Gerophysics: how physics explains why we age

Researchers gathered at an international conference have brought the rigor of physics to a field that has long resisted simple predictive models: aging itself. The work pivots on the «saturating removal» (SR) equation, which captures how cellular damage accumulates over time while repair mechanisms plateau, thereby explaining the three patterns observed clinically: mortality rising exponentially with late-life deceleration, disease incidence following the same trajectory, and linear decline in physiological function. Critically, this framework distinguishes two radically different intervention strategies: those reducing damage production (which scale both lifespan and healthspan proportionally), versus those accelerating repair (which compress the disease period without necessarily extending total lifespan). Running parallel is new computational infrastructure like the multi-scale aging model, which integrates nutrient signaling, metabolism, damage accumulation, and growth—mapping how a cell's «metabolic phases» shift with age. For the biohacker and longevity clinician, the implication is direct: the timing of any metabolic intervention matters as much as its mechanism, because impact depends on the precise point in the cellular life cycle where it is applied.