Some Parts of Us Are Immortal

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The body dies, but we all come from a shared cell lineage that goes back billions of years. Does that make our genes immortal, despite our disposable bodies? PW’s Founding Director of Sciences Janna Levin hosted Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan to find out. He’s the author of Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality, and won the Nobel with his co-laureates for determining the atomic structure of the ribosome, a molecular machine that synthesizes proteins in all living cells. Their discovery has had a profound impact on molecular biology and medicine.

Together, Ramakrishnan and Levin discuss the biological mechanisms that initiate the process of dying and the ethical and social questions surrounding the pursuit of immortality.

Watch the full conversation:

This project is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, bridging the two cultures of science and the arts.

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