The anti-ageing industry is hotting up. Not the one advertising me snail goo and sheep placenta facials (the algorithms can’t accept that I barely moisturise); the one exploring how elastic the limits of life are. A generic diabetes drug, metformin, apparently shows potential to slow ageing (researchers are hoping to secure funding for a large-scale trial). A “longevity diet” could hack cell ageing, but you’d better like your proteins “pesco-vegetarian-derived” and your fats “mostly from plant-based and pro-longevity sources”. There’s a definite buzz, but it’s all in the early stages – as one researcher put it: “It’s a great time to be a rich mouse.”
Rich – that’s key. We relish tales of absurd billionaire biohacks – dodgy supplements, cryochambers and fasts so long I’d eat my own arm – as evidence that all their money can’t buy them eternal life. But now we might have to be grateful for their mad hubris: billionaire-funded private sector startups are apparently filling the gaps in longevity science, funding anti-ageing research too speculative for big pharma and too expensive for academia and government, with Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and Sergey Brin all getting involved.
