The Research Desk
Longevity science, in plain language
Every article below is checked against primary literature — trials, reviews, and preprints — and updated when the evidence moves. No hype, no miracle words.
Rapamycin · safety Rapamycin Side Effects: What the Dose Actually Changes
Almost every published rapamycin side effect comes from transplant patients on daily doses. What changes at weekly longevity doses, and what is unmeasured.
Updated July 2026
Mechanisms explained Autophagy and Fasting: Where the Hour Charts Come From
Every autophagy fasting chart gives precise hour markers drawn from rodent studies. Autophagy cannot be measured in a living person. Here is what holds.
Updated July 2026
Longevity claims examined Blue Zones: What Survives the Demographic Critique
Blue zones research won an Ig Nobel: the regions reporting the most 110-year-olds also have the worst birth records. What survives, and what still works.
Updated July 2026
Longevity in practice Bryan Johnson Blueprint: What the Protocol Can Really Show
A neutral look at the Bryan Johnson Blueprint: what is in it, which parts have evidence, why the design cannot attribute results, and why he dropped rapamycin.
Updated July 2026
Best-evidenced basics Creatine for Healthy Aging: The Best-Evidenced Supplement
Creatine has better evidence for preserving muscle and strength in older adults than anything in the longevity aisle. It is also cheap, boring and unmarketed.
Updated July 2026
Senolytics · fisetin Fisetin Benefits: One Mouse Study, One Failed Retest
Fisetin benefits rest almost entirely on one 2018 mouse study. The rigorous multi-site retest found no lifespan extension, and no human trial shows benefit.
Updated July 2026
Longevity science The Hallmarks of Aging: Nine, Twelve, and What Qualifies
The hallmarks of aging went from nine in 2013 to twelve in 2023. The useful part is not the list but the three tests a process must pass to be on it.
Updated July 2026
Mechanisms explained How Rapamycin Works on mTOR, in Plain Language
How rapamycin works on mTOR: the FKBP12 complex, why mTORC1 and mTORC2 differ, and why that distinction is the entire reason for weekly longevity dosing.
Updated July 2026
Supplements · strategy Longevity Supplement Stacks: Combining Unproven Things
No longevity supplement stack has been tested as a stack. What each common component has shown on its own, and why the combination stays untestable.
Updated July 2026
NAD · safety NAD Side Effects: Oral Precursors vs Intravenous Infusions
NAD side effects depend entirely on the route. Oral precursors are mild; IV infusions cause acute reactions and carry compounding risks clinics rarely state.
Updated July 2026
Rapamycin · alternatives Natural Alternatives to Rapamycin: What the Claim Rests On
Every list of natural alternatives to rapamycin traces back to one 2017 computational screen. What those compounds were actually shown to do, and what not.
Updated July 2026
NAD · evidence NMN Benefits: What Human Trials Found, and What Mice Did
Most listed NMN benefits come from mouse studies. What the human randomized trials measured, which endpoints moved, and the question the category rests on.
Updated July 2026
NAD · safety NMN Side Effects: What Trials Reported, What Is Unstudied
NMN side effects in human trials are mild and uncommon. The real issue is duration: nobody has studied indefinite use, and product quality may matter more.
Updated July 2026
NAD · comparison NMN vs NR vs NAD: What the Comparison Actually Rests On
The NMN vs NR debate is run almost entirely by companies selling one or the other. What separates them chemically, and what neither has actually proven.
Updated July 2026
Rapamycin · research Rapamycin and the Dog Aging Project: What TRIAD Is Testing
The Dog Aging Project rapamycin trial is the best-designed longevity study in any mammal. What TRIAD is testing, what the pilot found, and what it has not.
Updated July 2026
Rapamycin · dosing Rapamycin Dosage for Longevity: What the Numbers Rest On
The rapamycin dosage for longevity converged on 6 mg weekly with no trial comparing doses. Where every figure in circulation comes from, and what it is not.
