Four For Friday | Sept 19, 2025
LF188 | Longevity's marketing problem, real time inflammation tracking, nature's longevity secrets, applying systems thinking to organisations + must-watch AI video.
Welcome to this week’s Four For Friday - nuggets of interesting things I’ve picked up this week. Enjoy!
1. Miss-selling longevity
How has something that represents literally the best thing anybody could have - more time - been so badly marketed? Start talking about longevity in the pub and there’ll likely be as much push back as interest; it’s generally seen as the preserve of the rich and selfish (and increasingly plutocrats too).
The irony, is people are spending a lot of money on wellness - $500 billion annually in America. But, while most people want to reach 90, only 18% use life-extending healthtech. The sector's association with biohackers and billionaires puts people off, despite the goals being aligned - 66% would rather die young than live sick. Some folks are getting it - Oura seems to be reframing their product from biohacking bros to longer lives for all.
The So What? The longevity industry needs to switch from biohacking bros to accessible wellness for everyone.
2. Watching inflammation in real time
There’s healthy disagreements about many areas of longevity - see above - but one thing most people agree on is that inflammation is one of the more direct causes of accelerated aging. There’s even a term - inflammaging - the chronic, low-grade inflammation linked to age-related diseases and ill health.
Eric Topol interviews Northwestern's Shana Kelley, who has developed hair-thin biosensors that continuously track any blood protein. These function like glucose monitors but for inflammation markers - offering potential benefits to all of the ‘four horseman’ of longevity - cardio, cancer, neuro and diabetes.
The sensors use electricity to detect protein binding to DNA strands. It’s still early, but proof-of-concept studies in diabetic rats successfully monitored real-time inflammation responses.
The So What? Continuous protein monitoring could make early intervention and personalized treatment feasible at scale.
3. Nature’s longevity secrets
A long-read in the FT about how long-lived animals could unlock human lifespan extension. It looks at immortal jellyfish that reverse aging, cancer-resistant elephants with 40 tumor-suppressing genes (versus humans' two), and Greenland sharks living 500+ years through Arctic metabolism.
Studies show gene transfers from naked mole-rats extended mouse lifespans by 4.4%, reducing cancer and inflammation. This type of ‘comparative biology’ approach seeks evolution's "gold standard maintenance package" for healthy aging applications.
The So What? Animal longevity research could help extend human healthspans.
4. Applying systems thinking to organisations
Systems thinking isn’t just for wrangling complex existential challenges such as climate change, it can be applied to help make sense of organizations such as corporates. The defining metaphor for corporates is of a top down, hierarchical structure - a deterministic machine, guided by an omniscient strategist sitting on top. The reality is far messier.
This piece looks at how media organizations could adopt systems thinking to analyze interconnected relationships - such as feedback loops and unintended consquences - rather than isolated, mechanistic components. The takeaway is that media leaders should run the newsroom as a system, not silos:
Define clear boundaries - what’s in each system and how they interact.
Map subsystems. Editorial, production, marketing, distribution interact.
External feedback such as ratings and advertisers will have cascading impacts.
Track internal metrics and staff signals to spot bottlenecks.
Target leverage points for outsized gains.
Anticipate resistance and side effects. Adjust fast.
Scan rivals, regulators, audiences, and tech.
The So What? Organisations navigating complexity can use systems thinking to sharpen decisions, anticipate ripple effects, exploit leverage points and adapt faster.
Bonus AI Tip of the Week: AI from images to video
This video stopped me in my tracks - it’s a beautiful example of how AI can harness creativity for good. We’re all going to have to realize that what we see on videos from now on may, or may not, be real.
That’s all for now - happy weekend everyone.
- Stephen