The Truth About Biohacking

For over a century, we’ve been in the midst of a revolution in longevity – one that is unprecedented in human history. More than a quarter century has been added to the average lifespan since the 1900s.  How should individuals and society make the most of this time? How can we rethink education, careers, healthcare, and retirement in light of our longer lives? In the season finale of The World As You’ll Know It: The Future of Aging, we speak with psychologist Laura Carstensen and economist Andrew J. Scott about what it will take to maximize those extra 30 years we’ve gained  – not just in old age, but throughout our lifetimes.

The world today is oversaturated with trends, tips, and treatments for how to live long and be healthy while doing it. But it can be hard to know who to listen to – and what actually works. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Eric Topol, renowned cardiologist and author of the book Super Agers: An Evidenced-Based Approach to Longevity, to clear up some of the myths around healthy aging and shine light on what actually works. We cover everything from how much sleep you need and how much movement to get, to dietary advice and the benefits of social engagement — and much more.

Women tend to live longer than men, even under the most difficult conditions like famines and epidemics. While it’s true that women tend to go to the doctor more and engage in less risk-prone activities, behavior alone doesn’t explain this phenomenon. In this episode, demographer Virginia Zarulli tells us about the implications of the startling fact that, in times of extreme hardship, it is often infant girls outliving infant boys that contributes most to the gap in longevity. Neurologist Dena Dubal, who has spent years studying the influence of the second X chromosome that females carry, explains how research into how women age will benefit men, too. And neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi talks about the impact of sex hormones on aging and why women are disproportionately susceptible to certain age-related diseases.

We’ve known about Alzheimer’s and its devastating effects for more than 100 years, and have been predicting an imminent cure for at least the last 25. So why is it that after so many years of research and unrelenting loss, we’re not further along in our progress towards a cure? In this episode we consult three experts who have dedicated much of their lives to understanding this question. Neurobiologist Karl Herrup is the author of “How Not To Study a Disease: The Story of Alzheimer’s.” Charles Piller is a journalist who spent years researching the scandals that recently rocked the Alzheimer’s community. Donna Wilcock is a neurologist who has been studying Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia for decades, and is also the editor-in-chief of the official journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Together they help explain where we went wrong, and suggest where we might look next in our search for a cure.

A forgotten name, misplaced keys, feeling overwhelmed by some new technology. Classic signs of a brain beginning its long, inexorable descent into old age? Not necessarily. In fact, new research shows that we can preserve and even enhance our cognitive skills as we get older. In this episode, we explore the science behind the aging brain with psychologist and lifelong learner Dr. Rachel Wu, who has made remarkable breakthroughs in understanding how older brains acquire new skills and knowledge. We also speak to Dr. Cindy Lustig, a neuroscientist, about the chemical changes that take place in our brains as we get older, and how they affect the ways we think and behave. Finally, we look at wisdom. Older people are wiser than younger ones (at least in the United States). We speak to social psychologist Dr. Richard Nisbett whose studies show that the idea of getting older and wiser is no myth.

Blood transfusions, cryotherapy, experimental drugs and intermittent fasting are just a few of the measures so-called biohackers are taking in hopes of radically extending their lifespans. But what started as a faddish subculture has boomed into a multi-billion dollar industry – encompassing both shady claims and reputable scientific research. In this episode, we unpack the science and the hype behind some of the most prominent biohacking tools being used today, including caloric restriction, Rapamycin, and Metformin with Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan, the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist. We also speak with Dr. Daniel Belsky, the inventor of a blood test that can reveal how fast your body is aging, which could expedite testing on potentially life-extending treatment.

In 2000, two scientists — Steve Austed, a biologist and Jay Olshanksy, a biostatistician — made a bet. Would a  person live to the age of 150 by the year 2150? Austad bet yes and Olshansky bet no. The wager? $150, which will grow to more than one billion by the time it’s settled.   In this episode, we revisit this twenty-five year old bet  to find both men sticking to their guns. We also  speak to  Nobel Prize winner, Venki Ramakrishnan, about new insights into what causes us to age. The episode explores the latest science around aging to expose two competing ways of understanding the human lifespan. Are we locked into a hard age limit established by centuries of data? Or could a scientific breakthrough push us far beyond it so that many of us will live decades longer?

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.

The Paris Climate Agreement says we need to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050. That means for every new carbon molecule we put in the air, we have to take one out. Even the most optimistic forecasts still anticipate burning fossil fuels well past that date. So how do we balance the carbon books? Enter direct air capture, or DAC — a mechanical process that sucks carbon out of the atmosphere — which many believe will be crucial to controlling climate change. Right now the technology is extremely expensive, energy intensive, and has never been deployed at the scale necessary to make a difference. Host Arielle Duhaime-Ross speaks with the Dr. Klaus Lackner, known as the “godfather of carbon removal”; Dr. Susan Hovorka, a professor of geology who has been burying carbon underground for decades; and Dr. Emily Grubert, associate professor of sustainable energy policy at Notre Dame.

Hydrogen has long been the great hope of the environmental movement. Hydrogen-powered cars; airplanes; even home heating. A single molecule could power it all. Much of that has gone nowhere. But now, hydrogen is being touted as the answer to carbon-free steel. Can we trust in our hydrogen future this time? To explore that question, host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks to Rachael Fahkry, policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Jason Mortimer, from the company Electric Hydrogen.