Andrew Steele+

Berlin was clouded out for the lunar eclipse, so I’ll just have to make do with

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.

Totally worth it, though. Thanks Mallorca! And thanks, the wonders of celestial

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.

Viewing this was a challenge: totality was just 2.5° above the horizon, which me

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!

Total eclipse, August 12th 2026, Mallorca, Spain. This shot is a 90-minute comp

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. 🧪

(Non-UK peeps, you’ll need the BBC Sounds app, or you can wait until it comes ou

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

It was my absolute pleasure to dial in from Berlin to speak with host Greg and g

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/...

The first moments of totality in Mallorca #eclipse 🧪

The first moments of totality in Mallorca #eclipse 🧪

I wonder what fraction of this is explained by the fact that a 50:50 shot at £1

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

I think this is a fair point and there is an extent to which AWESOME SUPERINTELL

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!

* 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…

It was a pleasure to speak to @thesun.co.uk about the Rejuvenation Olympics and

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.’

On the OpenAI hacking, I think this is the key point: do the advanced cybersecur

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

I could go on… It’s a shame that longevity medicine is lumped in with facelifts

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 t

“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?

The ultimate goal of anti-cancer and oncology is to stop normal biological proce

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.

‘Doctors will no longer use the term “anti-cancer”. One medic argued that by usi

‘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!)

It’s fun to go through this article and replace the word ‘ageing’ with the words

It’s fun to go through this article and replace the word ‘ageing’ with the words ‘cancer’ or ‘dementia’. I don’t think longevity science is ageist—I want everyone to have a chance to be healthy, however old they are!

If you couldn’t see it on LinkedIn, my post on Bryan Johnson’s autoimmune gastri

If you couldn’t see it on LinkedIn, my post on Bryan Johnson’s autoimmune gastritis diagnosis is now on my website:

I wrote a piece about Bryan Johnson’s diagnosis with autoimmune gastritis. Chec

I wrote a piece about Bryan Johnson’s diagnosis with autoimmune gastritis. Check it out here: www.linkedin.com/pulse/bryan-...

The tweet was far more on the ‘we’re all harbouring latent covid, we’re all doom

The tweet was far more on the ‘we’re all harbouring latent covid, we’re all doomed!!!’ end of the spectrum tho, which I think is actively unhelpful for a) the lucky majority who didn’t get long-term consequences and don’t need the anxiety and b) people genuinely suffering from long covid.

Sorry to hear about both of those things. :( And I totally agree, I think we sh

Sorry to hear about both of those things. :( And I totally agree, I think we should be more hawkish preventing viral infections not least because of their long-term risks. …

The health misinformation in the replies to that post is next-level. Eat more m

The health misinformation in the replies to that post is next-level. Eat more meat! Get more sun! It’s the covid shots! It’s long covid! (I saw those last two back-to-back which is pretty funny.)

I’m genuinely sorry to hear that Bryan is unwell. But this episode shows the li

I’m genuinely sorry to hear that Bryan is unwell. But this episode shows the limits of flashy biohacking theatre vs real medicine: too much focus on social-media-friendly measures like epigenetic clocks and night time erections while overlooking low ferritin for over a decade.

As you can see, there are plenty of examples in nature of animals and plants liv

As you can see, there are plenty of examples in nature of animals and plants living a very long time. There’s no law of nature that forces organisms to age…so is there even a chance that a human alive today be around to celebrate America’s 500th?!

Honourable mention to an American organism: a bristlecone pine named Methuselah,

Honourable mention to an American organism: a bristlecone pine named Methuselah, high in California’s White Mountains, is ~4,850 years old. It was a seedling before the pyramids, and is older than every country on Earth. 📷 By Dcrjsr, CC BY-SA 3.0

These are all aquatic creatures—on dry land, the oldest animal with a reliably d

These are all aquatic creatures—on dry land, the oldest animal with a reliably documented age is Jonathan the tortoise, at a mere ~193. When he was born, the US was a sprightly 57 years old! 📷 By Kevstan, CC BY-SA 4.0

