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The Story

The new science of ageing and the quest to live forever

The Story

The Times

Daily News Podcast, Exclusive Interviews, Daily News, Current Affairs, Global News, News, Investigative Reporting, Long-form Audio, In-depth Journalism, Audio Storytelling, News Analysis, Politics, Uk News

3.91.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2024

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The super-rich are trialling innumerable whacky theories to radically extend their lives, from not eating after 11pm to taking hundreds of supplements a day and even blood transfusions from their children. But what does the science tell us? Could some of these ideas actually prove effective? And why are we still so obsessed with the quest that is as old as mankind itself: immortality?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory


Guest: Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan, scientist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge and author of Why We Die: The New Science of Ageing and the Quest for Immortality.

Host: Luke Jones.

Producer: Olivia Case.

Clips: WIRED UK, Valuetainment Clips, Diary of a CEO, TalkTV.

Find out more about our bonus series for Times subscribers: 'Inside the newsroom'

Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.co.uk

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

BP is working to bring more lower carbon energy to the UK, like developing offshore wind,

0:06.1

and we're keeping oil and gas flowing from the North Sea. It's and not all. That's how BP is backing Britain. Well today we're mostly in oil and gas.

0:16.0

We increased the proportion of our global annual investment that went into our lower carbon and other transition businesses from around 3% in 2019 to around 23% in

0:26.0

2023. B.com slash and not all. This podcast is brought to you by PWC here to help your business transform.

0:38.0

They know what they're doing. They've been helping clients navigate disruption for 175 years. Maybe you need to roll out a new business

0:46.9

model, product, service, maybe you need a new strategy to address net zero. Well, PWC have the right tech, right suppliers and right people

0:57.3

to help. A human-led tech-powered approach to transformation. If you need industry expertise and tech skills, they have 5,000

1:06.2

technologists ready to help. Do you need to harness, complex or emerging tech? 15,000 of their UK team have Gen AI tools and skills.

1:16.0

And they work with over 350 tech and data vendors, so you don't have to.

1:22.0

Find out how PWC can help you be transformative at

1:26.5

PWC.co. UK

1:30.0

From the Times and the Sunday, this is the story.

1:33.0

I'm Luke Jones.

1:36.7

It's hard to know how much we can change the world

1:39.9

from a place where life is nasty, brutish, and short,

1:42.7

but I think the moral thing is to push it as far

1:45.2

as we possibly can in the other direction.

1:47.7

People say that death is a natural part of life

1:50.4

to which I always respond that I think it is at least as natural for us to be fighting death

1:56.7

Some of the richest people in the world are spending a hell of a lot of money trying to solve one conundrum.

2:03.0

14 world's wealthiest entrepreneurs trying to crack the code of living forever,

2:08.0

okay?

...

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