The BLOG

Unc Status Revoked: How Science is canceling Old Age

December 27, 2025

Intro


Want your TikTok brainrotten mind blown?

GTA Vice City is now closer to the '80s it portrays than it is to today.

Yeah, you've unlocked unc status. You're old news now, champ, it's over.


a man wearing a wig and headphones says " unc alert "


Me? I'm 28 as I write this. I don't feel old yet, but the idea of my body and mind slowly crumbling, losing my agency and sharpness, has been something that disturbed me ever since I was a kid. I never really brought it up because everyone kinda seemed to be ok with it, or rather, as I've come to learn, nobody wants to think about it for too long.


But, being passionate about biology, science and well... existing, I did. And more people should talk about it, or at the very least think about it, because I truly think we're at a point where we could actually fix it, or at the very least slow it down significantly.


It's important to be aware that aging is a very complex topic that I tried my best to distill and simplify; even though the article will end up being ridiculously long, it will likely barely scratch the surface.


And before saying "but aging is natural, bro, just let it happen", so was polio, and we cured the damn thing. Stop pretending that everything natural is good. I will fight you, in real life.


But before talking about it, we must first understand it, so...


What is aging, actually?


For most of human history, aging was a vague mystery. Even somewhat recently, people pointed to DNA damage or telomere shortening (good guesses, but only part of the picture).

This all changed around a decade ago, with the Hallmarks of Aging, a framework that broke it down into 12 specific, measurable failures:

The hallmarks of aging


  • Genomic Instability: DNA breaks/mutations from radiation, errors, toxins
  • Telomere Attrition: Chromosome end-caps shorten, limiting cell division
  • Epigenetic Alterations: Gene expression "software" drifts (DNA methylation changes)
  • Loss of Proteostasis: Protein quality control fails; misfolded proteins pile up
  • Disabled Macroautophagy: Cells stop recycling damaged parts
  • Deregulated Nutrient Sensing: Insulin/mTOR pathways overactivate, wrecking metabolism
  • Mitochondrial Dysfunction: The powerhouses of the cell become leaky, producing damaging reactive oxygen species
  • Cellular Senesence: "Zombie" cells that aren't dividing and secrete toxins accumulate
  • Stem Cell Exhaustion: Repair factories run dry
  • Altered Intercellular Communication: Cells mis-signal each other
  • Dysbiosis: Gut microbiome imbalance that fuels inflammation
  • Chronic Inflammation: Everything's on fire

There's also a final boss, lipofuscin. Think of it as indigestible junk (oxidized fats, proteins, metals) from failed lysosomal cleanup. It fills long-lived cells (neurons, heart, retina, muscle). Basically, all cells that aren't killed off, and get to live with their mistakes. This starts in early adulthood and grows linearly. It hits 30% cell volume by age 80. This doesn't cause aging in itself, but it adds more fuel to the fire.


If all of this sounds bad, it's because it is. Aging is #1 cause of all-cause mortality. In fact, your risk of dying roughly doubles every eight years after early adulthood (yes, it's an exponential curve), and yes, it's all thanks to aging. I should also mention it's the #1 cause of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and so much more.


Now that we know what we're up against, let's talk about the people actually fighting it.


The longevity movement


This will be a short one, I just want to set the record straight.


For the most part, the longevity movement isn't some sci-fi cult dreaming of immortality, or conspiracy nutjobs deluding themselves into thinking they can live forever. It's made of passionate people talking about aging, and it's engineers, biologists, and doctors treating it like the disease it is, tackling those 12 hallmarks we just covered.


Most people hear "defeat aging" and picture endless torment from an inability to die. But I can't think of something that's further from the truth. It's literally the exact opposite - living your best life, for as long as you want to, then going out on your own terms. No more bedrotting, waiting to die in a nursing home, no more dementia taking over your mind and no more diapers.


Essentially, you're just removing the suffering and horrors of aging and replacing all of that with choice, dignity and agency.


So where exactly are we?


The progress - exceeding expectations


I'm gonna start this chapter by saying we know a way to reverse aging exists for sure, because whenever a baby is born, they are at age 0. What's uncertain is how difficult it is to actually make it happen in adults.


If you want the full nerd spreadsheet of every therapy, company, and trial tackling every single hallmark, check out this Rejuvenation Roadmap from Lifespan.io. You can just skip this section if you're into that, because I'm just gonna highlight the stuff that excites me the most.


Teeth regrowth is my personal favorite "holy shit" moment. Toregem Biopharma's USAG-1 antibody is in Phase 1 human trials right now (started Sep 2024). It works by inhibiting a protein that usually stops tooth growth, waking up the dormant tooth buds adults still have. Even though this isn't related to aging itself, you can imagine how the ability to regrow teeth comes in handy as you're getting older. Actually, you might already wish for it.


