The Immortals - Ep 3. The Plasma Clinic

Intrigue

BBC

True Crime, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.6 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Conboys’ experiment gave a young Harvard medical school graduate a big idea. But, there is a big gap between the experiments they did with mice in the lab, and pumping young blood into human beings.

Still, he registered his company, Ambrosia Plasma, on the Food and Drug Administration clinical trials website and began an ambitious human research experiment. For $8,000 in cash, cheque or digital transfer, anyone over the age of 35 could receive two litres of blood plasma from 16-25 year olds in their veins. The outcomes were ambitious - physical rejuvenation, weight loss, reversal of dementia, and healthy looking skin.

Does this fairy tale have a happy ending?

In this series, technology reporter and psychologist Aleks Krotoski explores the frontiers of the extreme longevity pioneers. They've made their money in Silicon Valley. And with their technology solutions - PayPal, Facebook, cryptocurrencies - they've ushered in the world that we live in today, with all its unintended consequences. Some of them now want to solve the "problem" of aging, or even death, and they are making bigger strides than we may think.

Can they? Should they?

A Pillowfort production for BBC Radio 4

New episodes released Mondays. If you're in the UK, listen to the full series of Intrigue: The Immortals first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3WEQS5W

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.6	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.4	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable
0:14.3	experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC
0:20.4	makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected,
0:33.1	find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds. podcasts.
0:50.0	Now, I want to say I know this sounds like vampires, but there may be a good reason for that.
0:55.8	The man on stage is in his early 30s.
0:59.1	He's got brown hair already receding and the beginnings of a middle-aged belly.
1:03.7	Purple and green lights reflect off his white button-down shirt,
1:07.6	ironically giving him a deathly pallor.
1:10.7	In the 17th century, Paler.
1:13.0	In the 17th century, a noble woman in Hungary, Elizabeth Bathory, was actually executed for bathing
1:20.1	in the blood of young women. And apparently she was doing this to improve her appearance
1:25.0	and as our science is now demonstrating
1:28.0	well there probably was a fact to these vampire legends
1:32.0	it probably works but it's not something we recommend.
1:36.5	It is 2017 and this man is Jesse Carmison. He's presenting at an event in Vancouver, Canada called the Superhuman Summit.
1:45.0	The room is silent, attentive.
1:48.0	The so-called blood countess Elizabeth Bathory stares down at the audience from the projection screen over his head.
	...

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