The giant volcanic sponge (Anoxycalyx joubini): one individual was estimated at

The giant volcanic sponge (Anoxycalyx joubini): one individual was estimated at ~15,000 years old. Antarctic sponges live deep in the ocean, in extremely cold temperatures and high pressures, which may slow their growth and aging processes. 📷 PLoS ONE 8(2): e56939, CC BY 4.0

The ocean quahog (Arctica islandica): the oldest ever clam was nicknamed Ming, a

The ocean quahog (Arctica islandica): the oldest ever clam was nicknamed Ming, and died aged 507 based on scientists counting rings in its shell. This means it was born around 1500. We don’t know how long it might have lived if it hadn’t been caught… 📷 H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Greenland shark (pictured above) is the longest-lived vertebrate on Earth, e

The Greenland shark (pictured above) is the longest-lived vertebrate on Earth, estimated to live to 400 years. They grow 1 cm a year, and don’t reach maturity until 150. Some sharks who came of age in 1776 are cruising the Arctic right now. 📷 Hemming1952, CC BY-SA 4.0

Happy 250th birthday, America! 🎂🇺🇸 To put that into perspective: here are so

Happy 250th birthday, America! 🎂🇺🇸 To put that into perspective: here are some animals that live even longer—some of them alive today were probably around when the Declaration was signed… 🧵

Just doing my bit to increase London's albedo

Just doing my bit to increase London's albedo

This silver parasol reflects both UV (sunburn, skin ageing) and IR (heat), so I’

This silver parasol reflects both UV (sunburn, skin ageing) and IR (heat), so I’m trying it out in the oppressive 35°C heat in London. I’d like to do a randomised trial to see if it actually affects my core body temperature, but I think it would be unethical to put myself in the control group.

I’m starting to think this whole ‘climate change’ thing wasn’t such a great idea

I’m starting to think this whole ‘climate change’ thing wasn’t such a great idea

All the headlines would be incredible if it's just a diagnostic change!

All the headlines would be incredible if it's just a diagnostic change!

It might be that something is changing that hits both PhenoAge and cancer risk (

It might be that something is changing that hits both PhenoAge and cancer risk (eg obesity) but doesn’t mean younger cohorts are ageing faster/less healthy in some more meaningful sense…

I had a look at they actually graph this in the supplementary—and the left figur

I had a look at they actually graph this in the supplementary—and the left figure here shows the whole distribution going up, not just a tail fattening, from my read? I guess this is the eternal question for these biological age clocks—what's their validity outside the cohort they were trained in?

…seems the study authors list all the same basic factors!

…seems the study authors list all the same basic factors!

I honestly think until we do something interventional we might just not know, at

I honestly think until we do something interventional we might just not know, at least not for decades! Plausibly obesity is accelerating aging, but diet quality, lifestyle, air quality, infections etc have all basically improved so I’d be somewhat surprised? Just checked the discussion and…

A new study suggests the uptick in young people getting cancer is because they’r

A new study suggests the uptick in young people getting cancer is because they’re biologically older. Target the ageing process and you might help the 30-year-olds too! And a proper interventional study would finally tell us what these ageing clocks are actually measuring…

The days will start getting shorter… …wait for it… …now! Summer solstice 2026

The days will start getting shorter… …wait for it… …now! Summer solstice 2026, June 21st, 08:25 UTC (09:25 BST, 10:25 CEST).

Sure, and we need policy change to make sure these things are delivered more che

Sure, and we need policy change to make sure these things are delivered more cheaply (as they often are in the rest of the world, or indeed in the grey market in the US). The dysfunction of US drug pricing isn’t an argument that science is expensive. :)

I’m not saying we shouldn’t do both! I’m all for better urban planning and impro

I’m not saying we shouldn’t do both! I’m all for better urban planning and improving lives in other ways. But we should be clear-eyed about the order(s)-of-magnitude difference in price tag.

$100 billion a year would almost certainly allow development of longevity drugs

$100 billion a year would almost certainly allow development of longevity drugs over a few-year timespan (it’s about 10× what the US has spent on longevity science EVER) and, if produced at cost, could keep billions of people around the world healthy for less money than this hypothetical city. :)

I think the maths doesn’t work out here—without questioning your $100bn/year for

I think the maths doesn’t work out here—without questioning your $100bn/year for a structurally reformed city, that’s only 50 million people, and GLP-1s are reaching far more than that for less money. Plus, as you say, their price is a policy choice—the cost price is far, far lower.

