Why We Die: Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan Explains All

The knowledge of death is so terrifying that we live most of our lives in denial of it. Our fear of death has underpinned our religions, inspired our cultures, and also driven our science. Today we are living through a revolution in biology. Giant strides are being made in our understanding of why we age and die, and why some species live longer than others. Immortality, once a faint hope, has never been more within our grasp and there are prominent billionaire tech moguls, among others, in pursuit of it.

Nobel Prize-winning biologist Venki Ramakrishnan will be at Second Home to deliver an unmissable talk which will examine why we die – and whether there is anything we can do about it. Recent scientific advances show us how cutting-edge efforts to extend lifespan by altering our natural biology raise profound questions. Although we might not like it, does death actually serve a necessary biological purpose? Join one of our leading public intellectuals to discover more about what we have to gain as well as what we might have to lose.

 

About

Venki Ramakrishnan received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the structure and function of the ribosome. He leads a research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. `He served as president of the Royal Society from 2015 to 2020, and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2022. His previous book, the scientific memoir Gene Machine, was published in 2018 to critical acclaim.