When the patient arrives with the answer: AI and the doctor–patient relationship
AI has ended medicine’s monopoly on medical information. It has not ended the need for medical judgment.
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Unlock Longevity
One question at a time: what the evidence supports, where it is still uncertain, and what it means in practice.
The perspective is that of an operator, not a commentator. I am interested in ideas that survive contact with real organisations, clients, teams, budgets and constraints.
I read forty to fifty books per year across different disciplines, because the best ideas usually come from outside one’s own field, and I publish what I learn, including the failures, because growth happens in communities built on openness.
The newsletter is organised around seven recurring themes.
Science of ageing
Why we age: the hallmarks of ageing, senolytics, stem cells, genetics and epigenetics — what the biology actually says.
Medical care
Longevity medicine, diagnostics, biomarkers, AI and the changing relationship between doctor and patient.
Nutrition
What the evidence supports on diet, fasting and what is on the plate — without miracle molecules.
Movement
Strength, cardio fitness, VO₂ max and flexibility: the most reliable levers we have.
Wellbeing
Sleep, stress, meditation and the mind — the pillar that quietly supports the others.
Conversations
Interviews with the researchers and clinicians who do the work.
The big picture
Why longevity matters, the longevity economy and where all of this is going.
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One useful question at a time
Longevity is moving quickly. The problem is not a lack of information but too much information with too little hierarchy.
Each issue starts with one question, reviews what the evidence supports, identifies the uncertainty and ends with the practical implications. Many issues are conversations with the researchers and clinicians who do the work.
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Unlock Longevity is for general information only and does not provide medical advice.
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How does chronic stress affect my lifespan and disease risk?
What sustained stress does to the body over decades, and which counter-measures have evidence behind them.
Read the issueWhat is longevity medicine, and how is it different from traditional care?
Traditional medicine waits for disease; longevity medicine looks for risk. Where the difference shows in practice.
Read the issueHow important are sleep and stress management for long-term health?
Two pillars that are easy to preach and hard to practise, and what the evidence says they are worth.
Read the issueWhy do some species live far longer than humans, and what can we learn from them?
Bowhead whales, naked mole-rats and what comparative biology suggests about our own limits.
Read the issueIs artificial intelligence the future of medicine?
Where AI genuinely improves prevention and diagnosis, and where the human remains irreplaceable.
Read the issueWhat is the difference between life expectancy, lifespan, healthspan and longevity?
Four words used interchangeably that mean very different things. Getting them straight changes the goal.
Read the issueWhat are senolytics, and can they really clear “zombie cells”?
The science of senescent cells, and how far senolytic therapies really are from everyday medicine.
Read the issueHow much exercise – and what type – do I really need for longevity?
The doses and mixes of movement with the strongest evidence for added healthy years.
Read the issueWhat tests and biomarkers matter most if I want to track my biological age?
The measurements worth repeating over time, and the ones that are mostly noise.
Read the issueWhat are the most important daily habits to live longer and stay healthy?
The unglamorous routines that carry most of the result.
Read the issueHow much of your lifespan is genetics versus lifestyle driven?
What twin studies and epigenetics say about how much is actually in our hands.
Read the issueWhy do we age — and can the process be slowed or reversed?
The leading theories of ageing, and the honest state of reversal research.
Read the issueWhy longevity matters now, and is it for everyone — or a select few?
The first of a series answering the questions I am asked most often, on stages and at dinner tables.
Read the issueThe year of the right questions
The plan for 2026: one reader question per issue, answered with evidence.
Read the issueA thank you, and a look ahead
What a year of writing taught me about the questions readers actually have.
Read the issueThe future of personalised health
Where personalised prevention is heading, and what it will demand of clinics and clients alike.
Read the issueBrain age and the many ages of our body
Different organs age at different speeds. What organ-specific ageing clocks reveal.
Read the issueOff-label prescription magistralis: the art and science of personalised medicine
How personalised formulations work, and where the line between craft and evidence runs.
Read the issueLongevity on a plate: lessons from Harvard’s diet review
What a major review of diet research actually supports, beyond the headlines.
Read the issueDigital twins in medicine
Virtual models of a patient, fed by their own biology, and what they could do for prevention.
Read the issueA conversation with Dr Filippo Ongaro
With Filippo Ongaro, former ESA doctor, on what space medicine teaches about ageing well.
Read the issueLife in four quarters
Growth, achievement, rediscovery, legacy. Why midlife is a transition rather than an ending, after Avivah Wittenberg-Cox.
Read the issueThe Precision Longevity Model: a new era of health assessment
A new architecture of assessment: measure first, intervene second, follow up always.
Read the issueCould lithium help prevent Alzheimer’s? A conversation with Dr Isabel Garcia
On the early but intriguing evidence around low-dose lithium and the ageing brain.
