The Reluctant Immortalist

Invisibilia

NPR

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Social Sciences, Science

4.6 • 22.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2020

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Daniel Martinez discovered the unthinkable: a creature that breaks one of the most fundamental laws of life. In the wake of his discovery--which has been widely confirmed by the scientific community--all kinds of people have thrown themselves into trying to unlock the secrets of how this creature seems to cheat death. Cellular biologists, aging researchers, and the biotech industry all hold high hopes that there may be some application to slow human aging. Millions of dollars are being poured into the dream of extending the human lifespan, which looks increasingly possible. But Daniel? He trashed his experiment. He completely abandoned the pursuit of unlocking the secrets of immortality. Perhaps because he believes that dream is all wrong. Invisibilia co-founder Lulu Miller went down to visit him in California to try to find out why. Please take our short, anonymous listener survey: npr.org/invisibiliasurvey. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's Hana, and we want to hear from you.
0:04.3	Please help us out by telling us what you like about the show and how we can improve
0:08.8	by completing a short anonymous survey at npr.org slash invisibility survey.
0:15.0	It should take less than 10 minutes and it is so helpful to us here at invisibility.
0:19.4	That's npr.org slash invisibility survey, one word.
0:24.0	Thank you.
0:25.5	I was trying to tell a simple science story.
0:31.3	One of those stories that shifts just a little bit how you think the world works.
0:37.4	I thought we could all use a little distraction right now.
0:41.9	Something free of complication, of darkness.
0:46.6	I failed.
0:47.6	Hello.
0:48.6	Hello.
0:49.6	How are you?
0:50.6	Hi.
0:51.6	Good, how are you?
0:52.6	I'm good.
0:53.6	This is Danielle Martinez.
0:54.6	The work led me down the rabbit hole in the first place.
0:57.6	And the proverbial rabbit that led him down the hole was a tiny aquatic creature called
1:03.0	the Hydra.
1:06.2	They live on the rocks or leaves on ponds and rivers.
	...

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