Vaccines can literally prevent cancer—and the new HPV jab statistics are even mo

Vaccines can literally prevent cancer—and the new HPV jab statistics are even more remarkable than the headline. New article: https://andrewsteele.co.uk/blog/2026/06/hpv-vaccine-prevents-cervical-cancer/

Vaccines can literally prevent cancer—and the new HPV jab statistics are even mo

Vaccines can literally prevent cancer—and the new HPV jab statistics are even more remarkable than the headline. New article:

This is a good point, thanks! Boys were only vaccinated from 2019, so going from

This is a good point, thanks! Boys were only vaccinated from 2019, so going from 0 to ~70–80% here will have topped up herd immunity too.

The NHS doesn’t seem to recommend for adults except men who have sex with men up

The NHS doesn’t seem to recommend for adults except men who have sex with men up to 45: www.nhs.uk/vaccinations... CDC is a bit more flexible and says ‘some adults’ up to 45: www.cdc.gov/hpv/hcp/vacc... I think if you aren’t in a monogamous relationship there’s probably a case to be made?

I should have scrolled down further: vaccination rates are even higher in the co

I should have scrolled down further: vaccination rates are even higher in the cohort relevant to these cancer stats. Let’s hope we don’t see an uptick in cancer rates thanks to the reduction in coverage more recently. (But herd immunity hopefully means it will be pretty small.)

…structural change. (eg they’re too frail or unwell to do so, etc) We need medic

…structural change. (eg they’re too frail or unwell to do so, etc) We need medicine to help them because neither optimisation nor large-scale social change can. Developing medicines is much cheaper and easier than social change so we should push much harder on it than we already do!

I agree with everything you’ve typed! But perhaps you weren’t able to access my

I agree with everything you’ve typed! But perhaps you weren’t able to access my X thread… My point isn’t that we shouldn’t work hard on public health, it’s that preventative medicines that slow ageing are an essential adjunct to it. Lots of people can’t change their diet or exercise, even with…

‘But why weren’t there any cases in the unvaccinated kids?’ > 70% of kids in En

‘But why weren’t there any cases in the unvaccinated kids?’ > 70% of kids in England are vaccinated: www.gov.uk/government/s... Throw in herd immunity for the other 25–30%, there we go: www.gavi.org/vaccineswork...

I’m pretty sure a ladybird would beat a skateboard in a race

I’m pretty sure a ladybird would beat a skateboard in a race

Thank you, Simon! That means a lot. James is a fun interviewer!

Thank you, Simon! That means a lot. James is a fun interviewer!

…so potentially a reduction of > 90% of remaining deaths?

…so potentially a reduction of > 90% of remaining deaths?

By then, I guess almost all countries will have undergone a full demographic tra

By then, I guess almost all countries will have undergone a full demographic transition and > 90% of deaths will be due to ageing…so it's all down to the success of science slowing that down! And I wouldn’t bet against against us curing ageing over the next *century*…but ofc still a chance we fail!

That would be fun! Drop me an email when you're in town :) statto@andrewsteele.c

That would be fun! Drop me an email when you're in town :) statto@andrewsteele.co.uk

Agreed…

Agreed…

I was surprised… Their stuff is normally fairly well-researched!

I was surprised… Their stuff is normally fairly well-researched!

As a British dad living in Berlin, I’m all for affordable housing, supporting pa

As a British dad living in Berlin, I’m all for affordable housing, supporting parents and immigration—but I think campaigning for funding for longevity science is more tractable than trying to juggle those political hot potatoes. At least mention that next time, @kurzgesagt.org!

But of course the main thing that got my goat was the total failure to engage wi

But of course the main thing that got my goat was the total failure to engage with longevity science—a topic they made several videos on a few years ago! Claiming a 74% population drop over four generations assumes that medical science will stand still for about a century, which seems unlikely!

There’s also a very strange part where they cast immigration as a pyramid scheme

There’s also a very strange part where they cast immigration as a pyramid scheme because immigrants eventually get old and need care…but that’s exactly the same as children born in Germany? They’re right that birth rates are falling everywhere so it’s not a permanent solution.