Updated July 2026
Longevity drugs · comparison Rapamycin vs Metformin: What the 2025 Meta-Analysis Changed
Rapamycin vs metformin is no longer an even comparison. A 2025 meta-analysis of 167 vertebrate studies found rapamycin mirrors dietary restriction.
Updated July 2026
NAD · resveratrol Resveratrol and NAD: The Stack Built on a Contested Assay
Taking resveratrol with NMN rests on the sirtuin hypothesis. The original activation finding depended on a labeled substrate, and no trial tested the pair.
Updated July 2026
Evidence sorted Resveratrol Benefits, Sorted by What Was Measured in Humans
Every resveratrol benefits list mixes human trials with cell and animal work. This one sorts each claim by the species it was measured in, and by effect size.
Updated July 2026
Mechanisms explained Cellular Senescence Explained, in Plain Language
What cellular senescence actually is, why the zombie cell metaphor misleads, how it differs from quiescence, and what clearing these cells has shown in people.
Updated July 2026
Spermidine · evidence Spermidine Benefits: Good Mechanism, Unresolved Delivery
The spermidine benefits list rests on cell and animal work plus one observational finding. Two human studies found supplements barely raise plasma spermidine.
Updated July 2026
Urolithin A · evidence Urolithin A Benefits: Real Trials, Modest Effects
Urolithin A has better human trial data than most longevity supplements. It also has modest effect sizes and a literature dominated by the ingredient maker.
Updated July 2026
Longevity science What Is Biological Age? The Clocks and the Error Bars
What biological age honestly is: a real phenomenon, several disagreeing measurement methods, and one number sold with more confidence than the models support.
Updated July 2026
Mechanisms explained What Is NAD? The Coenzyme, the Plus Sign and the B3 Link
What NAD actually is, in plain language: a coenzyme not an enzyme, what the plus sign means, its link to vitamin B3, and why you cannot meaningfully measure it.
Updated July 2026
Rapamycin · basics What Is Rapamycin? Its Origin and Off-Label Use
What is rapamycin: a soil bacterium antifungal that became a transplant drug, a stent coating, and the most convincing longevity candidate in animal research.
Updated July 2026
NAD · dosing NMN Dosage: What the Trials Used and What Nobody Established
NMN dosage advice online is confident and mostly invented. Here are the doses human trials actually used, and why no dose has ever been validated.
Updated August 2026
NAD · dosing NAD Dosage: Clinic Protocols, Trials, No Approved Figure
Every NAD dosage chart online was written by a clinic or compounding pharmacy. Which numbers come from randomized trials, and what none of them establish.
Updated August 2026
Resveratrol · dosing Resveratrol Dosage: 8 mg to 5 g, and Why More Is Not Better
Resveratrol dosage in human trials spans 8 mg to 5 g daily with no validated figure. The dose response is biphasic, so higher is specifically not better.
Updated August 2026
Urolithin A · dosing Urolithin A Dosage: The Two Numbers With Trials Behind Them
Urolithin A dosage in human trials was 500 mg or 1,000 mg daily for four months. What each dose was shown to do, and why other ranges discard the evidence.
Updated August 2026
Spermidine · dosing Spermidine Dosage: The Numbers, and Why They May Not Matter
Spermidine dosage figures run from 1 mg to 40 mg with no validated number among them. The best trial found 40 mg daily barely moved plasma spermidine.
Updated August 2026
Senolytics · dosing Senolytic Dosage: Where the Intermittent Protocols Came From
Senolytic dosage protocols are scaled from mouse studies or copied from tiny patient pilots. No dose has ever been validated against a human outcome.
Updated August 2026
Metformin · dosing Metformin Dosage for Longevity: Borrowed, Unproven Numbers
Every metformin dosage for longevity is borrowed from diabetes practice. Where the figures come from, and why the animal evidence undercuts the premise.
Updated August 2026