LEVITY

• The Mindset behind longevity & strength at 75 - Natasha Vita-More

  Anyone who is interesed in emerging science and futurism will come across the name Natasha Vita-More; a suggestive name for a charismatic and important philosopher and artist envisioning human possibilities. She wrote the Transhuman Manifesto in 1983. But did you know that she has also made a scientific discovery with big implications for cryopreservation?Natasha Vita-More is a trailblazing futurist, acclaimed author, and pioneering designer whose work stands at the thrilling intersection of science, technology, and art. Renowned for her visionary contributions to transhumanism and human enhancement, she has spent decades exploring how we can transcend biological limitations and reimagine what it means to be human. From her iconic “Primo Posthuman” prototype to her influential writings on life extension and ethical AI, Vita-More has inspired global audiences to think boldly about the future.🔍 In this conversation✅ Experiment show that memory can survive cryopreservation✅ The origin of transhumanism✅ What is stoic extropianism?✅ Pragmatic optimism and the concept of progress✅ How to feel and look great past 70✅ AI and the way to superlongevity✅ The bottlenecks for nanotechnology as a tool for health and longevity✅ Books that we need to readCHAPTERS00.00 Introduction04:27 Scottsdale Arizona05:21 Making a scientific discovery: memory survives cryonics16:13 The making of Natasha Vita-More33:00 Humanity+ and its critics41:04 Writing the Transhumanist Manifesto & origin of futurist movements50:58 Transhumanism today57:13 The soul of transhumanism - troubles with the concept of progressive01:04:05 Stoicism and extropy01:06:12 Knowing what you can change01:17:04 Solving aging with AI?01:24:29 Pragmatic optimism01:27:38 Hope and science01:34:50 Staying healthy and alive01:45:15 Bottlenecks for nanotechnology01:50:50 3 books we have to read Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• These rats don't age - here's why | Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein

  Even though it’s undeniably...aesthetic-challenged, the naked mole-rat is the envy of the longevity world. Its risk of death barely changes with time; it shrugs off cancer, stays fertile for decades and seems to skip every hallmark of aging that hobbles the rest of us.But why? What evolutionary forces gave a mouse-sized, subterranean rodent near-immunity to aging - and what can its biology teach us about extending healthy human life?Comparative biologist Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein (University of Illinois Chicago) - who has maintained the world’s largest captive colonies and authored 200+ papers - joins LEVITY to dissect the evidence.In this episode✅ Rochelle’s journey: from Zimbabwe farm kid to the pre-eminent naked mole-rat researcher.✅ Eusocial society: queens, worker castes and lethal succession battles.✅ No Gompertz slope: hard numbers that show mortality risk stays essentially flat for 40 years.✅ Cancer resistance → high-molecular-weight hyaluronan, unusual immune cell profiles.✅ Telomere maintenance and DNA-methylation reversal.✅ Proteostasis on easy-mode: slow translation, durable proteins, super-charged autophagy.✅ What actually kills a mole-rat?✅ Translational angles: small-molecule screens, CRISPR edits, and why funding is still an uphill battle.✅ Other long-lived species worth studying - and how young scientists can break into comparative gerontology.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membershipShow notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.comLEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.00:00 Teaser02:37 Meet Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein07:04 Naked mole-rats crash course10:23 Eusocial life: Queens, workers, death matches11:46 Extreme underground lifestyle (Low O₂, High CO₂)18:12 Problems with inbreeding?26:07 Don’t call them cold-blooded!29:15 Keeping the world’s largest colony of naked mole-rats31:45 Eating naked mole-rats36:01 Lifespan of the naked mole-rat38:20 Two remarkable papers50:53 How long can they live?52:45 Resistance to cancer57:03 The Hallmarks of aging are no match for this rodent59:48 Surprising immune defense01:04:18 What’s the evolutionary rationale?01:10:08 Translating the research01:18:51 Other longevity champions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Can this 5-day diet rewind your biological age? - A conversation with Andrea Ghirardi

  🎁 Our giveaway is live!10 winners will receive FMD kits from Prolon. It’s free to enter – just follow the link below 👇https://gleam.io/NaVa0/prolon-fasting-mimicking-diet-giveaway🔬 Can food rejuvenate you from within?In this special episode of LEVITY, Peter talks with Andrea Ghirardi, CEO of L-Nutra Europe — the company behind Prolon, the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) developed from Dr. Valter Longo’s research.🧠 We cover:– How Prolon mimics fasting without starvation.– Real-world results: 2.5 years bio-age reversal.– Why FMD may beat GLP-1 drugs for long-term health.– What’s inside the new NextGen kit.– Prolon’s potential as a medical treatment.📘 Dive deeper with our companion article:https://reachlevity.com/p/the-fasting-mimicking-diet-explained-5ce17b65d00c14c1💌 Our newsletter: Weekly biotech + aging breakthroughs:https://reachlevity.com/subscribeLEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.Note: Nothing in this post or episode is medical advice. We're not doctors. Before trying this, you should consult your physician. Prolon is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any diseases.CHAPTERS00:00 Teaser00:41 A message from Peter02:35 Introduction to L-Nutra and Andrea Ghirardi, CEO05:02 What is the fasting-mimicking diet?07:23 The clinically validated formulation08:32 The formation of L-Nutra13:22 How does FMD compare to other fasting methods?18:07 Are weight-loss drugs a tough competitor to Prolon?20:05 What's inside the 5-day Prolon kit?22:54 The next-gen formula25:41 Peter's and Andrea's experience of trying the FMD28:23 FMD studies35:15 The future of FMD and L-Nutra Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• #27 The mind-blowing science to bring you back from death - neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow‑Johnston

