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and aging remain elusive, why longer-lived organisms show more signs of aging during their natural lifespans, and why longer-lived organisms can be less responsive to treatments of aging that work well in short-lived organisms. We provide predictions of our theory that are empirically testable.

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Our model explains many puzzling aspects of aging. These include why aging appears (but is not) programmed, why aging is gradual yet heterogeneous, why cellular and hormonal signaling are closely related to aging, the compensation law of mortality, why trade-offs between reproduction...

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Optimisation models of physiology often use immunity as an example, with the cost of underactivating immunity being steepest, as this would lead to death by infection. Our model predicts that the system will on average drift to overactivation of immunity during aging.

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The regulation of such physiology will be asymmetrical as the costs of loss of regulation are not equal for under- and over-activation. When asymmetrical regulation breaks during aging it causes physiological function to drift towards the physiological range where costs of dysregulation are lowest.

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A synopsis: Life has evolved to secure reproduction and avoid system failure in early life and it is the physiological regulation that evolves in response to those early life selection pressures that leads to the emergence of aging.

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The biology of aging is something fundamental to all life, but we have a limited understanding of its physiology and its evolution. I presented this idea at #ARDD2025 and at the #BRSA2025 and many of you asked if there was a preprint, now there is. I welcome any feedback!

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The evolution of asymmetrical regulation of physiology is central to aging

We present a novel idea of how aging evolves. This idea was developed together with Marc Tatar, and it was such a joy to think about. I think this is one of the best ideas I worked on for a while, ..or ever.. ;): arxiv.org/abs/2509.15911

arxiv.org

The evolutionary biology of aging is fundamental to understanding the mechanisms of aging and how to develop anti-aging treatments. Thus far most evolutionary theory concerns the genetics of aging wit...

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Our courses cover the full breadth of biology, from molecular and cell biology, genetics, development, human physiology and pharmacology through to evolution, ecology, biodiversity conservation and su...

The majority of this work was done by my student Miriam, she has done an amazing job. Similarly interested in studying in one of the best biology departments in the UK?: sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences

sheffield.ac.uk

School of Biosciences

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Our study in the fly shows that suppression rather than activation extends lifespan in the fly. Opening up a lot of interesting questions, including how we can target ATF4 or its downstream targets to gain longevity benefits.

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Mild stress is associated with longer lifespans. Activation of the integrated stress response, governed by the transcription factor ATF4 is therefore thought to lead to longer lifespans, but has received limited study.

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Nature @nature.com · 16/07/2025

New preprint. ATF4 activation is thought to lead to longer lifespans. However, our study shows that suppression rather than activation extends lifespan in the fly. New Qs: how we can target ATF4 or its downstream targets to gain targeted longevity benefits. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Mirre Simons

A huge project has analysed more than 1,000 claims about the immunity of Drosophila fruit flies in scientific papers published over some 50 years go.nature.com/4lxhwJB

go.nature.com

Giant study finds a research field that’s mostly reproducible

Researchers assessed more than 1,000 results from fruit-fly immunity research published between 1959 and 2011. The majority of findings look verifiable.

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Reposted by Mirre Simons

KatajistoLab @katajistolab.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Proudly presenting Simon’s @simonsterson.bsky.social‬ paper on asymmetric apportioning of old mitochondria biasing intestinal stem cells for the Paneth cell linage through aKG-dependent metabolism @naturemetabolism.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42... @helsinki.fi @metastem.bsky.social 🧵1/8

nature.com

Old mitochondria regulate niche renewal via α-ketoglutarate metabolism in stem cells - Nature Metabolism

Andersson et al. show that intestinal stem cells enriched for old mitochondria are metabolically distinct and have enhanced ability to regenerate the epithelial niche.

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Mirre Simons @mirresimons.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

It’s because we are top100 now, hahahaha

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Reposted by Mirre Simons

Andreas Prokop @poppi62.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

If using Bloomigton #Drosophila Stock Center stocks, pls. acknowledge them & their NIH funding (P40 OD018537). Papers listing this no. are being harvested as evidence. We massively depend on the @bdsc.bsky.social & they need our support in these dire times! @flybase.bsky.social @fly-eds.bsky.social

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Reposted by Mirre Simons

Alex Gould Lab @alexgouldlab.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Our latest preprint…Adrien Franchet, Yuhong Jin et al @crick.ac.uk show that circulating glutamine drives brain sparing during nutrient restriction. Great collab with labs of Yaël Grosjean and Ian Gilmore. #metabolism #Drosophila #neuralstemcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Glutamine-glutamate intercellular relay model for brain sparing

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Reposted by Mirre Simons

Kit Yates @kityates.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

"More and more people are worried about the long-term effects of contact sports on the brain. In football (soccer), studies have found that repeatedly heading the ball can lead to memory problems and an increased risk of serious brain diseases." theconversation.com/... 1/4

theconversation.com

Is the risk of brain injury from contact sports being overstated by the media?

How to understand the risks of head injuries in sport – beyond the alarming headlines.

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Mirre Simons @mirresimons.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Version of record in eLife on the trade-off between reproduction and survival (ageing) in birds. Well done Lucy! Conclusions: Limited evidence for trade-offs. Constraints appear in between-species variance only. Trade-offs may not be inherent to ageing. elifesciences.org/articles/87018

elifesciences.org

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Reposted by Mirre Simons

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Lovely film about Tim Birkhead's long-term study of Guillemots on Skomer. More than half a century of study of this population: this kind of continuity critical for understanding vitality of these important populations. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... vimeo.com/1063680641/2...

vimeo.com

The Birdman of Skomer

With English captions.

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Also congrats to Sarah (1st author) for handing in her PhD thesis yesterday.

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Interestingly many of these genes appear to be part of compensatory responses to DR as when knocked down they extend lifespan on DR only. Across this set cysteine metabolism was enriched, a potential key target for longevity medicine. The core mechanism of DR may thus be conserved.

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Yet, when we selected genes that are DR responsive and “ancient” and tested them in melanogaster for longevity phenotypes, a large amount of genes showed longevity phenotypes.

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