The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
And the magic cure that we're looking for for aging is the molecules that we can apply to any cell in our body that would cause that cell to go back to being young again to putting all of those molecules in the right place on the genome because the DNA doesn't get that damaged. It's actually the epigenome.
Every Sunday: the week’s new conflicts and verdict changes — and nothing else.
Native comments, Twitter mentions, and Reddit threads about this claim — surfaced together so the conversation isn't fragmented across platforms.
Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.
Would love a "what would change this verdict" RSS feed. Sign me up if it exists.
My thesis is that changes to the epigenome underlie aging.
Philipp Oberdoerffer and I wrote this article in 2007, about how the changing epigenome drives aging in humans
the work is exciting because it adds to the growing amount of evidence that changes to how DNA is wrapped around histones and how genes are regulated (the epigenome) are a CAUSE, not just a phenomenon of aging
From 2008-2024 I was accused of hyping (a common slur) for suggesting that changes to the epigenome might cause aging and "allow us to reset the epigenome to a more youthful state."
But the summary is that the epigenome is the regulator of the DNA. It tells the genes whether it'd be on and off. And that goes wrong during aging, and may actually be the reason we age.