Magic Pills, Machine-Learning Skincare, and the Future of Health

What it is: Self-described by its MIT creators as "the world's first cellular health product informed by genomics," Basis by Elysium Health is a mail-order daily supplement that's been making waves in the rapidly emerging field of life-extension science. The claim is not immortality but simply the possibility of extending one's vital years, by putting off of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and other afflictions of age. Hard to say: Though the supplement is some 25 years in the making, it's been human-tested for less than five, including on Elysium Health cofounder Leonard Guarente, who also serves as the director of MIT's center for aging research. That said, the company has an impressive roster of Nobel Prize winners on its scientific advisory board and has attracted more than $25 million in funding. What's the sell: Two pills a day purportedly target DNA repair, cellular detoxification, energy production, and protein function by converting nicotinamide riboside into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a coenzyme critical to metabolism that diminishes with age.