19 episodes
Unlocking The Fountain CBC Health & Sport
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- Science
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4.6 • 70 Ratings
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What if there were a pill that could add decades to your life? Would you take it? For thousands of years, people have searched for elixirs that could delay death and extend human life. Could new advances in medicine finally make this a reality? From madcap medicine to cutting-edge science, the quest to unlock the fountain of youth is teeming with dreamers, skeptics and charlatans alike.
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Episode 1: 150 Candles
Are we on the verge of medical breakthroughs that will extend healthy human life by decades? Some scientists say the first human to reach 150 years is already alive. Is it you?
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Episode 2: Phony Fountains
Today’s aging science is built on shaky foundations, from Ponce de Leon’s legendary quest for the fountain of youth, to surgeons who transplanted monkey testicles into men. We also look at cryonics and mind-uploading -- speculative science that purports to bring people back from the dead.
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Episode 3: The 11-Year-Old Scientist
Why do we age, and how can we reverse it? We meet a researcher whose discoveries overturned everything we thought we knew about aging. We learn about the levers that cause aging to speed up or slow down. And we meet the 11-year-old scientist at the centre of it all.
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Episode 4: Fountain in a Pill
Scientists have identified several drugs that appear to slow aging. Some are already widely used in humans to treat other diseases. But how do you get a cure approved when regulators don’t see aging as a disease? And wouldn’t it take decades to prove the pill prolongs human lifespan? This episode explores the hits and misses on the path to a fountain-of-youth pill.
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Episode 5: Expiration Date
Keith and Laura get tested to find out if they’re genetically predisposed for longevity. Another test promises to reveal their biological ages. Have stress and disease conspired to make them older than they should be? Plus, more hallmarks of aging: weakened immunity, chronic inflammation and methylation.
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Episode 6: How to Live Longer
Making the right choices around what we eat, how much we exercise and how we manage our stress can add a decade or more to our lives. In this episode: A science based blueprint for building your own fountain of youth.
Customer Reviews
Awesome podcast!
I was especially interested as I am participating in a clinical trial of Rapamycin, and my epigenetic age test has me 12 years older than my biological age - not great news for anyone! I thought the explanations in the fourth episode about Mtor, telemeres, etc., were so well done - I really appreciate the work that went into synthesizing this information! Very interesting and relevant.
So much navel-gazing
The science is a Trojan horse for so much late Gen X/Millennial navel-gazing driven by a disability-as-identity subjectivity. Worse still, McArthur uses his own son — a vulnerable, young, child with very real health concerns — as a “motivation” to make a podcast. (That alone makes this project ethically dubious at best.) And when that’s not enough, he trots out his own health issues and neuroses all of which come across as a broken ego’s need for attention and validation. It’s a shame because the remarkable research and science happening now around aging and the ethical and moral conversations that need to flow from them are captivating all on their own. This is not a science podcast. It’s omphaloskeptic drivel at it most annoying.
Love love this Podcast
It makes me feel hopeful and empowered!
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