Venki Ramakrishnan

And that requires understanding the whole problem of aging. And so there's a lot of research, but then now you have injection of a lot of private money. There are 700 companies doing some sort of longevity-based biotech. Billions of tens of billions of dollars going into this. A lot of it funded by tech billionaires from California. And I like to joke that these are guys who...

And that requires understanding the whole problem of aging. And so there's a lot of research, but then now you have injection of a lot of private money. There are 700 companies doing some sort of longevity-based biotech. Billions of tens of billions of dollars going into this. A lot of it funded by tech billionaires from California. And I like to joke that these are guys who...

just are afraid of getting old. They like their life and they don't want the party to end. And so they're funding, they can't buy youth, so they're buying research into aging. And that's also distorting the field. It's generating huge amounts of hype because now there's money involved.

just are afraid of getting old. They like their life and they don't want the party to end. And so they're funding, they can't buy youth, so they're buying research into aging. And that's also distorting the field. It's generating huge amounts of hype because now there's money involved.

And so I thought as somebody who doesn't have a personal skin in the game, and since it is this big question, I thought I could look at the current state and talk about how we came to our state of understanding, which is interesting in itself, but also what are the realistic prospects and what's just a lot of hype. So I think that's the sort of goal.

And so I thought as somebody who doesn't have a personal skin in the game, and since it is this big question, I thought I could look at the current state and talk about how we came to our state of understanding, which is interesting in itself, but also what are the realistic prospects and what's just a lot of hype. So I think that's the sort of goal.

And it turned out to be a much bigger problem than I imagined because aging basically encompasses all of biology, right from DNA all the way to cells and tissues and organisms. So- But it was fun to write it.

And it turned out to be a much bigger problem than I imagined because aging basically encompasses all of biology, right from DNA all the way to cells and tissues and organisms. So- But it was fun to write it.

Yes, I do say that, actually. We all have a skin in the game in that we're all aging, and we'd like to do something about it if we can.

Yes, I do say that, actually. We all have a skin in the game in that we're all aging, and we'd like to do something about it if we can.

And of course, the other skin in the game I have is I like to say I'm not selling anything, but of course, I'd like the book to sell.

And of course, the other skin in the game I have is I like to say I'm not selling anything, but of course, I'd like the book to sell.

They need to sort of... Oddly enough, I found many unicellular organisms do die. For example, budding yeast. where you can clearly separate the mother cell from the daughter cell, they do die. The mother cell only can undergo a certain number of divisions, and then it's basically senescent and dies. And interestingly, people have even done this with simple bacteria like E. coli.

They need to sort of... Oddly enough, I found many unicellular organisms do die. For example, budding yeast. where you can clearly separate the mother cell from the daughter cell, they do die. The mother cell only can undergo a certain number of divisions, and then it's basically senescent and dies. And interestingly, people have even done this with simple bacteria like E. coli.

The trouble with E. coli is you can't tell which one is the mother cell and which one's the daughter cell. But people figured out that when E. coli grows, it grows in one direction. It doesn't grow in both directions at the same time. So there's a new part of E. coli and there's an old part of the E. coli when it's when it grows.

The trouble with E. coli is you can't tell which one is the mother cell and which one's the daughter cell. But people figured out that when E. coli grows, it grows in one direction. It doesn't grow in both directions at the same time. So there's a new part of E. coli and there's an old part of the E. coli when it's when it grows.

Then when it divides, one half, one daughter cell inherits the new part. The other daughter cell inherits the old part. And if you keep repeating this by very carefully producing these E. coli in thin tubes so you can keep track of it, it turns out that the old E. coli eventually dies. So it's pretty amazing. So I would say almost everything dies, even even unicellular organisms.

Then when it divides, one half, one daughter cell inherits the new part. The other daughter cell inherits the old part. And if you keep repeating this by very carefully producing these E. coli in thin tubes so you can keep track of it, it turns out that the old E. coli eventually dies. So it's pretty amazing. So I would say almost everything dies, even even unicellular organisms.

But of course, that's not what we mean when we say death. And this actually, you know, since we both have a connection with the Santa Fe Institute, this really, I absorbed this through a series of workshops on aging at the Santa Fe Institute, where they think of aging as a Biological aging is a special case of aging of everything, all complex systems.

But of course, that's not what we mean when we say death. And this actually, you know, since we both have a connection with the Santa Fe Institute, this really, I absorbed this through a series of workshops on aging at the Santa Fe Institute, where they think of aging as a Biological aging is a special case of aging of everything, all complex systems.