Abstract

Why we age, is arguably one of the oldest unanswered questions that spawned multiple hypotheses, all of which remain to be unequivocally proven. In recent years however, our understanding of ageing has been impacted by several seminal discoveries from different fields of biology. Although the details of these discoveries have yet to be fully elucidated, the nature of their effects is already sufficiently radical and clear, that it challenges the long-held intuitive perspectives of why and how we age. In particular, the last half century of gene-centric research, which has brought immeasurable understanding of biology, is found wanting in this regard. Besides ushering in a new perspective that is a genuine step change from the old, it also challenges the fundamentals of drug discovery, which has hitherto been focused on gene target screening. These changes and challenges will be addressed together with a description of how a new and different model of knowledge acquisition is being brought to bear on the very old question of ageing and health.