Rewiring Cells to Delay Aging

Aging is essentially a glitch in your biological software. Scientists used to think getting

old was just random wear and tear, but it turns out your cells have specific gene circuits

that eventually crash. In yeast, there is a switch that gets stuck

in one of two bad positions, causing the cell to deteriorate. But researchers

actually hacked this system. They used synthetic biology to rewire the circuit,

forcing it to oscillate back and forth so it never gets stuck in a death spiral. This simple code

update extended the cells' lifespan by eighty-two percent. We are getting closer to literally reprogramming

death.