Fig. 2
Ageing as the result of software design flaws. The developmental software program is a set of instructions or interconnected subroutines with numerous inputs and outputs that trigger a complicated cascade of events that drive growth and development. Because this software program is optimized for reproduction, however, it fails to deactivate a subset of its subroutines which are beneficial during development (blue shading) but then become detrimental later in life (red shading). With age, such subroutines could gradually lead to the inappropriate activation or inactivation of genes, pathways, and processes that drive ageing phenotypes. The running of the developmental software program is reflected in the epigenome, the software’s data area. Human life course drawing by Alice C Magalhaes. Epigenome figure created with BioRender.com