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The End of Death as We Know It?

Longevity researchers aren’t just on the cusp of extending the number of years people live. They’re also discovering ways to prevent and treat the physical ailments and neurodegenerative diseases that often come with age. In this collection of features, essays, and op-eds, Freethink maps the frontier — from lab breakthroughs to clinical trials and the startups scaling them — separating hype from evidence, while also exploring some of the philosophical and ethical questions surrounding the longevity movement. We hope you enjoy.

Illustration of two human profiles facing opposite directions, overlaid with a stylized DNA double helix and circular patterns, on a gradient background.
Vartika Sharma
Editor's Note
A collage of vintage family photos featuring adults and children, an elderly woman holding a toy—a symbol of longevity—and a couple, all overlaid with colorful abstract shapes.
Aging
The promise of longevity: A future with more time — and more meaning
An introduction to Freethink’s Longevity Issue: features, essays, and op-eds on the science, ethics, and promise of longer, healthier lives.
Kristin Houser

“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
Field Notes
A surreal, melting clock with gears, a running silhouette holding a cane, and a skull, set against a colorful, dreamlike background with the sun shining.
Aging
Longevity progress is real. So are the scams.
Longevity is in a paradoxical place at the moment, with anti-aging influencers misrepresenting real progress in order to make money.
Andrew Steele
A stylized figure floats through a vibrant, abstract tunnel with swirling colors of purple, blue, and pink.
Aging
Who wants to live forever? Not me.
Most Americans remain wary of immortality, and research helps explain the mix of ethics, faith, and fear behind that resistance.
Christopher Ferguson
A man with a long beard sits next to a white lab mouse while a gloved hand holds a test tube in the background with abstract purple and pink shapes.
Aging
Aubrey de Grey: “We need a COVID-scale war on aging.”
Biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey discusses the burgeoning longevity movement and barriers to its progress.
R. M. Schneiderman
Abstract illustration of a brightly colored pelvis with stylized internal organs and a red flower in the center, symbolizing vitality and longevity, set against a pink and purple background.
Aging
Why tomorrow’s longevity treatments could be divided by sex
Why women consistently outlive men is a mystery — and it may influence the future of longevity medicine.
Rachel Tompa

“Dogs are a great model of human aging. If something works in a dog … it’s pretty compelling evidence that it might also work in a human.”

Celine Halioua
Frontiers
A collage of a middle-aged man in a blue shirt displays various facial expressions, including smiling, thinking, and touching his chin, set against wooden walls—reflecting the curiosity at the heart of Retro Biosciences' approach to longevity.
Aging
Retro Biosciences wants to add 10 healthy years to your life
Backed by $180 million in funding from OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Joe Betts-LaCroix’s Retro Biosciences is racing to extend the human healthspan.
R. M. Schneiderman
A dog wearing glasses points to a colorful classroom display about animal aging, featuring a shark, bat, fish, pill, and molecules while two students watch.
Aging
How a dog’s life could extend yours
Studying animals — from long-lived clams to everyday dogs — is helping scientists understand aging and design therapies to slow decline.
B. David Zarley
A large group of people sits outdoors under shade sails at Vitalist Bay, facing a stage with a sign that reads "Vitalist Bay" and "Alt Bio Workshop.
Aging
My time among the immortality tribe
Field notes from Vitalist Bay, an 8-week longevity zone in Berkeley where CEOs, scientists, and activists united to fight aging.
Namir Khaliq
Abstract illustration of stylized eyes, eyebrow, and mouth surrounded by pastel-colored, jelly-like shapes with various patterns and textures—evoking a sense of cryopreservation through cool hues and frozen motifs.
Biology
How cryopreservation could end death as we know it
The technology could one day allow people with terminal illnesses to go into “hibernation” until a cure is found.
Kristin Houser
Two color-filtered panels show groups of people at an outdoor event; one side features people high-fiving, the other shows people seated and watching attentively.
Aging
The longevity movement is growing — but it needs to go global
Progress in longevity is real, but experts say the field needs government funding, policy reform, and public buy-in to reach its potential.
Namir Khaliq
Wireframe 3D model of a human head, inspired by brainspan mapping, made from interconnected nodes and lines against a gradient background with soft purple and blue lighting.
Aging
Living longer — and healthier — starts with boosting your brain
Science is beginning to unravel the reasons behind age-related cognitive decline — and what we can do about it.
Edd Gent

“I’m just brimming with optimism because I know we can do this. We can flip the elderly from being the ‘illderly’ to the ‘wellderly.’”

Eric Topol
Interfaces
A man in a checked jacket and collared shirt stands in front of a digital background featuring stylized DNA strands and data graphs.
Aging
Forget just living longer. Eric Topol wants to help Americans live better, too.
In “Super Agers,” the writer and medical researcher maps a path to extending healthspan with AI, targeted drugs, and lifestyle changes.
Ross Pomeroy
A variety of colorful pills and a scoop of green powder float against a blue sky with clouds, featuring promotional text like "ORDER NOW" and "CALL 1-800-FOREVER," highlighting the allure of longevity scams.
Aging
Experts weigh in on popular “anti-aging” treatments: real or scam?
Experts cut through longevity hype, debunking supplements, IV drips, and cold plunges while pointing to what actually works.
Anna Medaris
A human hand reaches toward a glowing, blue holographic deadbot hand against a dark background with scattered points of light.
AI
AI deadbots can keep “you” around after death — what does that mean for the living?
We can now use AI to create versions of real people that can live on long after their bodies die. But should we?
Christopher Ferguson
A black bird on a triangle above a fountain, with an hourglass, green ankh, pink lotus, and a green ouroboros—symbols of immortality in philosophy—encircling the triangle, all set against a gray background.
Death
Groundhog Day and other eternal nightmares: Five philosophical takes on living forever
From eternal recurrence to techno-dualism, five philosophical visions of immortality — and why most paths to forever end badly.
Jonny Thomson
Abstract artwork featuring a reclining figure with a pink face, surrounded by colorful plants and shapes against a dark background.
Death
Immortality isn’t progress. It’s paralysis.
The pursuit of immortality ignores how death powers life’s natural cycles, from cellular turnover to ecological renewal and adaptation.
Josie Zayner
A close-up of a hand divided down the center, with one side appearing wrinkled and spotted, and the other side smooth and youthful.
Series| The Freethink Interview
If aging is a disease, how close are we to curing it?
We’ve already doubled human life expectancy over the last 200 years. Could we do it again?