over 35 investments into rejuvenation biotech startups. His website, agingbiotech.info, provides valuable information to the entire field, and his talks and X posts are highly insightful and influential within longevity.
Karl has deeply researched and nuanced takes, and those really show in this conversation. We cover why epigenetic reprogramming won’t solve aging, Karl’s investment strategy, what distinguishes true rejuvenation technology, why better diagnostic technologies could be the key to personalized aging interventions, and much more.
Special thank you to @NFX & @omri_drory for lending us their beautiful podcasting studio!
0:00 Intro
1:56 Peter Attia and defining longevity
8:37 What is aging?
12:41 Wear and tear vs programmed obsolescence
16:12 Which molecular mechanism of aging do we have the most control over?
19:29 Does partial reprogramming solve the whole aging problem?
25:23 How to identify truly rejuvenating therapies
32:35 The role of AI and good screening technologies
37:03 Do we understand the mechanisms of aging well enough to intervene?
38:39 Will there be a longevity tipping point?
44:51 Karl's investment strategy for aging biotech
52:21 Senolytics
1:01:33 Misfolded protein clearance & mitochondrial transplantation
1:08:21 Sauna & parabiosis (not combined)
1:15:54 Stem cell therapies
1:22:02 Karl's research process & formal techniques for evaluating arguments
1:28:55 The successes of the geroscience paradigm
1:34:13 Diagnostic bottlenecks
Daniel Ives retweeted
This week, we are excited to welcome @dives86 onto the Free Radicals podcast!
Dr. Daniel Ives is the founder of @ShiftBioscience. Shift has built a novel single-cell aging clock that has enabled them to run high-throughput screens to discover genes that regulate aging, with the goal of identifying a therapy to systemically reverse aging. They’ve raised $16M from investors like Business Growth Fund, @FPrimeCapital, and @Kindred_VC to pursue this mission.
In this episode, we discuss Shift’s formation and their approach, and dive deep into two promising targets they’ve discovered, as well as the coming cultural shift when anti-aging drugs become mundane reality.
Be sure to follow @FreeRadicalsBio and @EricDai_BioE for weekly episodes about longevity biotech!
0:00 Intro
1:37 Deciding to work on aging
5:52 Origins of Shift Bioscience
9:54 Role of mitochondria in aging
13:03 Aging clocks & the meeting that led to XPRIZE Healthspan
18:11 Cracking the single cell aging clock
21:45 The accuracy and role of aging clocks
27:28 A single gene that reverses cellular age
36:59 Engineering small molecules for age reversal
43:07 How virtual cells accelerate scientific progress
49:55 From virtual cell to virtual human?
56:54 Asking the right questions
01:07:57 Backup plans
01:10:43 Lightning round
Daniel Ives retweeted
🧵 Elon: “Longevity is an extremely solvable problem”
At Vitalist Bay (May 14 - May 17), we’re solving it!
1K+ pioneers, 100+ speakers, 50+ workshops, 40+ activities, 5 critical health tests
Join us to spark dozens of SpaceXs for longevity!
Daniel Ives retweeted
Here's the story. Sinclair showed in 2020 that mice whose eye nerves were "reprogrammed" regained vision after an eye crush injury.
Now, basicially the same technology is going to be used in human
technologyreview.com/2026/01…
Daniel Ives retweeted
This year’s biggest breakthroughs in longevity are now up !!
youtu.be/X-Hzyzo1Jpk
Daniel Ives retweeted
Everything you want is on the other side of difficulty, uncertainty and delay.
Hard problems - that you don't know how to solve - on a timeline you aren't sure you're going to solve them in - all while being unsure if all this will have been for nothing.
Daniel Ives retweeted
Today I am launching the Free Radicals podcast with @EricDai_BioE . Every Tuesday, we’ll be releasing long form conversations with the visionaries giving humanity control over biology and working to dramatically extend human lifespan.
We’re thrilled to host @celinehalioua, Founder + CEO @loyalfordogs, for our inaugural episode. Celine is building the world’s first lifespan extension drugs for dogs.
Follow me, @EricDai_BioE and @FreeRadicalsBio for new episodes every Tuesday.
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:51 - Celine’s background
00:05:00 - Dropping out of academia
00:07:50 - Finding ways to increase free will
00:09:36 - How to align financial incentives with longevity
00:14:52 - Longevity drugs should be boring
00:21:24 - Celine’s leadership style
00:24:08 - Advice on fundraising and constructing feedback loops
00:26:52 - Loyal’s fundraising history
00:27:57 - Building for Zero Billion Dollar Markets
00:29:11 - How to succeed in biotech
00:30:21 - How to find blockbuster opportunities
00:33:25 - How to create a gold rush in longevity
00:35:25 - The problem with the aging field
00:39:32 - How to identify signal from noise
00:41:54 - AI applications to biology
00:45:15 - Importance of naiveté
00:47:24 - FREE RADICALS
I'm excited to be speaking at @RNID's Hearing Therapeutics Summit 2025, which is helping to speed the development of therapeutics for hearing loss and tinnitus. With a strengthening link between age related hearing loss and the underlying aging process, hearing loss has become a new test bed for cellular rejuvenation gene therapy. Find out more about the programme rnid.org.uk/hearing-research…
Daniel Ives retweeted
‘Healthy aging’ is an oxymoron! That notion must end! If your biology were perfectly healthy, you would not age. This slogan has severely narrowed the scope of aging research & longevity priorities & has been harmful to genuine efforts for targeting root causes to reverse aging.
🎬 Exciting news! Buck donor James B. Johnson, MD is producer of new film Forever Young, features groundbreaking work of Buck scientists and others advancing future of healthy aging. We’re thrilled to share that film has been officially selected by @MVFilmFest! @TheAgingDoc
Daniel Ives retweeted
Criticism is a fixed cost of taking action. People will criticize you if you anything note worthy. They’ll also criticize you for doing nothing. So you might as well just do what you want.
Daniel Ives retweeted
Who is looking for $500k in Bio?? Apply now for the @BoostVC Residency!
I believe that the startups that will cure cancer, enlongate life 50 years and give humans super powers are starting today!
So we are launching a Bio Residency @BoostVC to bring the best builders in Bio together!
APPLY NOW!!!!
adamdraper.vc/p/the-boost-vc…
Daniel Ives retweeted
Chatting with JellyfishDAO next week!
Set your calendars for an exciting X space event between @LBF_org Co-Executive Director @realNathanCheng and @JellyfishDAO host @LongevityLawson where they'll discuss LBF, longevity, and more.
xitter.cf/i/spaces/1YpKkBgarqjxj
Daniel Ives retweeted
NEW: No technology currently exists to repair damaged brain tissue and fully restore lost function. FRONT aims to enable millions with what is considered permanent brain damage to regain lost functions, including motor control, vision, and speech. arpa-h.gov/news-and-events/a…
Daniel Ives retweeted
What is the state of research on the emerging grand challenge of virtual cell modeling? 1/n
open.substack.com/pub/behind…
