Dr. Xand van Tulleken
speaker
1,476 appearances
9 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 5d ago
Dr. Xand van Tulleken’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 9 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 5.
Appearances
Eos, the goddess of the dawn, loved the Trojan prince Tithonus so much she asked Zeus to make him immortal.
Zeus grants the wish, but she forgets to ask for eternal youth.
Gah, what a mistake.
But 2000 years ago, you could have been having the same conversation that is going on in many of the longevity mortality podcasts nowadays.
OK, Zandi, but what has been a common concept across this discussion, across cultures for a very long time, is the idea that there is something out there external to ourselves that can confer on us a longer, better life.
I think we're all familiar with this, Chris.
I guess the Holy Grail would be a great example.
It's part buried in Christian stories, part of its Arthurian legend.
Indiana Jones.
Indiana Jones.
Dan Brown, if that's how you've accessed it, not a bad source.
Of course, the Grail is a metaphor for the idea that we could all be looking...
for something that really is out there that can rejuvenate us and make us live longer.
So there's these old ideas, but we see these vampire headlines now.
There's this much more contemporary idea, Silicon Valley billionaires injecting themselves with the blood of the young to rejuvenate.
So this is a familiar idea, but in fact, if we go back, Chris, to 1492, Pope Innocent VIII, aged 60, his doctors hired three young boys, drained out their blood for the pontiff's benefit.
So the story goes.
It's a difficult story to confirm, but the measures failed.
The pope died, as did all the boys.
It's an unusual operation that has a 400% mortality rate.
Showing 721–740 of 1,476 · page 37 of 74
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