Photo Source: Bill Nye Saves the World on NETFLIX screenshot by Crystal Spears from The Game of Nerds
In the third season of the popular series Bill Nye Saves the World, longtime scientist-turned-television personality Bill Nye steps up to the task of making the science of daily life bingeable. In the first episode of six, Nye discusses the topic of “Cheating Death” and the truth of the human condition: that every body wears out in order to ensure the cycle of reproduction and evolution that helps the human race to survive.
Luckily scientists have been hard at work trying to reverse the aging process for as long as there has been science and are on the cusp of another leap in the ability to reverse aging and extend life!
Special guest Derek Muller goes on an adventure to discover alternative methods used to replace human organs and we are all a little shocked to find that the “vascular systems of spinach leaves” are at the cutting edge of this type of research because they can be repopulated with human cells.
“Apoptosis – Cells self destruct through a normal and controlled process”
- Skin cells – 2 1/2 weeks (Dead skin cells. Gross)
- Colon cells – 4 days (Bill Nye says “butt”)
- Brain cells – never replaced (. . . .scary)
Using a process that strips the leaves down to their vascular system, scientists are able to coat them with human stem cells that build up and can be used in all kinds of exciting, scary, mad-scientist ways. (Scroll to the bottom of the page for an image of a leaf getting a blood infusion. If you’re not into that you can stop at the nice Bill Nye logo below.)
Correspondent Joanna Hausmann explores anti-aging treatments and a panel of guests discuss the prevention and reversal of aging in coming decades. Finally, Nye does his due diligence to women who have gotten the shaft in scientific history and tells the story of Rosalind Franklin, who discovered DNA only to have her discovery stolen by male scientists whose names will not be mentioned here.
Check back next week for a recap and review of episode two: “Surviving in a World Without Water” because that sounds crazy scary!
Photo Source: Bill Nye Saves the World on NETFLIX screenshot by Crystal Spears from The Game of Nerds
Below is an image from episode one, “Cheating Death,” of a spinach leaf stripped of its natural components in order to be infused with stem cells in order to create alternatives to human organs.
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Source: Crystal Spears, The Game of Nerds. Bill Nye Saves the World on Netflix