  When is someone really dead? What does it mean to survive? Is mind-uploading really a possible future way of surviving? These are some of the questions we are discussing with Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston.Dr Ariel Zeleznikow‑Johnston is a neuroscientist and Research Fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, whose work delves into the neural basis of consciousness - from understanding how genetics and environment shape cognition to exploring the subtle qualities of perceptual experience such as color qualia. A 2019 PhD graduate from The University of Melbourne, he has published extensively on how cognitive function changes across the lifespan. He is the author of The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death, which advocates for brain preservation technology as a means to suspend death and revive individuals in the future.Check out Peter's review of the book here: https://reachlevity.com/p/a-clear-case-for-cryonics-a-review-of-the-future-loves-youHis multidisciplinary approach combines rigorous neuroscience with philosophy and ethics, positioning him at the forefront of contemporary debates about identity, mortality, and the future of human life.🔍 In this conversation:✅ When do we consider someone to be dead?✅ What is vitrifixation?✅ Cryonics.✅ Palliative philosophy.✅ Personal identity and the connectome.✅ Are neurons the same over time?✅ Teleportation as a test of the information view of personhood.✅ How do we make the future love us?✅ Survival and medical priorities.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membership🚀 Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com🚀 LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.CHAPTER00:00 Intro03:45 Jonathan is 190-years-old07:00 Learned helplessness10:00 Incoherent medical strategies11:30 Aging is unhealthy14:22 Palliative philosophy20:44 The book in brief - how to cheat death23:30 Different ways of biostasis - vitrifixation35:01 Digital snap-shot emulation of our essense37:59 What is a person? Connectome preservation43:30 Do neurons stay the same over a life?47:00 Is mind-uploading preserving personal identity?01:03:52 We are not our brain - is the connectome model a dualist view?01:07:50 Teleportation and survival I01:14:19 Duplicate myself to increase utility01:15:31 Teleportation and survival II01:24:30 "Dead people" may not be dead01:33:30 Saving lives by biostasis brainpreservation01:36:04 Priority of medicine01:38:05 Saving everyone that can be saved01:40:07 Justice and survival - an unusual angle01:43:36 What kind of world will we wake up to?01:44:48 How to make the future love us01:44:59 What are the odds of today's cryonics working?01:49:10 What year is resurrection?01:56:33 Ariel's book recommendations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• #26 Inside Shift Bioscience’s single-gene rejuvenation breakthrough — Exclusive with CEO Daniel Ives

  Just about the hottest thing in longevity science right now is partial reprogramming - using Yamanaka factors to rewind the biological clock in our cells. Billion-dollar giants like Altos, Retro and New Limit are betting on it.But in this episode a far smaller player, Shift Bioscience, argues that the field may be looking in the wrong place. CEO Daniel Ives explains how his team used AI-powered virtual cells to uncover a single gene that seems to match OSK-level rejuvenation without the tumor risk that haunts classical reprogramming - and why their just-released data could change the game for aging research.🔍 In this conversation✅ Daniel’s journey from mitochondrial PhD work to founding Shift Bioscience.✅ Why Yamanaka-factor–based partial reprogramming excites the field and why it’s inherently risky.✅ Epigenetic clocks 101 — Horvath, single-cell versions, and what they really measure.✅ Building AI “virtual cells” (transformers / GNNs) to run millions of in-silico experiments.✅ Discovery of new rejuvenation factor sets - including SB000, a lone gene that rejuvenates without inducing pluripotency.✅ Early wet-lab validation across fibroblasts & keratinocytes; next-step mouse studies already under way.✅ How inhibition targets (not just over-expression) could slash timelines from 15 years to ~5 years.✅ Mapping a “risk landscape” of age-linked diseases and why fibrosis may be the fastest clinical entry point.✅ Funding Shift: from personal redundancy money to a $16 M seed and the next raise.✅ Timelines, escape-velocity hopes, and where cryonics still fits.✅ What Daniel would ask Jeff Bezos, and why the pharma ecosystem needs to “plug in” now.🚀 Special offer for our LEVITY audience: Join Vitalism today and receive a 30% discount on your membership using the code LEVITY at checkout. https://www.vitalism.io/membership🚀 Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com🚀 LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction to Daniel Ives05:34 The Evolution of Shift's Focus13:25 Understanding Aging Clocks19:28 Commercial Clocks is ”Mostly Entertainment”21:03 A Pivotal Meeting with Steve Horvath24:35 A Brief Crash Course in Yamanaka Factors28:16 Finding Something Better Than Yamanaka Factors33:20 The Origin Story For This Approach36:50 What Does Shift’s New Results Show?37:33 Defining the Virtual Cell in This Context44:22 The Gene is Called SB00046:45 “This Could be Hugely Important”01:01:44 Speeding up Drug Development with AI01:11:12 What do Investors Say?01:17:15 What Daniel Hope Will Happen Next01:19:34 What Would Daniel Ask of Jeff Bezos?01:27:00 Why is the company called Shift?01:32:55 The Pride Day for Closeted Aging Biologists01:42:28 How Should We Think About Cryonics? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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