Naturebang

Naked Mole Rats and Life Extension


Listen Later

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight examine the naked mole rat, a saber-toothed sausage of a rodent, which seems to defy the mammalian laws of aging. It lives way longer than what is expected of a rodent and is now the focus for much medical research as scientists try to understand more about their aging process in the name of human life extension.

Of course, we all want to age slower and live longer, but does that mean we should continually strive to extend human life expectancy forever and always? Beyond the ethics, there's also some big philosophical questions. How does a longer life span affect our sense of 'self'? And does living longer solve the problem of death?

Featuring Dr Rochelle Buffenstein, Senior Principal Investigator at Calico Life Sciences, and Julian Baggini, philosopher, journalist and author.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

NaturebangBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

9 ratings


More shows like Naturebang

View all
More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

883 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

2,121 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,931 Listeners

The Food Programme by BBC Radio 4

The Food Programme

268 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

433 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

827 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

246 Listeners

Open Country by BBC Radio 4

Open Country

89 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

480 Listeners

Sliced Bread by BBC Radio 4

Sliced Bread

140 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,192 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

111 Listeners

Sideways by BBC Radio 4

Sideways

73 Listeners

Uncharted with Hannah Fry by BBC Radio 4

Uncharted with Hannah Fry

115 Listeners

Why? with Emma Kennedy by Podmasters

Why? with Emma Kennedy

4 Listeners