Learn how we doubled life expectancy in the last 150 years. Plus: “impossible” quasicrystals formed from nuclear bombs.

Additional resources from Steven Johnson:

• Pick up "Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer": https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/594501/extra-life-by-steven-johnson/
• Website: https://stevenberlinjohnson.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenbjohnson

The first nuclear detonation created "impossible" quasicrystals shaped like 20-sided dice by Briana Brownell

• Castelvecchi, D. (2021). First nuclear detonation created “impossible” quasicrystals. Nature, 593(7860), 487–487. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01332-0
• Bindi, L., Kolb, W., Eby, G. N., Asimow, P. D., Wallace, T. C., & Steinhardt, P. J. (2021). Accidental synthesis of a previously unknown quasicrystal in the first atomic bomb test. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(22), e2101350118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101350118
• Università degli Studi di Firenze. (2021). Quasicrystals in the first nuclear explosion [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkuLjTlUO7A

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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-life-expectancy-doubled-in-just-150-years-w-author-steven-johnson

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