Scout Kaufmann grew up in Miami with a biohacker for a mother — Dr Sandra Kaufmann, physician, cell biologist and the author of The Kaufmann Protocol. So longevity never arrived in her life as a decision. It was simply how the house ran: her mother made Scout and her sister play both a sport and an instrument, and today she plays tennis a few times a week, goes to the gym, guards her sleep and tracks it all on an Oura Ring and a Garmin watch.
When we met her in April 2024 she was seventeen, taking AP Biology, and starting to understand what she had been watching at the kitchen table for years. "It sounds a little crazy," she told us, "but I recently started learning more about what she's doing and actually like the biology of it. So it's become really interesting to learn."
Her first choice of her own was astaxanthin — for a pale redhead's skin on a tennis court, and because it protects her DNA too. And her case for starting young is the one this whole project keeps coming back to: "It has to start before there's even a problem."
The next generationTennis, sleep & trackingAstaxanthinBe curious
Miami · Florida
Where we met
Miami — the kids’ turn
We came to Miami to interview Sandy Kaufmann at home. When her part was done, she turned to us and asked whether we wanted to ask Scout anything. "We should get the two kids talking," she said. So Marek asked Scout the questions he asks everybody on the quest, with Alek behind the camera — and heard the answers of someone who did not come to longevity later in life, but grew up inside it.
Miami
April 2024
At home with the Kaufmanns, straight after her mother's interview.
The kitchen
Growing up
IVs, a centrifuge, and a mother who sometimes asks her for a hand.
"My message would probably be to just be curious, 'cause even if you're not worried about these things now, they're fascinating."
— Scout Kaufmann, in Miami
On the quest
An afternoon in Miami
ScoutTalking to Marek in MiamiHer motherSandy with Marek in a Miami park
In her words
Just be curious
"My message would probably be to just be curious, 'cause even if you're not worried about these things now, they're fascinating."
Scout Kaufmann · Miami
It's interesting with teenagers because there's no fear of getting older.
Scout Kaufmann
It has to start before there's even a problem.
Scout Kaufmann
My lifestyle hasn't really changed because of longevity. It's just kind of been built that way.
Scout Kaufmann
I like taking care of myself. I think most people do.
Scout Kaufmann
In her own words
Straight from the interview
From our afternoon with Scout in Miami — what it is like to grow up beside a longevity protocol, what she chose for herself, and how she would talk to her own generation about it.
Growing up inside a protocol
Her mother's work happens at home, and sometimes Scout is asked to help. Only lately has she started learning the biology behind what she has seen for years.
"I walk into the kitchen sometimes and she's putting an IV in her foot."
Miami · from the interview
Her own first choice: astaxanthin
She started it for her skin — pale, a redhead, on a tennis court — and kept it because it does more than stop a sunburn.
"It's also a free radical scavenger, so it's really cool, like protecting my DNA before there are any issues."
Miami · from the interview
How to reach teenagers
Adults come to longevity when they start to see the signs. Teenagers have no fear of aging, so she starts with what helps right now.
"Even if you're not worried about these things now, they're fascinating."
The video interview is coming. Recorded interviews go live after the launch of the film & series Live Beyond.
Selected passages from our conversation with Scout Kaufmann — in Miami, in April 2024. Lightly edited for readability.
On growing up with a biohacker for a mother
Marek Piotrowski"So you have this crazy mother working in the longevity field and regenerative medicine field, and you've seen her doing a lot of stuff. So what was most interesting of all of that?"
Scout Kaufmann"Interesting is hard to say 'cause a lot of it's really fascinating. But I've seen a lot of weird stuff. Like, I walk into the kitchen sometimes and she's putting an IV in her foot. She's like, 'Come, Scout. Come push the needle in.' I'm like, 'Okay.' It sounds a little crazy, but I recently started learning more about what she's doing and actually like the biology of it. So it's become really interesting to learn."
On starting young
Scout Kaufmann"Yeah, I actually have started. I don't take a lot of medications, but I take a few. Not medications, supplements. Like for example, I take astaxanthin. I started taking it because it's really good for your skin. I'm really pale as a redhead, and I play tennis, so I burn a lot and it's actually really good for not getting sunburn, which is very helpful. But it's also a free radical scavenger, so it's really cool, like protecting my DNA before there are any issues 'cause I really want to believe that aging, even though it starts at thirty, thirty-five, that even though I'm seventeen, I can start it and stop the process from even happening."
On the way she lives
Scout Kaufmann"My lifestyle hasn't really changed because of longevity. It's just kind of been built that way. My mom, when I was younger, she always made my sister and I play both a sport and play an instrument, so we've always been very active intellectually, physically, and in many aspects. Like, I play tennis a few times a week. I go to the gym. I make sure I get my sleep. I wear my Oura Ring. I wear my Garmin watch, and I track all this stuff, not just because necessarily for the purpose of longevity, but I like taking care of myself. I think most people do."
On talking to teenagers about longevity
Scout Kaufmann"It's interesting with teenagers because there's no fear of getting older. I think a lot of adults wanna get into longevity because they're starting to see the signs. They start seeing some gray hairs or maybe their back hurts a little bit more. With teenagers, it's easy for me to talk to someone about, like, astaxanthin, something that I take, where it's like it helps you now. Like, you can see the effects of it in terms of, like, sunburn, but it's also helping you kind of stay away from getting aged in general."
Marek Piotrowski"We have one vessel that we live in, and most of the people treat it as a trash bin."
Scout Kaufmann"Yeah, I agree. I think 'cause now that we're probably projecting people to go up to one-fifty, that can't start once you're thirty and noticing gray hair. It has to start before there's even a problem. And I think that's gonna be a big component of making people live to that age that they want."
Her message to her generation
Scout Kaufmann"My message would probably be to just be curious, 'cause even if you're not worried about these things now, they're fascinating. Like, I take AP Biology, and the things that we learn, along the way you kind of go, 'Hmm, I wonder if there's something that we can do about it.' So if you get curious, you start researching, you start looking into it, watching podcasts, reading books. The more into it you get, the more willing you are to actually start taking these things, 'cause it's really cool, the whole idea of manipulating things within your body that you can't necessarily see or feel that are just happening. So that's definitely what I would say, just be curious."
Marek Piotrowski"It's like I always say, 'Stay curious. Stay young.'"
Scout Kaufmann"Yeah, exactly."
On people who choose to age naturally
Scout Kaufmann"I mean, it's hard to say 'cause it's up to an individual's perspective about how they wanna live their life and how they wanna kind of see themselves in the grand scheme of things. Do I agree with it? No. But to a certain extent, I understand not wanting to interfere with your body. Is that the perspective that I share? No. But I respect it."
Continue the quest
More minds on the quest
Scout starts at the Longevity Basics level of the Longevity Map — sport, sleep and curiosity, begun early. Here are others on the quest, and the full cast of 100+.
