After viral backlash, Deepinder Goyal reintroduces gravity aging theory with scientific clarity

When Deepinder Goyal — founder of Eternal, Continue Research, and LAT Aerospace — introduced the Gravity Aging Hypothesis (GAH) past week, the internet wasn’t quite ready. Presented via a X (formerly Twitter) thread, the idea sounded, at best, provocative.  

The core suggestion? That gravity might be accelerating aging by putting subtle, chronic strain on our ability to deliver blood to the brain. 

The backlash was swift — and Goyal took responsibility. 

“I brought my consumer internet brain into a deep scientific field and I miscommunicated,” he wrote post on November 20. “I tried to compress years of research into a dramatic reveal. That made the hypothesis sound absolute and commercial – while it’s really not.” 

Now, Goyal is taking another shot. This time, it’s slower, cleaner and more explanatory. 

What the Gravity Aging Hypothesis actually suggests 

The GAH argues that gravity isn’t just a background force — it’s a physiological stressor. Because humans evolved with our brains at the top of our bodies, maintaining upward blood flow is work. Over decades, that strain — especially in regions like the hypothalamus and brainstem — might accelerate neurodegeneration and, with it, aging. 

“Lifelong exposure to 1g causes chronic low-level lack of adequate blood supply to the brain… thereby increasing the pace at which we age.” 

The hypothesis doesn’t claim gravity is the sole cause of aging or that spaceflight is anti-aging. Rather, it frames gravity as a missing piece in our understanding of how aging begins and progresses — especially in the brain. 

There’s a way to prove it wrong 

Unlike many big health theories, Goyal’s team built GAH to be falsifiable. They offer multiple scientific scenarios that would disprove it: 

• If posture or gravity exposure shows no connection to regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) decline 
• If anti-gravity or inversion interventions don’t improve CBF or aging biomarkers 
• If oxygen extraction fully offsets reduced flow 
• If deep brain structures show no chronic underperfusion 

“This is just a hypothesis. It’s not proof. But it’s the way the story holds together — simply, unexpectedly, beautifully — that makes me feel like there’s something here,” says Goyal. 

Why evolution didn’t fix this problem 

If gravity is a problem, why didn’t evolution design us better? 

Goyal points to a biological trade-off. Evolution selected for traits that ensure survival through reproductive age — not necessarily long-term brain health. The heart and brain were optimised for efficiency, not durability. Systems like baroreflexes and autoregulation helped, but they degrade with age, leading to dizziness, blood pressure instability, and possibly faster cognitive decline. 

Temple: A device born from research, not marketing 

Critics initially assumed GAH was a marketing campaign for Temple, a continuous brain blood flow tracker developed by Goyal’s team. 

He clarifies: “We started making this device as a measurement project, not a product. Productising it came later.” 

Temple was created as a scientific tool to study real-world cerebral blood flow. It’s now being tested independently by researchers and space organizations. It doesn’t prove GAH—but it may help measure its effects.  

Despite his high-profile role in the tech and startup ecosystem, Goyal is refreshingly candid about his motivation: “I am not a neuroscientist. I’m a curious nerd obsessed with staying healthy.” 

Two years ago, a “penny drop” moment led him to this idea. With the resources to fund bold, testable questions, he felt a personal responsibility to explore it — not to be right, but to find out. 

“I am not rooting for this to be right, only tested. If even part of it holds, it changes how we think about posture, blood pressure, and brain health for the next century.” 

Continue Research: The bigger ambition 

GAH is just one part of a broader initiative at Continue Research, backed by a $25 million fund to support aging science that focuses on root causes, not symptoms. 

“We believe the next breakthroughs in aging biology are hiding in plain sight,” says Goyal. “Not in more complex molecular models, but in basic mechanical realities that affect everything at once.” 

The goal is to uncover simple, upstream insights — ideas that could make dozens of downstream theories obsolete. 

Over 90 researchers have already reached out to critique and collaborate. Goyal is inviting more — especially those working on cerebral blood flow, autonomic regulation, microgravity, or aging. 

“Whether we prove it or discard it, both outcomes move science forward,” he writes. Everything — including the early data, the hypothesis, and the citations — is open-source at continue.com/gravity. 

Final thought: A pattern worth testing 

“There are two kinds of people,” Goyal reflects. “Those who see patterns and can’t unsee them. And those who seek proof. I am both.” 

For Goyal, the Gravity Aging Hypothesis isn’t the final answer — but maybe it’s the first right question. “Maybe not the whole answer, but the beginning of one.”