In his book Why We Die, author Venki Ramakrishnan looks at modern biological research to understand why our bodies age — and eventually die. “It’s a peculiar situation because we’re a collection of cells and when we’re alive, millions of our cells are dying. … When we die, most of our cells are still alive,” says Ramakrishnan. “And so what does it mean to say you die?”
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In his book Why We Die, author Venki Ramakrishnan looks at modern biological research to understand why our bodies age — and eventually die. “It’s a peculiar situation because we’re a collection of cells and when we’re alive, millions of our cells are dying. … When we die, most of our cells are still alive,” says Ramakrishnan. “And so what does it mean to say you die?”
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Humans have seen a significant increase in life expectancy over the past 200 years — but not in overall lifespan. Nobody on record has lived past 122 years. So, for this early Halloween episode, host Regina G. Barber asks: Why do we age and why do we die? Microbiologist Venki Ramakrishnan explains some of the mechanisms inside of our bodies that contribute to our decay — and tells us if it’s possible to intervene in the process.
Check out Venki Ramakrishnan’s book Why We Die.
Curious about other biology news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might cover your topic on a future episode!
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This episode was produced by Jessica Yung and edited by Rebecca Ramirez. The facts were checked by Tyler Jones. The audio engineer was Kwesi Lee.
