Anjana Ahuja

Defying death: The origins of ageing Why do we age? Can it be stopped?

NEW: Our three-part podcast Defying Death follows the quest to live longer from ancient times to today's frontier technologies.

Great to work with the wonderful @hannahkuchler.bsky.social, @flophillips.bsky.social, @joshgd100.bsky.social & the rest of the FT pod team.

www.ft.com/content/a33d...

For scientists, the right questions are often the hardest The most difficult problems can nurture the most talented researchers

My FT column today on the @harva.edu ‘super-elite’ taking on the world’s greatest unsolved scientific problems. Harvard is betting on their cohort of the curious, rather than the merely clever, to be winning Nobels 10-15 years from now.

www.ft.com/content/b5cc...

UK scales back scientific collaboration with China Science minister says countries have agreed to work together in ‘uncontroversial’ areas such as health and climate

NEW: A sign of the scientific times as the UK scales back collaboration with China.

Science minister Lord Vallance says the two countries have agreed to work together in the “uncontroversial” areas of health, climate, planetary sciences and agriculture.

www.ft.com/content/edc0...

US ‘wellness’ industry scents opportunity to go mainstream Supplement manufacturers position themselves to exploit the Trump administration’s openness to fringe science

NEW: Companies selling products that claim to boost health and longevity see a historic opportunity under the Trump administration.

Senior officials have ties to those industries - and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is a fan of “wellness” supplements and therapies.

www.ft.com/content/ed42...

How safe are UK research institutions from politicisation? - Impact of Social Sciences New research finds the arm's length bodies that underpin UK research run the risk of politicisation unless they are put on a firmer footing.

How safe are UK research institutions from politicisation?
@chrischirp.bsky.social & have have written a new blog for LSE on our report

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

This is fascinating stuff

Scientists invent eye implant to help blind patients see again Device improves vision of people suffering from advanced macular degeneration

NEW: The extraordinary story of an eye implant to help people blinded by age-related retinal damage read again.

One person improved by almost 12 lines of a standard eye test chart.

Register here to read some FT articles free:

www.ft.com/register

www.ft.com/content/c2e8...

Massive crowds gather across US for ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump Republicans decry demonstrations as ‘anti-American’ as people voice opposition to administration’s hardline policies

Massive crowds gather across US for ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump on.ft.com/3JlrmQR

How one supplement sums up the uneasy science of selling youth The potential anti-ageing effects of molecule spermidine have attracted longevity researchers and the wellness industry

The nutrient spermidine is at the heart of a growing battle about health products touted as having anti-ageing effects.

Its promoters cite evidence that it helps extend lifespan in animals - but sceptics point to the lack of research in humans.

www.ft.com/content/7282...

OpenAI is spending at a scale that even Silicon Valley can't quite believe, buying up 20 nuclear reactors' worth of computing power this year. But there are big questions around whether it can turn that power into profit.

An #FTEdit 🧵on the ChatGPT maker’s $1tn bet on artificial intelligence 👇

Freshers' flu: Why is it so hard for students to dodge? It's not the actual flu, and it's rarely serious, but when thousands of students arrive on campus they bring a cocktail of viruses.

Freshers' Flu, the seasonal viruses that pray on vulnerable students. Great to work with @joshelgin.bsky.social and @sheencr.bsky.social on this piece for BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is a beautiful tribute to an amazing person who truly revolutionised our understanding of non-human animals.

On 15th Sept, billionaire & Royal Society fellow Elon Musk called for political & interethnic violence, to pre-empt (ie, begin) a civil war. ("Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die."). A fortnight later, the Society expresses its disapproval

Prize ceremony

The winner of the Royal Society book prize 2025 is ... Masud Husain

A lovely thread on my FT piece today!
So many mentions of Soundgarden, who knew about this before the astronomers 👏🏽

Autism has no easy answers Donald Trump’s promotion of an unproven link between Tylenol and neurological disorders does not help pregnant women

My take on #Tylenol for the FT: The White House is drifting ever farther from scientific reality.

Autism has no easy answers.

www.ft.com/content/72fa...

Huge thanks to @mja-uk.bsky.social for last night's awards for my brilliant columnist colleague @anjahuja.bsky.social and the @financialtimes.com project on the race against time to defeat mosquito-borne diseases. Congratulations to @ian-bott.bsky.social, @sdbernard.bsky.social and Charlie Bibby!

Honoured to be in the mix here, and congrats to all the finalists! 🙌🏽

@anjahuja.bsky.social here on the phenomenon called “emergent misalignment” where AI models can end up optimising for malice even when not explicitly trained to do so. www.ft.com/content/7f14...

The race against time to defeat mosquito-borne diseases Researchers are trying to tackle the threat before nature’s ‘flying needles’ become more prevalent and resistant to prevention

Big thanks to the @mja-uk.bsky.social ‬for the double shortlisting, including for this piece on mosquitoes with @ian-bott.bsky.social, Steve Bernard and Charlie Bibby.

www.ft.com/content/816c...

Congrats also to my wonderful columnist colleague @anjahuja.bsky.social.

mjauk.org/2025/08/15/f...

Janet Yellen in FT oped - Trump’s attack on the Fed threatens US credibility. History teaches us that chaos follows when leaders undermine the independence of central banks www.ft.com/content/d2ea...

The science of starvation A seminal 1940s study remains hauntingly relevant today

The science of starvation - timely column here from @anjahuja.bsky.social on seminal 1940s study that remains hauntingly relevant today www.ft.com/content/fb0a...

The book that explains the billionaire doomers A niche investment text from the 1990s may explain why powerful tech leaders fixate on the apocalypse

The book that explains the billionaire doomers https://on.ft.com/3H4sp6x | opinion

The incredible shrinking fish: Baltic cod evolve to dodge nets Genetic shift driven by over-exploitation risks undermining populations beyond repair, according to research

NEW: The incredible shrinking fish: Baltic cod evolve to dodge nets

Genetic shift driven by over-exploitation risks undermining populations beyond repair, according to research

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www.ft.com/content/5bf6...

Royal Society prize winner returns award in protest over Elon Musk Andrea Sella is latest scientist to express dismay over UK science academy’s refusal to criticise tech billionaire

Top chemist gives back Royal Society medal, in deepening Musk fallout.

@sellathechemist.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Exclusive @ft by @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social and me.

www.ft.com/content/8778...

I also skeeted about this conference while it was happening: bsky.app/profile/drml...

Health secretary RFK Jr. abruptly fires CDC vaccine advisory panel Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has taken the extraordinary step of firing the expert panel that advises the CDC.

This is the big one: Kennedy is firing the entire #ACIP in a move he says is needed to restore confidence in vaccines.
"It scares me to think of what’s ahead,” Mike Osterholm of CIDRAP told me. www.statnews.com/2025/06/09/r...

This is on everyone who voted to confirm him, despite his track record.
People fail to acknowledge the obvious when their privilege depends on being blind.

If an animal could speak, would we listen? [FREE TO READ] A prize aimed at cracking interspecies communication could make humans think differently about the welfare of other creatures

If an animal could speak, would we listen? Fascinating column by @anjahuja.bsky.social on.ft.com/4kwGAzC

EU food safety chief warns of bird flu threat to pigs Europe’s swine herds could become a ‘dangerous virus laboratory’, Bernhard Url says

NEW: EU food safety chief warns of bird flu threat to pigs

Europe’s 133mn swine could become ‘dangerous virus laboratory', mixing bird and human influenzas to create pathogens transmissible between people.

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www.ft.com/register

www.ft.com/content/9c16...