The World as You’ll Know It: The Future Of Aging podcast

The World as You’ll Know It: The Future Of Aging

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  Aventine  

Human beings are living longer than ever. Thanks to advances like vaccines, antibiotics, pasteurized milk and clean water, we’ve added more than 30 years to the average lifespan over the last 120 years. That’s more than was added in the previous 10,000 years combined. More recently, enormous progress has been made in our treatment of deadly conditions like heart disease and cancer, with mortality rates for each dropping by double digits. Now science is tackling a new challenge: Can we cure aging itself? In pursuit of this holy grail, longevity research has gone from a sleepy backwater to a multi billion dollar field, populated — yes — by plenty of hucksters, but also by Nobel laureates. The goal is to find out what causes us to age and what we can do to slow it down, or maybe even reverse it altogether. Could tweaking the right molecule buy us 20 more years, or are we maxed out? Can older brains be re-wired to function like younger brains? Do any so-called biohacks actually work?  These are some of the questions we are tackling in this season of The World as You’ll Know It: The Future of Aging. With leading scientists in the fields of biology, neuroscience and medicine, we’ll look at the cutting-edge of aging research and what living longer could mean for all of us.

Human beings are living longer than ever. Thanks to advances like vaccines, antibiotics, pasteurized milk and clean water, we’ve added more than 30 years to the average lifespan over the last 120 years. That’s more than was added in the previous 10,000 years combined. More recently, enormous progress has been made in our treatment of deadly conditions like heart disease and cancer, with mortality rates for each dropping by double digits. Now science is tackling a new challenge: Can we cure aging itself? In pursuit of this holy grail, longevity research has gone from a sleepy backwater to a multi billion dollar field, populated — yes — by plenty of hucksters, but also by Nobel laureates. The goal is to find out what causes us to age and what we can do to slow it down, or maybe even reverse it altogether. Could tweaking the right molecule buy us 20 more years, or are we maxed out? Can older brains be re-wired to function like younger brains? Do any so-called biohacks actually work?  These are some of the questions we are tackling in this season of The World as You’ll Know It: The Future of Aging. With leading scientists in the fields of biology, neuroscience and medicine, we’ll look at the cutting-edge of aging research and what living longer could mean for all of us.

 

#43

Getting the Most From Our Extra 30 Years

For over a century, we’ve been in the midst of a revolution in longevity – one that is unp... more

01 Jul 2025

33 MINS

33:46

01 Jul 2025


#42

How to Be a Super Ager, with Eric Topol

The world today is oversaturated with trends, tips, and treatments for how to live long an... more

24 Jun 2025

33 MINS

33:05

24 Jun 2025


#41

Why Women Live Longer Than Men

Women tend to live longer than men, even under the most difficult conditions like famines ... more

17 Jun 2025

34 MINS

34:07

17 Jun 2025


#40

Why Haven’t We Solved Alzheimer’s?

We’ve known about Alzheimer’s and its devastating effects for more than 100 years, and hav... more

10 Jun 2025

36 MINS

36:11

10 Jun 2025


#39

We’re Underestimating Older Brains

A forgotten name, misplaced keys, feeling overwhelmed by some new technology. Classic sign... more

03 Jun 2025

31 MINS

31:25

03 Jun 2025


#38

The Truth About Biohacking

Blood transfusions, cryotherapy, experimental drugs and intermittent fasting are just a fe... more

27 May 2025

35 MINS

35:38

27 May 2025


#37

The Billion Dollar Bet: Will Humans Live to 150?

In 2000, two scientists — Steve Austed, a biologist and Jay Olshanksy, a biostatistician —... more

20 May 2025

34 MINS

34:54

20 May 2025


#36

Introducing: The Future of Aging

Human beings are living longer than ever. Thanks to advances like vaccines, antibiotics, p... more

19 May 2025

02 MINS

02:50

19 May 2025


#35

Can We Pull Carbon Out of the Air?

The Paris Climate Agreement says we need to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050. Tha... more

13 Aug 2024

25 MINS

25:37

13 Aug 2024


#34

Has the Moment for Hydrogen Finally Arrived?

Hydrogen has long been the great hope of the environmental movement. Hydrogen-powered cars... more

06 Aug 2024

22 MINS

22:27

06 Aug 2024


#33

Keeping Cool Without Warming the Planet

Heat kills more people in the United States than any other weather event, and scientists e... more

30 Jul 2024

26 MINS

26:22

30 Jul 2024


#32

Is the U.S. Ready for a New Nuclear Age?

The United States was once on track to be a world leader in nuclear power, building more t... more

23 Jul 2024

32 MINS

32:02

23 Jul 2024


#31

The Great American Road Trip, Reimagined

Americans drive more, drive further, and pay less for fuel than people in other developed ... more

16 Jul 2024

30 MINS

30:16

16 Jul 2024


#30

Climate Change and the Surprising Success of Solar Power

In the past 50 years, solar energy has surpassed all expectations. Even early solar expert... more

09 Jul 2024

27 MINS

27:26

09 Jul 2024


#29

Introducing: The Great Rebuild

We’re currently involved in one of the most ambitious projects we, as humans, have ever at... more

25 Jun 2024

02 MINS

02:23

25 Jun 2024


#28

The Race to Control AI

In our final episode, Host Gary Marcus shares his hopes for and fears about an AI-driven f... more

29 Aug 2023

30 MINS

30:22

29 Aug 2023


#27

When Bots Become Our Friends

Some people use chatbots for therapy. Others have fallen in love with them. And some peopl... more

22 Aug 2023

33 MINS

33:56

22 Aug 2023


#26

AI Took My Career!

The emergence of generative AI threatens to automate millions of jobs, potentially usherin... more

15 Aug 2023

28 MINS

28:36

15 Aug 2023


#25

How AI Will Turbocharge Misinformation

Misinformation has already influenced our elections, ruined reputations and fundamentally ... more

08 Aug 2023

27 MINS

27:26

08 Aug 2023


#24

Can AI Make You Laugh?

New large language models are capable of writing essays, drafting marketing pitches and ha... more

16 May 2023

27 MINS

27:56

16 May 2023


#23

What Happens When AI Takes The Wheel?

We've been promised wide-scale driverless cars for more than a decade, but a true driverle... more

09 May 2023

33 MINS

33:07

09 May 2023


#22

Watson Part 2: How IBM’s Big Bet Failed

After its victory on Jeopardy, IBM made a billion-dollar bet on Watson: cancer. But it tur... more

02 May 2023

36 MINS

36:31

02 May 2023


#21

Watson Part 1: And the winner is…Watson!

In 2011, Watson, a computer built by IBM, shocked the world by becoming the first non-huma... more

25 Apr 2023

30 MINS

30:35

25 Apr 2023