Morning, long-lifers. Here’s what’s new:
Older adults who play instruments process sound like younger people — which means that flute you played in high school might’ve been cognitive CrossFit all along.
Your neighbors may hate it, but your neurons are throwing a house party.
Don’t keep longer. a secret - share it with your friends!
This week in longevity:
🧃 Beetroot juice lowers blood pressure in seniors
💰 $40M longevity fund launches for age-reversal tech
🧠 AI ECG spots hidden heart disease early
🧬 FDA-approved cancer drugs reverse Alzheimer’s in mice
🏋️♂️ Longevity gym combines strength and brain training
Plus, more longevity breakthroughs.
Read time: 5 minutes
THIS WEEK IN LONGEVITY
🎻 Want a Younger Brain? Pick Up an Instrument
Source: Midjourney | longer.
A new study shows older adults who play musical instruments process sound more like younger people — especially in noisy environments. In short: learning music might actually keep your brain younger. And no, you don’t need to be good at it. Even off-key still counts.
What to know:
Study tested 74 participants: Researchers used brain scans (fMRI) to compare older musicians, older non-musicians, and young non-musicians while they tried to understand speech in noisy environments.
Key finding: Music kept aging brains sharp: Older musicians processed sound more like younger adults, suggesting stronger cognitive function in tough listening situations.
Possible reason why: Scientists believe musical training strengthens “cognitive reserve” — the brain’s ability to adapt and stay resilient as it ages.
Possible future solution: Doctors say picking up an instrument later in life could still train your brain to stay sharp, even if you’re decades past piano lessons.
Bonus benefit: Learning music activates multiple brain regions at once — like vision, hearing, coordination, and memory — similar to learning a new language.
Why it’s important: Your brain naturally gets worse at filtering noise as you age — think dinner at a loud restaurant. Learning an instrument might keep that from happening. Even if you sound like a cat in a wind tunnel, your neurons won’t know the difference.
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🧃 Beetroot juice lowers blood pressure — your mouth bacteria may be why
Source: Midjourney | longer.
A new study suggests the blood pressure benefits of beetroot juice come from reshaping the oral microbiome (the ecosystem of bacteria in your mouth), especially in older adults. Turns out, it’s not just what you eat — it’s what your mouth does with it.
What to know:
Older adults saw the biggest effect: Drinking nitrate-rich beetroot juice twice a day for two weeks lowered blood pressure — but only in people in their 60s and 70s.
Possible reason why: Researchers found that beetroot juice changed mouth bacteria in older adults — boosting helpful types (like Neisseria) and reducing potentially harmful ones (like Prevotella).
Why nitrate matters: Nitrate (found in veggies like spinach, fennel, and beetroot) is converted to nitric oxide — a molecule that helps blood vessels relax and regulate pressure.
Younger folks didn’t see changes: The younger group’s blood pressure didn’t budge — possibly because their nitric oxide production was already working fine.
Possible future solution: Scientists hope dietary nitrates can be used to shift the oral microbiome and improve vascular health in aging populations — no statins or side effects required.
Why it’s important: Blood pressure tends to creep up with age, but this study shows a veggie-based hack that may gently push it back down — no pills required. Think of it as flossing… with beetroot.
💡 Want to break down a research article? Try this prompt in ChatGPT:
“Explain this in plain language. Avoid science terms. Keep it under 5 sentences. Then give 5 takeaways based only on this summary—no extra info or guesses: [Paste the article here]”
MONEY MOVES IN LONGEVITY
💰 Immortal Dragons launches $40M longevity fund — fire-breathing capital meets age-old problem.
💰 Blue Longevity raises €2M to open clinics in Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey — bringing healthspan to the Balkans.
💰 Pretzel Therapeutics secures backing from Mito Fund — energy repair meets rare disease urgency.
💰 Illimis Therapeutics raises $42M Series B to advance Alzheimer’s drug — Korea bets big on TAM biology.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Source: Midjourney | longer.
1. Life Bio partners with Singapore on age-reversal tech
The company will apply its cellular rejuvenation method to new organ systems in a research deal with REMEDIS. Human trials may begin in 2026. Co-founder David Sinclair says aging is treatable—this move brings his vision of multi-organ regeneration closer to clinical reality.
2. AI supercharges ECG for early heart disease detection
EchoNext scans ECGs for hidden structural heart disease, outperforming cardiologists and catching early signs that usually go unnoticed. One million heartbeats taught this model to spot trouble before symptoms start—cheap test, huge upgrade, real-world ready.
3. FDA-approved drug duo reverses Alzheimer’s in mice
Researchers used health data to find letrozole and irinotecan—FDA-approved cancer meds—that reversed memory loss and brain damage in Alzheimer’s mouse models. One blocks estrogen, the other stops cancer cells from copying DNA. Together, they helped restore brain health in tough-to-treat Alzheimer’s.
THE NEXT BIG THING
The New Longevity Buzzword?
Source: Midjourney | longer.
Skin longevity is taking over where anti-aging left off.
Top beauty brands like Estée Lauder and L’Oréal are building entire platforms around it—pushing serums, devices, and diagnostics that aim to make your skin work better, not just look younger.
The idea: stronger cells, fewer “zombie” ones, and skin that holds up longer under stress, UV, and time.
So is this the future of skincare—or just aging in a new outfit?
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS WEEK
Source: Midjourney | longer.
🧬 Kidney Code: Scientists just mapped how metformin works across kidney zones in diabetic mice using spatial multi-omics. The drug fine-tunes metabolism by region, boosting good molecules and suppressing harmful ones.
⚡️ Gut Gains: A major review finds targeted probiotics boost endurance, reduce inflammation, and improve recovery in athletes—if the right strains and doses are used. But inconsistent results mean it’s not one-size-fits-all yet.
🦠 Muscle Fix: A new study shows muscle-derived vesicles packed with mitochondria can heal damaged cells and reverse kidney disease in mice. HIIT boosts their release, hinting at exercise-powered therapies.
🧪 Wellness Shift: Longevity is the new wellness frontier, blending biohacking, NAD+ infusions, and fat-derived therapies for regeneration. NAD+ drops 50% by age 60, sparking a booming anti-aging market.
🧠 Brain Rewind: Scientists built an AI “brain aging clock” that flagged 453 compounds to make brain cells younger. A 3-drug combo reversed aging signs and eased anxiety in old mice.
WHAT WE’RE BOOKMARKING
📱 Social
How long should you stay in cold water?
2 minutes is enough. That’s all it takes to wake up your vascular system, train your heart, relax your muscle tone, and feel ALIVE.
If you want to stay longer, that’s the mind at work— but don’t force it. Listen to your body, not the ego!
— #Wim Hof (#@Iceman_Hof)
5:00 PM • Jul 23, 2025
One set of reasons for studying sex differences in the brains of males vs females: (this is a slide from Brain Mind Summit on this topic).
— #Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. (#@hubermanlab)
4:12 PM • Jul 23, 2025
🎧 Podcasts
📰 Articles
The gut's 'sixth sense' microbiome regulating eating behavior in real time, another new path for the gut-brain axis, "neurobiotic," in the mouse model
nature.com/articles/s4158…— #Eric Topol (#@EricTopol)
4:45 PM • Jul 23, 2025
⚙️ Tools to Try
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