Can we reverse aging? These scientists are rethinking the limits of human lifespans

Published July 17, 2023 at 3:31 PM CDT

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Seeking A Scientist host Dr. Kate Biberdorf (AKA Kate The Chemist) uses an app to see what she'll look like when she's older.

We tend to think of getting older as inevitable, but what if it’s actually something we can control? Researchers like David Sinclair and Nir Barzilai have discovered some of the secrets to reversing aging, found animals who defy our understandings of life, and turned old mice young again. But even if humans could live forever, should we?

In the past century alone, humans have more than doubled their lifespans— a pretty remarkable accomplishment! But such a drastic change has raised a lot of questions for our species to consider.

What do longer-living humans mean for our world? And who’s to say that our lifespan couldn’t triple or quadruple in the next century — will humans be living until 300 some day? And is that something that we would actually want to do?

This may all sound like science fiction, but real-life scientists are already looking into these questions. On the debut episode of the KCUR Studios podcast Seeking A Scientist, host Dr. Kate Biberdorf (aka Kate The Chemist) explores the possibilities with some of the top researchers in the longevity field.