Retro Biosciences: Rewinding the Human Clock

Wait, what? Reversing aging is no longer a sci‑fi fever dream, it’s happening in real labs. Retro Biosciences, funded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is running experiments that push human cells back to something like their newborn state. Yes, actual cellular Benjamin Buttoning.

The secret weapon? The Yamanaka factors proteins discovered in 2006 that can rewind the biological state of cells. Not just making them look younger, but resetting the molecular clock of DNA itself, repairing damage that piles up as we age.

Retro’s scientists didn’t stop there. With AI doing the heavy lifting, they’ve designed new versions of these factors up to 50 times more effective. Think of it as going from a dial‑up modem to fibre broadband, except the connection here is your body remembering it doesn’t have to creak like an old floorboard.

This isn’t just about vanity or smoother selfies. If neurons and muscle cells can be safely rejuvenated, conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s could be paused, or even rolled back. Imagine a world where memory loss and muscle weakness aren’t part of the ageing package deal. That’s not anti‑wrinkle cream in a lab dish. That’s a direct challenge to the entire concept of ageing.

Of course, the risk is overshooting. Rewind a cell too far and it forgets what it’s supposed to be—opening the door to chaos, or worse, cancer. The scientific tightrope is finding the sweet spot: youth without identity loss.

But one thing is already clear: ageing has officially moved from “natural law” to “engineering problem.”

With AI refining the process and billion‑dollar bets fuelling the work, biological immortality no longer looks like myth. It looks like version 0.1. If Altman’s gamble works, we may not just live longer. We may live younger. And that would be the most radical disruption humans have ever pulled off.

If a product existed that would allow you to look like your 20s forever, I think the question isn’t would you buy it, but how much would you be prepared to hand over to have it.