Science

Promising Level B · moderate human evidence

Don't Die Now: the new science of living longer, and of living better

2026-10-05

Geroscience is not a promise of immortality. It is the study of the mechanisms that accompany aging, and of which interventions, if any, might lengthen the part of life lived in health.

A widely cited framework organizes those pieces as hallmarks of aging: genome instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic changes, loss of proteostasis, impaired autophagy, deregulated nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem-cell exhaustion, altered intercellular communication, chronic inflammation, and dysbiosis. It is a way to read the literature. It is not a shopping list.

Three drawers help. Proven: biochemical mechanisms and habits with broad human evidence, such as sleep, exercise, and adequate nutrition. Promising: pathways with human trials that are still short, for example changes in NAD+-related biomarkers. Experimental: epigenetic clocks, senolytics, and regenerative medicine used as if they were already a clinical longevity practice.

Don't Die Now does not claim that aging can be slowed or reversed today. It claims that the evidence can be read before a decision is made.

Sources

1. The Hallmarks of AgingLópez-Otín C, Blasco MA, Partridge L, Serrano M, Kroemer G. Cell, 2013.DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.039Proposes a framework of the hallmarks of aging. It is a conceptual map, not a clinical trial.
2. Hallmarks of aging: An expanding universeLópez-Otín C, Blasco MA, Partridge L, Serrano M, Kroemer G. Cell, 2023.DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.001Updates the framework to twelve hallmarks, including chronic inflammation and dysbiosis. It does not show that human aging can be slowed.