DESTA predictions
| Prediction | Implication |
|---|---|
| Sexual selection maintains senescence. | Mate-choice systems should use age-related physiological cues, and disruption of those cues should alter mating outcomes. |
| Natural selection tunes the rate of senescence. | Species and populations under different ecological pressures should show corresponding differences in senescence rates. |
| Intrinsic growth terminators should differ from extrinsic growth slowers. | Species able to continue fitness-increasing growth should show altered or reduced senescence patterns compared with intrinsically growth-terminated species. |
| Senescence is centrally regulated. | Age-related changes should show coordinated hypothalamic, endocrine, circadian, immune, autonomic, and metabolic patterns rather than appearing only as independent cellular failures. |
| Senescence structures predation. | In wild populations, predation should be disproportionately directed toward older or physiologically senescent individuals where predators can detect vulnerability. |
EOS predictions
| Prediction | Implication |
|---|---|
| Selection mechanisms evolve. | Regulatory, immune, neural, and cognitive systems that bias survival or reproduction should themselves vary, impose costs, and evolve under selection. |
| Selection modes layer rather than replace one another. | Physical, algorithmic, and cognitive selection should operate simultaneously in complex organisms. |