Dan Buettner

Well, to start out with, I landed these countries and I talked to the experts.

I talked to the anthropologists, the historians, the geneticists, the dietary people, and I start putting puzzle pieces together and I share that with my audience, gradually getting insights.

And then at a certain point, I have what I call the cake recipe.

I have all the ingredients that explain longevity in these places.

And then once I know that, I go out and I find characters, usually 100-year-olds.

And you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the prince or the princess.

But I want to find people whose life illustrates my cake recipe of ingredients.

And then by telling their story, I essentially reveal the cake recipe.

So it's story-driven science.

It unfolds little by little.

I don't start with the power nine.

I start with, here's the mystery I'm going to solve.

And then I take people on the journey with me.

And at the end, they get the secret to longevity.

You know, I did a Netflix series called Live to 100 Secrets of the Blue Zones.

which won three Emmy Awards.

I only tell you that because people are more likely to watch it if it won Emmy Awards.

But I met a cowboy named Ramirez.

And this is a guy who rides about 10 miles a day.

He herds cattle.