Secrets of ageing: how long could I live?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

Humans have always been obsessed with getting old, or rather staying young, and now science is beginning to catch up. Longevity has become a hot topic from university laboratories to Silicon Valley startups. In the second of a special Science Weekly three-part mini-series on ageing, Ian Sample talks to Venki Ramakrishnan, winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry and author of the book Why We Die. Venki outlines the most promising scientific advances in the field of longevity and discusses the more unusual ways that the wealthy are trying to extend their lives, from blood transfusions to cryonics. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Guardian. What would you do to stay young and healthy?
0:15.0	None of us really likes the idea of getting old.
0:18.0	None of us really wants to die.
0:21.0	You know, we may be philosophical about it, but if we're living a reasonable life, why
0:25.8	should we stop living?
0:28.1	Would you be willing to wake up at 5 a.m. every day for a run?
0:31.8	If you were to be running two hours per week,
0:35.0	I say like 15 and 20 minutes a day,
0:37.0	you could expect to add 3.2 years extra to your life. Wow. Fast until 1 p.m. When I'm not eating or if you choose not to eat for a meal or
0:50.2	two you're turning on the body's defenses against aging.
0:53.0	Go vegan?
0:55.0	I'm vegan.
0:56.0	Except college and peptides.
0:57.0	Except for that, I am a vegan.
0:59.0	Maybe even pay for someone else's blood.
1:01.0	One startup company was promoting this young blood treatment for $8,000 a unit, the price of one
1:08.2	leader of a young person's plasma.
1:12.0	If you listen to Tuesday's episode on why we age, you'll know that we understand more than ever before about the biological processes that age us and eventually kill us off.
1:23.0	Humans have wondered ever since we were aware of mortality, why we die.
1:29.0	This has been a perennial question, but for most of our existence, there wasn't much we could do about it.
1:35.8	That growing knowledge is driving a booming new field, longevity research, and an anti-aging
1:41.9	industry ready to capitalize on it.
	...

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