This is strong proof that we can regrow complex organs and not just "patch" things up.


Partial Epigenetic Reprogramming: The epigenome consists of chemical tags and modifications that control how DNA is read without changing the genetic code itself. Over time, this system gets "corrupted" by accumulated errors, leading to wrong DNA sequences being read, incorrect gene expression, silenced repair genes, and aging hallmarks like inflammation or senescence.


Shinya Yamanaka discovered four key factors in 2006: Oct4 (OCT4), Sox2 (SOX2), Klf4 (KLF4), and c-Myc (cMYC), known as OSKM. These transcription factors reprogram adult cells (like fibroblasts) into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by resetting epigenetic marks.


In short, this means he found a way to turn a fully differentiated adult cell, back into a "baby" stem cell. This earned him the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.


But there was a catch. If you blast a living animal with OSKM for too long, they lose their cellular identity and grow teratomas (horrific tumors made of teeth and hair) (Not exactly the glow-up we want).


This is where Partial Reprogramming comes in. The idea is to hit the reset button just long enough to clear the errors, but not long enough to erase the cell's identity.


David Sinclair popularized this idea with his "Information Theory of Aging," and his lab famously restored vision in mice using a modified cocktail (OSK, dropping the cancer-causing "M").


But when mentioning him, we do have to address the elephant in the room - In 2024, he faced severe backlash and resigned as President of the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research after peers criticized him for making unverified commercial claims, specifically regarding a supplement he claimed was "proven" to reverse aging in dogs.


I really wanted to like him, especially because of the way he explained things and how he presented himself, but I started to feel turned off after he aggressively pushed NMN and resveratrol, even though multiple trials proved very limited effectiveness, and honestly the "Leap Years" was the final straw for me.


If you want to follow the the momentum in 2025, look at Altos Labs and their Chief Scientist Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte. His team at the Salk Institute pioneered the "cyclic" dosing method back in 2016, and now backed by Bezos-level money, they are the ones doing the heavy lifting to turn this into a safe human therapy.


Drama aside, Sinclair is still great at explaining the concept. So, here is a video of him breaking down how the "epigenetic reset" works, just keep in mind that the field has grown much bigger than just him:



Here's more recent news about what's happening at Altos Labs:




Senolytics: A senescent cell is a damaged or stressed cell that permanently stops dividing but remains alive and metabolically active, resisting death signals.


These cells enlarge, form senescence-associated heterochromatin foci (SAHF), accumulate DNA damage, and secrete a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) that promote chronic inflammation, tissue dysfunction, and age-related diseases like arthritis or cancer.


Senolytics are drugs that selectively kill senescent cells, clearing them to reduce SASP-driven damage and improve tissue function. Pioneered by James Kirkland and Judith Campisi's teams in 2015, early senolytics like dasatinib + quercetin (D+Q) extended healthspan in mice by 36%, alleviating frailty, kidney damage, and osteoporosis without harming healthy cells.


UNITY Biotech's Phase 2 for diabetic macular edema showed actual vision improvement. Yes, you read that right, improvement.


UDP-003: is an engineered cyclodextrin drug that selectively removes 7-ketocholesterol (7KC), a toxic oxidized cholesterol driving atherosclerosis by turning macrophages into foam cells. This action aims to reverse plaque buildup and restore arterial self-repair. Ex-vivo tests showed it working in 15 minutes. This has the potential to hit genomic instability, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the final boss, lipofuscin, all in one go.


Cyclarity Therapeutics (formerly Underdog Pharmaceuticals) develops it. A Phase 1 first-in-human trial (NCT06813339) started in Australia in early 2025 after regulatory approval, testing single/multiple ascending doses in healthy volunteers and acute coronary syndrome patients over 4-28 weeks. Phase 1 readout is expected in 2026, with Phase 2 in 2028.


Bonus: here's an overview of the progress of longevity in 2025:



And here's the bleeding edge news on epigenetic reversal:



The timeline:


Teeth Regeneration (Toregem Biopharma)

Vision Restoration / Senolytics (UNITY Biotechnology)

Ectopic Organ Regeneration (LyGenesis)

Atherosclerosis Reversal (Cyclarity Therapeutics)

Dermatology Reprogramming (Turn Biotechnologies)

Anti-Inflammaging (Anti-IL-11)


These timelines are based off public information I could find.
Personally, I think they're a bit too optimistic, but 20 years ago we wouldn't even dare dream of this.
So, even if the timelines are off by a bit, the progress has been crazy. And that's because billion-dollar companies are finally invested. It's not just some dude in a garage.


