The Future of Aging with Dr. Steven Austad
In this interview, biologist and aging expert Dr. Steven Austad joins host Don MacPherson to discuss how and why we age, various ways to extend human life, and ethical questions that accompany a 100-year life expectancy. They also dive into medical treatments that show signs of slowing the aging process, the impossibility of immortality, and the societal changes that will occur if we all live longer.
Season Three of the podcast is dedicated to exploring the future and how life is sure to change over the next decade. This episode provides insight into the current developments in the field of aging and the impact of longer life on culture, parenthood, lifestyle, and our careers.
Dr. Austad has dedicated his career to understanding the science of how and why we age. He is a distinguished professor and Chair of the Biology Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has also authored numerous books, academic papers, and articles on aging.
Topics Discussed: Taxi driving in NYC, training lions, entering the biology field, studying animals in the wild, the impossibility of immortality, how aging helps evolution, the power of natural selection, breakthroughs in aging research, expectations for extending human health, extending life through dietary intervention, the impact of drug treatments, differences in drug efficacy between sexes, drugs that show promise in preserving health in humans, predictions for human life expectancy, how to extend your life right now, ethical impact of life extension, and how society could change as life expectancy is extended.
Learn more about Dr. Austad’s work at https://www.stevenaustad.com/
Connect with Dr. Austad on Twitter here.