This video is a rare swing and substantial miss by @kurzgesagt.org. Most import

This video is a rare swing and substantial miss by @kurzgesagt.org. Most importantly, they don’t engage with improving health: assuming everyone over 65 is a burden is wild when 65 was first set as Germany’s pension age in 1916—at a time when life expectancy in Germany was around 55!

Happy 100th birthday, Sir David Attenborough! For every 1,000 boys born in 1926

Happy 100th birthday, Sir David Attenborough! For every 1,000 boys born in 1926, only 5 are still around today. He’s a national treasure *and* a statistical outlier.

Quite. It would’ve taken 30 minutes to call me up and get some genuine quotes, t

Quite. It would’ve taken 30 minutes to call me up and get some genuine quotes, too! (But probably wouldn’t have made for a very exciting article given my circumspect stance…)

Amen to that. Mad that someone thinks it’s OK to just publish something an AI g

Amen to that. Mad that someone thinks it’s OK to just publish something an AI gave them without even a cursory check.

I was…annoyed. And to admit to me that it was AI in the email reply?!?

I was…annoyed. And to admit to me that it was AI in the email reply?!?

I asked Gemini for some quotes from me on this topic…and they’re all sourced fro

I asked Gemini for some quotes from me on this topic…and they’re all sourced from that article! AI eating its own tail and poisoning its own dataset…

I got a Google Alert for my name yesterday, pointing to an article for an outlet

I got a Google Alert for my name yesterday, pointing to an article for an outlet I’d never spoken to, full of quotes I’ve never said. It’s now corrected…but the editor told me ‘I asked Google to find an expert but I think it used AI.’ Isn’t it your job to check..?

An ageing population doesn’t need to mean falling living standards: both Japan a

An ageing population doesn’t need to mean falling living standards: both Japan and South Korea continue to see rising GDP per capita during this transition, too. The critical thing is keeping people healthy for longer, and longevity science could help with that!

Check out the paper piece online here:

Check out the paper piece online here:

By tackling these processes, Andrew reckons we could potentially reduce the dise

By tackling these processes, Andrew reckons we could potentially reduce the diseases too, potentially saving the Government millions on financing NHS treatments.

“All these different things come along with growing older – even the wrinkles an

“All these different things come along with growing older – even the wrinkles and grey hair. “What we now understand is that these are all caused by the same collection of biological processes.”

The Director of @thelongevityinitiative.org says: “What is this fundamental tick

The Director of @thelongevityinitiative.org says: “What is this fundamental ticking clock in every single human that makes us have an exponentially increasing risk of cancer, heart disease, dementia, stroke, frailty, cognitive decline, impotence, incontinence?

I was in @thesun.co.uk at the weekend! Check out the full interview at steele.l

I was in @thesun.co.uk at the weekend! Check out the full interview at steele.link/sun

Absolutely fantastic discussion from Brad Stanfield and Matt Kaeberlein of their

Absolutely fantastic discussion from Brad Stanfield and Matt Kaeberlein of their recent rapamycin trial. Two great scientists and communicators having a really detailed, honest, knowledgeable discussion of the strengths and weaknesses. Thanks both!

Agreed—in fact, I’d say increasing healthy lifespan beyond 90 or certainly 100 w

Agreed—in fact, I’d say increasing healthy lifespan beyond 90 or certainly 100 will require fundamentally different approaches to what has increased it so far :)

I spoke with @thesun.co.uk about how science could slow (or stop?!) ageing, and

I spoke with @thesun.co.uk about how science could slow (or stop?!) ageing, and whether that means we could become the Elves from Lord of the Rings…or maybe the Hobbits… #longevity 🧪

I’m in @rteone.rte.ie’s new documentary on longevity! It’s called Live Forever:

I’m in @rteone.rte.ie’s new documentary on longevity! It’s called Live Forever: The death of ageing?, and you can check it out on RTÉ Player here:

