Every cell has an orchestra of RNA molecules. They carry instructions from genes to proteins. The conductor of this orchestra is a protein complex called Integrator. It gives the signal when it's time to stop reading a gene. Scientists switched off the conductor in adult worms and saw something remarkable: the worms lived longer.
Without the conductor, gene reading didn't stop on time. Fragments of instructions with extra pieces piled up in the cells. The cell took this as a danger signal and launched its defenses: small RNA molecules began destroying the faulty instructions. The instructions for the mitochondria, the cell's power plants, got caught in the crossfire. The mitochondria started working a little worse. But it was precisely this mild slowdown that switched the cell into repair mode, which extends lifespan. When the scientists removed the small protective molecules, the worms stopped living longer.
In the worm C. elegans, about 85% of genes undergo trans-splicing, in which a short leader exon from a separate RNA is stitched onto the start of the mRNA. Humans have no such mechanism, so the results can't be transferred directly to people.
The idea that mild damage to cellular systems can extend lifespan echoes the concept of hormesis, reimagined in Kim Stanley Robinson's novel Aurora: there, the crew of a starship faces the consequences of artificially slowing aging by manipulating cellular stress pathways.
Not published on arXiv. Here are its page, the PDF and the formalization: you can check it yourself, not only read our account.