The Recipe For Immortality

An expert in synthetic biology explains how people could soon live for centuries.

By Ed Regis and George Church
Oct 17, 2012 12:00 AMMar 30, 2020 8:32 PM
immortal
Ed Regis, George Church

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The yearning for immortality dates back at least to ancient times. As human brain size increased rapidly over the past million years, our ancestors began to think increasingly about the inevitability of death and the redemptive possibility of everlasting life. Ancient pharaohs, queens, and kings used every means to ensure their vestigial persistence through future ages. They had themselves enshrined in legends, songs, and poems; they had their remains preserved in vast pyramids.

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