‘Since the programme started in 2021, Pillar 2 has awarded money to six projects

‘Since the programme started in 2021, Pillar 2 has awarded money to six projects looking at underlying ageing biology, according to a European Commission spokesperson. These have received €23 million in total, 0.48% of the €4.8 billion Horizon Europe has so far dished out on health topics, and just 0.08% of the €27.9 billion spent through Pillar 2 as a whole. For comparison, oncology has received

Could Ozempic slow down aging?! A new study suggests yes—but, while they’re exci

Could Ozempic slow down aging?! A new study suggests yes—but, while they’re exciting preliminary results, there are a few caveats too. New Scientist asked me to send in a comment for their podcast—this is the full, uncut version of what I said! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0q8RLtHUv8s #aging #ageing #longevity #ozempic

Very sad to find out (while looking for a picture of him for something) that Fau

Very sad to find out (while looking for a picture of him for something) that Fauja Singh, who was probably 114, was killed in a hit-and-run. :( That is not the way anyone should go, but especially a supercentenarian. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2d0yep9d37o #aging

I am trying to get all my contacts to move from WhatsApp to Signal for privacy a

I am trying to get all my contacts to move from WhatsApp to Signal for privacy and security reasons. I wrote a quick article to help convince people to make the move, and published it on my website in case it helps anyone else make the case to friends and relatives. Please share if useful! https://andrewsteele.co.uk/blog/2025/07/delete-whatsapp-install-signal/

More nonsense from Meta: this stuff is unbelievable. The hunger for AI training

More nonsense from Meta: this stuff is unbelievable. The hunger for AI training data has turned them from pretty creepy to absolutely unscrupulous data-slurping privacy nightmare, and it's very hard to generally trust a company that behaves like this. If you have the Facebook app on your phone: first, ask if you need it, or if accessing it through your web browser would be better. If you really do

I’ve just noticed that, if you don’t want Meta AI to go through slurping up all

I’ve just noticed that, if you don’t want Meta AI to go through slurping up all your WhatsApp messages, you have to go through and turn this on *for every chat you’re in*. Can everyone please move to @signalapp already? This is getting absurd!

The pictures are spaced throughout the day—January’s was taken at sunrise, and t

The pictures are spaced throughout the day—January’s was taken at sunrise, and the one in December will be taken at sunset. And I was pretty lucky that one morning in February was so beautifully snowy! It was only a few hours later that it had all turned to slush…

With the solstice yesterday, I am now half-way through a photo project: take a p

With the solstice yesterday, I am now half-way through a photo project: take a picture from this exact spot every month in 2025! This is January–June, each picture taken as close to the 21st as weather and my being in Berlin allows. Can’t wait to find out what happens next! #photography #timelapse #seasons #berlin

New 30% mouse lifespan extension paper just dropped! Another example of rapamyci

New 30% mouse lifespan extension paper just dropped! Another example of rapamycin + something increasing mouse lifespan more than rapamycin or something alone. In this case, the something is trametinib, an anti-cancer drug. Read more here: https://andrewsteele.co.uk/blog/2025/05/rapamycin-trametinib-cocktail-lifespan-mice/ #aging #longevity #agingbiology #rapamycin

Great piece by Andrew Scott on the longevity revolution—and why we need to seize

Great piece by Andrew Scott on the longevity revolution—and why we need to seize the opportunities it presents. ‘The hardest change of all [is] seeing a longer life as an opportunity and overcoming deeply engrained ageist assumptions.’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2025/may/15/longevity-ageing-health-centenarian-life-expentancy

Proud to say I helped out a bit with this new video from Primer, simulating the

Proud to say I helped out a bit with this new video from Primer, simulating the evolution of aging with his lovable blobs! If anyone asks me to explain how aging evolved (it’s surprisingly nuanced), I now have a great resource to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_JbJTeLZJs #aging #evolution #evolutionarybiology #science #ageing #longevity

I had an amazing chat with Davina McCall (!!!) about ageing, menopause, how we c

I had an amazing chat with Davina McCall (!!!) about ageing, menopause, how we could live to 90 in good health, and how much fun it is to give birth?!? (Her words not mine!) Check it out her new podcast, Begin Again, for the full conversation :) #aging #ageing #longevity #menopause #longevityscience #agingbiology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnL5ni4sxJ8