#longevity

#longevity

VO2 max is an intimidating word for an easy-to-understand biometric: It's how well your body uses oxygen when you push yourself. Short for "maximal oxygen uptake," it's been the gold standard for assessing cardiorespiratory fitness since the 1950s. Until recently, it's mostly lived in research labs and elite training centers, helping coaches squeeze every last drop of performance out of elite skiers, runners, and cyclists.

Sometime in the late 1990s, an adult ribbon worm was scooped up from the murk in the waters off the San Juan Islands, in the Pacific Northwest. He was moved to a tank along with a smattering of other invertebrates, including two vermilion bat stars and approximately 30 beige peanut worms. In the years since, the worm has been transported across the country to Virginia, where he lives now.

After working for 40 years at the county's Department of Agriculture, my grandpa started a part-time job at a local towing company. He didn't have to, financially, but he wanted to stay busy. What started as a fun retirement gig evolved into three more decades of dedicated work. Even into his 90s, he didn't fully quit working, and that's just how he liked it.

Greenland sharks are a biological anomaly. The animals can grow to more than 20 feet long, weigh more than a ton and can live for nearly 400 years, making the species the longest-living vertebrate on the planeta fact that could help unlock secrets to enhancing longevity. And now, in a study published this week in Nature Communications, scientists dial in to one of the Greenland shark's more remarkable features: it has functioning eyes and, more remarkably, maintains its vision well into senescence.

Anyone looking for advice on wellness and longevity confronts a tsunami of books, newspaper articles, podcasts, newsletters, and videos from an enormous range of sources: scientific experts, medical practitioners, health systems, journalists, patients, influencers, gurus, quacks. Traditional media offer loads of good advice, often in responsibly edited and well-sourced sections dedicated to "wellness." But the sheer amount of it can be difficult to keep up with, and sometimes the guidance can be downright contradictory.

After studying stem cell aging for decades, Dr. Thomas Rando learned that some of the best longevity advice is timeless. "I often make the joke that the billions of dollars that have been spent on studying healthy aging could come down to the two things your mother told you," Rando, the president of the American Federation for Aging Research and director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA, told Business Insider.

Longevity - or living healthier for longer - is a hot topic, drawing millions of readers to Business Insider and driving billions of dollars of investment worldwide. It's easy to see why the promise of a medical fountain of youth is enticing to both the average person and those peddling snake oil, looking to make a quick buck. That's why Business Insider is launching its Rising Stars of Longevity list, to celebrate and acknowledge those in the longevity space outpacing their peers with meaningful, impactful work.

When I first met 79-year-old Anne Thibodeaux, she was fresh out of two back-to-back workout classes and excited to show me what she was reading for book club. The book was "Outlive," a longevity handbook from Dr. Peter Attia, an anti-aging specialist beloved by tech CEOs and Hollywood actors, and now, apparently, this grandmother from New Orleans. The funny thing, Thibodeaux told me via Zoom last month, is that Attia's advice for a long life matches what she's been doing for decades already.

"There's a potential for psychedelics to play a more important role in all of our lives, and wouldn't it be amazing if it was also a longevity therapy," Johnson proclaimed on the stream. Prior to consuming the shrooms Sunday-which has been legal at licensed facilities in Oregon since 2023-Johnson measured his brain activity with a $50,000 helmet produced by Kernel, a neuroimaging company founded by the 48-year-old. He also took saliva samples and temperature readings.

"There are signals that GLP-1s could be the first true longevity drug," Alex Zhavoronkov, the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, said Monday at the Fortune Innovation Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He recently placed third overall in powerlifting at the 2025 National Senior Games in Iowa, beating men many years younger than him. Business Insider's Sarah Andersen and Mark Adam Miller followed Rauscher earlier this year as he trained for the games: While his diet is a key part of his training, he's not super strict about it. Rauscher allows room for the occasional chocolaty treat, eats dairy and meat, and avoids extreme restriction plans, such as low-carb or high-protein diets.

Dr. Kevin Sprouse, owner of Podium Sports Medicine andmedical advisor for longevity clinic Eternal, has worked with elite athletes for more than a decade, helping them to achieve peak performance. He told Business Insider that the same science can help anyone live a longer, healthier life - by targeting factors like VO2 max and lactate threshold, key measures of fitness and endurance. His prescription for the best results - even on a tight schedule - is a mix of strength training, steady cardio, and interval training.

when my cardiologist friend-the one who runs marathons and tracks his heart rate variability like it's the stock market-turned to me and said, "You know who's going to live longest? You." I laughed. Actually laughed. "Seth, you're literally the picture of health. You've got perfect labs. You eat salmon and blueberries. I had wine for breakfast." (Kidding. Mostly.) He looked at me with that doctor face, the one that means he's about to tell you something that matters.

If you are like most people, the thought of longevity means focusing on your physical health. And usually, that boils down to diet to optimize physical health. But did you know there is something even more important we should focus on? Our social health. The whispers about our social connections being a key to living healthy to 100 are becoming screams.

"I can no longer come to the restaurant every day ... but even at 100, I try to work if possible. I believe the best medicine is to work."

Whenever 93-year-old Chris Meyer leaves her apartment, she looks well put together, wearing an elegant outfit and full makeup. She often clutches her Maltese dog, Mia, and greets neighbors with a lipsticked smile in the Boca Raton, Florida, condominium where she has lived independently since 2022. "I don't do it for anyone else, I do it for me," she told Business Insider, about her appearance.

At a time when the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement is spreading across the U.S., 101-year-old Ann Angeletti who still works six days a week embodies the exact opposite ethos. Let's call it WATER (Work And Thrive, Evade Retirement). It's a fitting acronym, given she's cool, brimming with life and remains enthusiastic about running her store, Curiosity Jewelers in Cresskill, New Jersey.

A startup called Orion is ready to take on America's sleep loss epidemic with a new, AI-enabled mattress cover that can adjust its temperature throughout the night to maximize comfort and rest. Cofounder and CEO Harry Gestetner previously cofounded the startup Fanfix, which helped Gen Z content creators build paid subscription programs. After the company sold to SuperOrdinary for a reported $65 million, Gestetner says he became interested in sleep and its well-documented links to health and longevity.

The only signs of LeBron James inside the locker room an hour before the Los Angeles Lakers' preseason opener tipped off in Palm Desert, California, last week were his gold No. 23 uniform hanging in his cubby and a triangular foam cushion placed on the seat beneath it. The jersey would not be needed on this night. The cushion would.

There is an iron law in nature: the larger a species, the longer its members live. That's why whales outlive elephants, and elephants outlive lions. Very few animals defy this rule. Humans have circumvented it thanks to culture. But there is a small animal that laughs in its face. Given its size, the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) shouldn't live more than two years, yet they often approach 40. What's more, they age healthily, without typical age-related diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, or arthritis.

Our working hypothesis is that, until the 1960s, the population of Arzachena was very similar to that of Ogliastra,