Profs and Pints Online presents: “Can We Thwart Aging and Death?” with Rui Diogo, associate professor of anatomy at Howard University’s College of Medicine and resource faculty member at George Washington University’s Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology.

[This talk will remain available in recorded form at the link given here for tickets and access.]

Why do we age and die? Do all organisms share this fate, or are there “immortal” living beings? Is the body's slow dilapidation with the passage of time unavoidable? Or can humans someday unlock the secrets of longevity and maybe even achieve immortality?

Hear such questions tackled online by Rui Diogo, an anatomist and evolutionary biologist whose thought-provoking talks have built him a substantial following among Profs and Pints fans.

Looking back at the past, Professor Diogo will discuss how humanity has been preoccupied with the prospect (and fear) of death throughout its existence. Looking forward to the future, he’ll examine the scientific research focused on letting humans to live much longer lives—and perhaps even attain the same immortality long promised by some religions.

His talk will focus on the scientific quest to understand the biological bases of aging and death. In recent decades, gene research has begun uncovering fascinating clues on how both can at least be postponed or slowed. Current experimental studies, for example, already have managed to delay natural death in insects and even in some mammals such as mice. Among humans, studies of centenarians have shown that both family history and personal behavior have a huge impact on how we age and when we die.

Did you know that studies have shown that all mammals get about a billion heartbeats per lifetime, which are used at a rate of about a thousand per minute in short-lived shrews or spaced out at much longer intervals in relatively long-lived whales and humans? A similar correlation exists between calorie consumption and aging or death, with caloric intake influencing the rate of aging and the onset of associated diseases in animals. Laboratory rats not only live longer, but also have fewer age-associated diseases, when their food intake is restricted.

A few insects live only a few hours, but many sequoia trees live more than a millennium, and in many cases seem not to age at all. At the same time there exists within the same species huge plasticity in terms of life spans, with worker bees aging and dying much quicker than queens.

So, can humans age much slower, and even ultimately cheat death, by eating fewer calories or by slowing their metabolism like bears do during hibernation? Or does the solution in our longstanding quest for immortality lie elsewhere, such as in consuming more antioxidants to thwart free radicals? Or are all organisms condemned to a "natural" death as a result of aging, no matter what? Professor Diogo won’t have all of the answers, but he’ll at least leave you with a better understanding of your own life and, perhaps, how to prolong it.

Profs & Pints Online: Can We Thwart Aging and Death?