How long can we live?
Life expectancy is rising as medicine advances. But can we beat the most fatal condition of all: old age? We talk to scientists on the frontier of the fight against ageing itself.
Life expectancy is going up as we develop new cures for the diseases that kill us off. But can we beat the most fatal condition of all - old age? We talk to scientists on the frontier of fighting the ageing process itself, when our bodies just start to wear out. In India, Tuhin Bhowmick is working towards 3D printing new organs so people don’t die waiting for transplants. In the US, Meng Wang is developing ways to use the tiny creatures that live in our guts to extend our lives. And in the UK, Lorna Harries and her team have made an amazing discovery that could let us roll back the ageing process in our own cells.
But is there an upper limit to the human life span? With all these advances racing ahead we ask – how long can humans live?
Contributors include:
Kaare Christensen - Head of the Danish Ageing Research Centre
Tuhin Bhowmick - Director of Pandorum Technologies
Meng Wang - Huffington Center on Aging at the Baylor College of Medicine
Lorna Harries - Professor of Molecular Genetics, University of Exeter
Presenter: Helena Merriman
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
(An old woman with prayer wheels laughing at the Kyichu Buddhist Temple in Bhutan. Photo Credt: Tim Graham/Getty Images)
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Clips
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Why do our bodies age?
Duration: 01:41
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What happens to our body when we age?
Duration: 02:51
Broadcasts
- Thu 25 Oct 2018 02:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & West and Central Africa only
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- Mon 29 Oct 2018 09:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa, East Asia & News Internet
- Thu 4 Apr 2019 02:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 4 Apr 2019 03:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service UK DAB/Freeview
- Thu 4 Apr 2019 05:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Thu 4 Apr 2019 06:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
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- Thu 4 Apr 2019 14:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Australasia
- Thu 4 Apr 2019 17:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service South Asia
- Thu 4 Apr 2019 19:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa
- Sat 6 Apr 2019 16:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service News Internet
- Mon 8 Apr 2019 08:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & East Asia
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