Read the issuePlastic exposure: the hidden threat to health and longevity
What we know about microplastics in the body, and which exposures can realistically be reduced.
Read the issueThe importance of flexibility (movement pillar, part 3)
The overlooked third pillar of movement, and why range of motion predicts independence.
Read the issueThe longevity pulse: cardio fitness (movement pillar, part 2)
Why cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the strongest predictors of lifespan we have.
Read the issueStrong muscles for a strong life (movement pillar, part 1)
Muscle as an organ of longevity: strength, frailty and what to do about both.
Read the issueA conversation with Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna
With the molecular biologist on cellular senescence, DNA damage and what they mean for ageing.
Read the issueVO₂ max: what it is and why it’s key for longevity
What VO₂ max measures, why it matters so much, and how to improve it.
Read the issuePeter Brabeck-Letmathe on GESDA’s Science Breakthrough Radar
On anticipating the science that will shape the next twenty-five years.
Read the issueBridging science and investment — Professor Stefan Catsicas, part II
Part two with Professor Stefan Catsicas, on turning laboratory science into investable innovation.
Read the issueBridging science and investment — Professor Stefan Catsicas, part I
With Professor Stefan Catsicas on how serious science finds its way to patients and investors.
Read the issueProcessed foods and your health
What “ultra-processed” actually means, and how much it matters.
Read the issueClosing the 33-year life expectancy gap
Life expectancy differs by 33 years between countries. What drives the gap, and what could close it.
Read the issueExploring the frontiers of healthy ageing
A tour of the research areas most likely to change how we age.
Read the issueCould extreme cold trigger the body’s deepest healing responses?
Cold exposure between fashion and physiology: what the evidence actually supports.
Read the issueWhy the longevity market is the new frontier of global value
Why capital is moving into longevity, and how to tell substance from vocabulary.
Read the issueSmall dietary shifts: can a few minutes on your plate add years to your life?
Small, sustainable changes at the table and their measurable returns.
Read the issueReimagining healthcare: the art and science of the patient experience
What hospitality can teach medicine about how care is experienced.
Read the issueLiving longer, living better: the power of a longevity mindset
Beliefs about ageing shape behaviour, and behaviour shapes biology.
Read the issueHow metabolomics and lipidomics are transforming medicine
What the newest layers of biological measurement can see that standard tests cannot.
Read the issueNew research confirms: your lifestyle influences ageing more than your genes
Fresh evidence on the balance between what we inherit and what we do.
Read the issueIntermittent fasting: a game-changer for health, longevity and metabolism?
What fasting protocols can and cannot deliver, beyond the enthusiasm.
Read the issueSupplements and longevity: Dr Serge Rezzi’s expert insights
With Dr Serge Rezzi on which supplements have evidence behind them, and which are marketing.
Read the issueThe hallmarks of ageing — part 3 of 3
The final part of a three-part guide to the biological mechanisms of ageing.
Read the issueThe hallmarks of ageing — part 2 of 3
Part two of a three-part guide to the biological mechanisms of ageing.
Read the issueThe hallmarks of ageing — part 1 of 3
Part one of a three-part guide to the biological mechanisms of ageing.
Read the issueThe power of therapeutic touch
The measurable physiology of human touch in care.
Read the issueStem cells: does the future of longevity start here?
What stem-cell science can honestly promise today, and what remains hope.
Read the issueCan nutrition improve brain health?
The foods and eating patterns with real evidence for the brain.
Read the issueBrain health and longevity
Why protecting cognition is the heart of healthy ageing.
Read the issueDr Adrian Heini on traditional biomarkers and longevity
With Dr Adrian Heini on what classic clinical markers still tell us.
Read the issueJustin Carrard on training, HIIT and longevity
With Dr Justin Carrard on training intensity, HIIT and long-term health.
Read the issueHave we really found the magic potion?
On the recurring dream of a single fix, and why the answer is a system.
Read the issueFrom blueprint to expression: genetics and epigenetics in focus
Genetics sets a ceiling; how we live decides how close we get to it.
Read the issueWhy we don’t have a “longevity pill” — and what actually works
Why no single molecule has earned the name, and what works instead.
Read the issueLongevity habits that have transformed my life: meditation
The habit that changed my own mornings, and what it does measurably.
Read the issueChronic low-grade inflammation: a hidden enemy
The slow fire behind most age-related disease, and how to lower it.
Read the issueWhat happens in a longevity clinic? A look behind the scenes
Behind the scenes of an assessment week: what is measured, and why.
Read the issueWhy longevity is so important
The argument for treating healthy years, not years alone, as the goal.
Read the issueWelcome to Unlock Longevity
Why I started this newsletter, and what to expect from it.
Read the issueIssues open on LinkedIn, where the newsletter is currently published. Reading times and review notes will be added as issues are moved to this site.