Longevity Research Wiki

Aug 10, 2025

A knowledge base for aging biology, longevity research, cancer evolution, and multicellular cooperation.

Core Concepts

Theoretical frameworks for understanding aging:

De-Darwinization - How evolution suppresses evolution within organisms
death-pact - The multicellular contract limiting cellular autonomy
replicative-credit - Investment in high-fidelity DNA replication
scandal-hypothesis - A cancer lineage that speciates into a new organism
principal-agent-problem - The conflict of interest between an organism and its cell lineages
multicellular-cooperation - The agreements among cells, and cancer as cheating
evolutionary-transitions-in-individuality - How groups of replicators become new individuals
multilevel-selection - Selection acting on genes, cells, organisms, and groups
evolution-of-cooperation - The five mechanisms that make cooperation stable

All of these are specific instances of the clonal governance framework.

Evolutionary frameworks for understanding aging:

selection-shadow-theory - The decline with age in the force of selection, and mutation accumulation
antagonistic-pleiotropy-theory - Alleles that raise survival or reproduction at some ages and lower them at others
disposable-soma-theory - Ageing as the cost of spending less on maintenance than on reproduction
defensive-degeneration-theory - Aging as cancer prevention
tumor-suppressor-theory-of-aging - Anti-cancer mechanisms driving senescence
Atavistic-theory-of-cancer - Cancer as reversion to unicellular state
red-queen-hypothesis - Why the arms race with parasites favors sex

Why the risk of death rises with age, and how fast:

Mortality rate models - The Gompertz law and its alternatives, and the explanations proposed for them
reliability-theory-of-ageing - Ageing as the loss of redundancy in a system of non-ageing parts, and why its derivation of the Gompertz law fails
critical-point-model-of-ageing - Ageing as a loss of resilience ending at a critical point, and the claimed 120–150-year limit to human lifespan
saturating-removal-model-of-senescence - A model of senescent-cell turnover that predicts Gompertz-like mortality, and how well it is supported
strehler-mildvan-theory - Vitality, random challenges and the convergence of mortality curves, and why the convergence age is not a species constant

clonal-evolution - Nowell’s model: tumors as evolving cell populations
cancer-ecology - Tumors as ecosystems of competing and cooperating clones
immunoediting - Elimination, equilibrium, and escape
adaptive-oncogenesis - Aging changes which mutations are selected
adaptive-therapy - Managing tumors instead of eradicating them
petos-paradox - Why cancer risk across species does not scale with body size and lifespan, and the mechanisms proposed in elephants, whales and naked mole-rats
immune-surveillance - Immune elimination, equilibrium, and escape
Flower - The molecular marker system of cell competition

Key cellular and molecular processes:

apoptosis - Programmed cell death, intrinsic and extrinsic
cellular-senescence - Stable arrest of cell division in damaged or stressed cells
senolytics - Drugs that kill senescent cells, and what the mouse and human trials show
p53 - The genome’s primary tumor suppressor
telomeres - Protective chromosome ends whose shortening limits cell division
weismann-barrier - Separating soma from germline
bioelectricity - Voltage patterns as developmental signals

Researchers whose work this wiki draws on:

Key molecular players in aging and longevity - see p53, RB, MYC, KRAS, mTOR, IGF-1, telomerase, and the other protein pages in this wiki.

This wiki extracts and organizes concepts from The Price of Not Being Cancer and other longevity research.