Realistically, FDA approvals would push the timelines back by quite a bit, but there are also other countries where progress could be expedited, so I'm not that worried.

And now it's finally time to talk about...


The Naysayers and their arguments


There are many people giving many arguments about why we shouldn't fight aging. Some are more valid than others. I'm gonna show you the worst of them though, for sake of entertainment.


Overpopulation


Naysayers scream "Overpopulation!" like it's a checkmate, all while global fertility rates are crashing: 1.6 kids per woman projected by 2100, way below replacement.


Japan lost ~800k people last year, Italy's shrinking, and China's one-child policy backfired spectacularly. Curing aging first pulls the brakes on that death spiral, and second, it revitalizes the economy (old people can start working again).


I'm not gonna be delusional about it, super-long lives can and will put a strain on the planet's resources, especially if everyone keeps having children. Still, defeating aging won't make you immortal. You still have accidents, viruses, wars and other darwin awards to worry about.


Bottom line, productive ageless humans solve the pension crisis now, buying time for space expansion, or other such ideas.


Death gives life meaning.


This actively irritates me, because it's akin to me saying that torturing you for a week is going to make you appreciate freedom.
Sure, the contrast might sharpen your gratitude once it's all said and done, but is that the proper way to look at it?
Should we start torturing people to "cure" the widespread depression that society is currently struggling with?


I stole that analogy from this video by CGP Grey, go watch it:



I think this saying became popular due to our inability to stop the aging process, and death by aging. So we've become Stockholm Syndrome sufferers, singing its praises and pretending it's all ok.
Questioning this mindset is long overdue.


Your meaning is capped. You can only learn so much, you can only switch careers so much, and you can only learn so much about the universe.


TLDR: Death doesn't give life meaning, it only limits the "amount" of meaning you can extract from it.


Boredom in Eternity


This ties in heavily with the previous point, and I call BS.
Meaning comes from agency, not from a ticking time-bomb above your head.


Many studies show purpose-driven elders live longer, not shorter.
Saying "Your life gets meaningless without an end!" is just an excuse to keep an outdated mindset and not challenge yourself to dream big.


Think you can tackle an infinite permutation of things to do? Maybe someone in the 1700s would have though the same. How would they feel if they'd be brought to the current year? Personally, I think they'd feel stupid for having even entertained that idea.


Playing God/Naturalistic Fallacy


"It's unnatural to fight aging!", I hear that all the time.


By that logic, we should just give up on vacci...Oh wait, antivaxxers already beat me to that punchline.


Let me start over - By that logic we should just give up every modern amenity. Phones, internet, cars, roads, running water, heating, modern building materials? Yeah, let's ditch 'em all and let's go fight with sticks and rocks in the cave.


At least the previous examples had some thought into them, whereas this one just feels severely lacking, and I'm being nice.


We'll never get there, it's a pipe dream


This is probably the most grounded argument, but I still have to ask:

Are you a time traveler?

Did you come back from 2300 just to tell me we failed?


This mindset is the enemy of progress. If we listened to this logic throughout history, we’d still be staring at the moon wondering what it is instead of walking on it.

I am very aware of the complexity of the issue, and the huge risk of actually not "getting there". But, like with everything, to succeed you need to be a little bit delusional and optimistic.


Conclusion


I can't end the article without bringing up Bryan Johnson.
You know him, and if you don't, he's the tech millionaire vampire spending ~$2M a year to make himself younger.

a gif of a man jumping in a living room with the website gifrun.com


I can't say I agree with all of his methods, but I think he's doing a good job raising awareness, and he gives some great advice too (fix your sleep, be active, stop eating trash - do that and you can already slow aging).


And to top it off, he's the world's most expensive crash-test dummy. He tries the crazy stuff and pays for it so we don't have to.



To recap, the longevity movement is gaining momentum, real progress is being made, and I've seen the public perception change for the better, especially in younger demographics.


Many people go a step further, and think aging should be classified as a disease, so more funding can be allocated to it.


With more funding, we'd see lowered chronic disease, cancer rates and a lowered burden on all healthcare systems. Also less pressure on people to "do something with their lives", and more motivation to actually enjoy it, and make it fun.


But all that said, I have to ask: Why isn't this getting more attention than AI?


Right now the world is dumping trillions into possibly making silicon smarter while our bodies are an afterthought; we're so obsessed with building the future, yet utterly indifferent about whether we'll be around to see it.


I'll stop here because I've rambled on for too long. If you're still not convinced, at the very least you should be looking at the "eliminate suffering in old age" angle, which honestly I think is good enough.


Extra links/videos


This article was inspired by this Kurzgesagt video that I watched a while back: