iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Provocative and important post from @karlpfleger.bsky.social: is lifespan, and even healthspan, the wrong way to measure success in treating ageing? I enjoyed this analogy with other human megaprojects:

Consider 8 prior big problems of humanity, all of which were accomplished despite seeming daunting many decades before achievement, all of which involved multiple nontrivial subproblems (some if which may seem easy in retrospect but were nonetheless big problems when initially faced), and all of which took many years and hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people:

the first transatlantic telegraph cable

(durable) organ transplantation

the moon landing (Apollo Program)

IVF

smallpox eradication

HIV/AIDS treatment

sequencing the human genome (Human Genome Project)

creation of mRNA vaccines

Each of these problems had an obvious primary overall metrics of success, just as the aging field has lifespan, and in each of the above cases, progress towards the eventual complete solution was not well tracked by progress measured using the obvious primary outcome metric(s). For example, farthest distance from earth of a crewed mission was a terrible metric to track Apollo Program progress. % of human DNA sequenced was a terrible metric to track progress of the Human Genome Project. Length of post-transplant survival was a terrible metric to track progress towards successful durable organ transplantation. Whether or not any babies were born via IVF or a count of those that were was a terrible metric to track progress towards successful IVF techniques. Etc. In all cases such metrics if graphed would show hockey-stick style sudden progress right at the end.

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Hi (briefly!) from London! I’m here for one night only to talk to some doctors and other healthcare pros about longevity science. And that night was last night. And I’m posting this from the airport…

Me stood outside the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, holding a cold brew

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It does feel like the consequences here should be exactly the same as if an employee had done it. If your models/employees are outstripping your oversight capabilities, that’s on you to fix.

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Haha, thanks! I had a few quibbles (of course). Great chat overall though—it was cool to listen to two smart but not ageing experts because I’m so marinated in this stuff I sometimes miss things! And hard agree on the AI bros…we need to collect more data, minimum. Would be fun to catch up sometime!

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I totally agree that we aren’t taking longer lives seriously enough as a society though. The socioeconomic and legal aspects of longevity need some serious work, and the science moves faster than society. That’s why I created @thelongevityinitiative.org… Looking forward to the rest of the series!

Adam talks about supercentenarians and, while it’s probably no fun outliving your children and even your grandchildren, the way they do it isn’t just dodging diseases—it’s also dodging the frailty that gets most of us in our 70s–90s. The average person who lives to 100+ lives to 100 independently!

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I’m far less pessimistic than David and @adamrutherford.bsky.social are in this episode! But I’m not on the side of the tech bros either… On the central question of the show, I think it’s very unlikely we can extend lifespan without extending healthspan, because *it’s being sick that kills you*.

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This is one reason I think longevity advocacy has such huge bang for buck: if we could explain to people with money what a collective investment in ageing research could do, they (and we all!) might live longer as a result. A rising tide lifts all boats, so to speak…

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

What’s wildest is…I think many of the yacht owners would actually take this deal? A UBS survey found that people with high net worth would give up to half of it for ten extra healthy years. So most people would probably happily trade a yacht’s worth for a shot!

What percentage of your wealth would you sacrifice
to guarantee an extra 10 years of healthy life?

$1–2M: 32%
$2–10M: 36%
$10–50M: 38%
$50M+: 48%

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Good morning from Monaco! I we could somehow turn the value of all the yachts in this harbour into longevity research, I’m pretty sure we could add years to human healthy life expectancy…

Superyachts in the foreground, Monaco skyscrapers sprouting of of the hillside in the background

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Dr. Todd Ewing PhD. @ewingt-phd.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Long-term adaptation to #plantbased #diet www.pcrm.org/news/news-re... Iron – absorbs more efficiently Creatine & carnosine – increases biosynthesis Protein – muscle mass, strength comparable Fiber – ferments more efficiently Polyphenols – higher levels of microbial metabolites

pcrm.org

The Body Doesn't Just Absorb a Plant-Based Diet—It Adapts to One, New Review Finds

WASHINGTON, DC — A new peer-reviewed review published in the journal Biology argues that much of the debate over whether plant-based diets deliver enough iron, protein, creatine, and other nutrients r...

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Berlin was clouded out for the lunar eclipse, so I’ll just have to make do with this shot of the very-full pre-eclipse moon through high, thin cloud, with a lovely two-tone halo around it caused by optical effects with the ice crystals in the cloud.

The very-full Moon, perfectly round, surrounded by a blue and then orangey halo in a dark sky

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Totally worth it, though. Thanks Mallorca! And thanks, the wonders of celestial mechanics. What a first eclipse. Technical details: 85 mm, base bracket from 1/1000 to 1/4 at f/2.8; corona stacked from 18 brackets during totality; partial phases, various exposures with and without a solar filter.

Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Viewing this was a challenge: totality was just 2.5° above the horizon, which meant that significant parts of the island couldn’t see it due to mountains. Plus, the feels-like temperature hovered around 40°C all day thanks to heat and humidity, which didn’t make waiting for this shot easy!

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Total eclipse, August 12th 2026, Mallorca, Spain. This shot is a 90-minute composite: the base picture is C2, the first moment of totality with Moon covering Sun and corona visible, and the sky split in two by the shadow; and I’ve superimposed the partial phases before and after. 🧪

Composite photo of a total solar eclipse setting over the sea in Mallorca. Repeated of images of the Sun line up along the diagonal it traced towards the horizon: the chain starts top left as small white discs, each more deeply bitten into by the Moon, narrowing to thin crescents. Two-thirds of the way down sits totality: a black disc ringed by the pearly corona, with a bright point flaring at its upper edge. Below, the crescents reappear, reddening and flattening as they sink through haze and cloud, the last few glowing deep orange just above the land.

The sky is split horizontallyby the Moon’s shadow, orange sunset light on the left, deep blue twilight on the right. Below lies a calm dark sea, a low silhouetted headland at the left and coastal mountains at the right, scattered with town lights.

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

My regular reminder that cutting down on meat, eating more vegetables, is good for your health, your wallet, and one of the best things you can do as an individual to help fight climate change. I‘ve collected some of my favourite recipes together in the link below.

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

(Non-UK peeps, you’ll need the BBC Sounds app, or you can wait until it comes out Wherever YouGet Your Podcasts™ next Thursday!)

bbc.co.uk

Sliced Bread - Sliced Bread - Series 17 - Experimental Peptides - BBC Sounds

Is it OK to take experimental peptides like the Wolverine Stack?

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

It was my absolute pleasure to dial in from Berlin to speak with host Greg and guests Sophie (who’s sceptical) and Steve (who’s tried the Wolverine Stack!) about what we know and don’t about experimental peptides BPC-157, TB-500, GHK-Cu and more… 🧪 Listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A screenshot of me waving from Berlin, and a selfie of Greg and Sophie in the studio with Steve and me on screen behind them

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The first moments of totality in Mallorca #eclipse 🧪

The left side of the sky looks like sunset; the right side looks like half an hour afterwards. In the middle, a glowing ring of fire floats above distant Mallorcan hills.

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Reposted by Andrew Steele

The Longevity Initiative @thelongevityinitiative.org · 11/08/2026

What would it take to reverse 10-20 years of age-related decline in muscle, cognition and immunity? XPRIZE is spending $101 million to try and find out. At the Longevity Initiative, we believe prizes are one of the most effective tools to efficiently test different hypotheses and fund those with

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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I wonder what fraction of this is explained by the fact that a 50:50 shot at £1 million just sounds so ridiculous, I’d rather take the cash, thanks

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I think this is a fair point and there is an extent to which AWESOME SUPERINTELLIGENT CYBER CAPABILITIES is great marketing copy, and it also has a slightly ‘ChatGPT can end the world too!’ feel after Claude Mythos headlines recently…but I don’t think it’s marketing/scary are mutually exclusive…

* This is the first time I’ve been described as ‘from Shropshire’ in the media! (Apart perhaps from the local paper on A-level results day?!) I grew up there, so my parents were happy to see this description…

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Blood-swapping, oxygen tanks & WiFi blockers - inside the 'immortality Olympics'

It was a pleasure to speak to @thesun.co.uk about the Rejuvenation Olympics and longevity science more broadly! ‘Longevity scientist Andrew Steele, 40, from Shropshire*, describes some measures as “biohacking nonsense” and says they “are not very scientific” in their approach.’

the-sun.com

THEY have gruelling gym regimes and rigid routines that monitor food, sleep and nutritional intake – but unlike other athletes, these ‘Olympians’ aren’t trying to cross the finish line first.…

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On the OpenAI hacking, I think this is the key point: do the advanced cybersecurity capabilities of these models net out at an advantage for attackers, or defenders? If the ‘good guys’ are always a few months ahead, and a few months is long enough to patch all the things, we’re golden…if not, uh-oh

Abilu Tangwa. @abilutangwa.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Reposted by Andrew Steele

What they don't teach you about heatwaves: It's not just heat. It's: • Your crops dying • Your river drying (Rhine is low again, disrupting shipping) • Your lungs burning from wildfire smoke • Your power grid collapsing It's everything at once.

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I could go on… It’s a shame that longevity medicine is lumped in with facelifts as a kind of vanity. I think trying to explain why ‘ageing’, biologically and morally speaking, is different from the diseases it causes, is a useful way to understand why it shouldn’t be.

“We have this rampant idea now that to show any signs of dementia is something that we want to stave off or avoid for as long as we can,” he said, “potentially forever.” After all, who wants to lose their memories, their independence, and forget their children’s names?

“We have this rampant idea now that to show any signs of ageing is something that we want to stave off or avoid for as long as we can,” Lytle said, “potentially forever.” After all, who wants to die?

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The ultimate goal of anti-cancer and oncology is to stop normal biological processes, so any signs of cancer—aberrant cell division, metastasis—mean that we’re failing. There is no end to cancer, apart from death. There’s always another drug to trial, another procedure to test.

The ultimate goal of anti-ageing and longevity is to stop normal biological processes, so any signs of ageing – grey hair, wrinkles, saggy skin – mean that you’re failing. But DeFino argues that failure is the ultimate success of the anti-ageing industry. There is no end to ageing, apart from death. There’s always another product to buy, another procedure to undergo, another supplement to take.

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‘Doctors will no longer use the term “anti-cancer”. One medic argued that by using it, “we’re subtly reinforcing the message that cancer is a condition we need to battle”.’ (There are issues with ‘battle’ metaphors for individuals, but as a society, we should fight!)

DeFino links the terminology shift back to the fashion magazine Allure’s 2017 announcement that it would no longer use the term “anti-ageing”. Editor Michelle Lee argued that by using it, “we’re subtly reinforcing the message that ageing is a condition we need to battle”.