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In our last episode from ITER, we round out season 3 with an exclusive interview with the head of ITER, Pietro Barabaschi!

John and Eva got the chance to chat to Pietro about what it’s like running an international undertaking such as ITER, and how one needs to have a special relationship to time itself when it comes to the search for nuclear fusion. Plus we also hear some great insights on problem solving.

Born in 1965 in Milan, Italy, Pietro Barabaschi, an electro-mechanical engineer by training, has dedicated virtually his entire career to fusion research. He began his tenure as Director-General of the ITER Organization in October 2022.

LINKS

About Pietro Barabaschi

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Take a trip, and visit the incredible site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in Provence in the south of France.

In this episode, Eva and John get a tour of the huge international effort to recreate what happens in our Sun: nuclear fusion. An immensely ambitious, multi-generational project, we promise this is quite a trip!

LINKS

https://www.iter.org/ 

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Our ability to create energy is everything. When looking to the future, one thing is clear—humanity needs to find ways of harnessing power that is sustainable and good for the planet.

One such source of energy is similar to what powers the sun (and therefore all of life as we know it): nuclear fusion. Not to be confused with nuclear fission, fusion is a potential energy source that would be clean, efficient, and limitless.

In the first of three parts, John and Eva look at the history of our understanding of this potential wonder energy, and chart the development of today’s efforts to unlock the power of the sun.

LINKS

History of Fusion

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What is it actually like to undergo IVF? What does it even entail exactly? In this episode, we hear the incredible story and journey of Caroline, a mother whose experience offers insight and hope into the current and future landscape of reproductive technology (and culture). This subject concerns all of humanity, and it's important for all us to better understand this key part of the life cycle. 

Caroline Wilkinson is an interiors project manager based in Surrey, UK.

LINKS

Information about IVF

Information about ectopic pregnancies

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Sure longevity science is interesting, but what about the most pressing biological aging for half the world’s population? In this fascinating episode, Eva meets Jennifer Garrison who is at the forefront of trying to expand our understanding of the biology of aging and how it relates to reproductive health, SPECIFICALLY with regard to female aging. It’s kind of shocking how far science and reproductive progress has gone in modern times, but often it’s the very day to day, real life experience of every woman that is still the least understood. s, it’s a trip.

Dr. Jennifer Garrison is an Assistant Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, specializing in reproductive aging and peptidergic signaling. She also co-leads ProductiveHealth.org (formerly Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality).

LINKS

Buck Institute for Research on Aging

Garrison Lab Website

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What would you do if you could live to be 100, 125 or even 150? Sure, we all may want to live forever, but what would that actually look like? How would we communicate to those around us? And not only that, is the recent longevity craze feasible or just people with too much time (and money) on their hands?

In this episode, Eva meets with Daniel Ives and has an incredibly exciting and interesting discussion about what he sees as the very real, if not inevitable, space of tackling human aging in a science based way. Trust us, it’s a trip.

Daniel Ives has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, and co-founded Shift Bioscience in 2017.

LINKS

ShiftBioScience 

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We all know that the Internet is ruled by forces vying for our attention, and that often they gain our attention through highly emotive means, in ways that can seem imperceptible until they add up to massive political upheavals or indeed the very questioning of a shared sense of the Truth. What’s more, these very forces are often massive corporations that act beyond the will of any one individual, they are attuned to shareholder value and maximizing growth and profiT.

In this episode we talk with friend of the podcast and advisor to Klang Games, Professor Lawrence Lessig, fresh from his TedX Talk in Berlin about how the Internet is on the cusp of reinventing our politics. But will it be for good or for bad, and what can online communities such as we’re building with SEED teach us?

Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School. Before that he was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he founded the school’s Center for Internet and Society, and at the University of Chicago. 

LINKS

How AI could threaten democracy | Lawrence Lessig | TEDxBerlin

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We are all taking part in a massive experiment for which none of us have signed up: much of the food we consume daily comes in the form of ultra processed food, something that has been described as ‘industrially produced edible substances’.

This diet is relatively new for humanity, and increasingly it’s clear that its impact on us is not always good. But what is UPF exactly, where did it originate and who is benefitting from this cheap, satiating food source that feeds most of  humanity today? We talk with renowned doctor and broadcaster Chris Van Tulleken, author of the superb book Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop?

Chris van Tulleken has a medical degree from Oxford and a PhD in molecular virology. He is an associate professor at University College London and a practicing infectious diseases doctor. A broadcaster for children and adults on BBC television and radio, he has won two BAFTAs and lives with his family in London.

LINKS

The Book: ‘Ultra-Processed People’

Podcast: Addicted to Food

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We thought it was about time to take stock and catch our breath. The Life Cycle podcast is about the future of humanity, but over the last five years the future has arrived in many ways.

We take a look at how some of our guests and topics from seasons 1 and 2 have evolved and in some cases even become mainstream. Our guest is our executive producer, Mundi Vondi, whose brain we pick to uncover some of the ‘why’ in what we’re doing here. 

John Holten is a novelist and Klang Game’s Narrative Director. His novels include The Trains of Europe (2024), Oslo, Norway (2015) and The Readymades (2011). His writing has recently appeared in Welt am Sonntag, frieze, and The Stinging Fly.

Eva Kelley is a journalist and writer. Her writing focuses on contemporary culture and has appeared in publications such as 032c, ZEITMagazin, Interview Magazine, Hearts, and on SSENSE.com among others.

Mundi Vondi is the CEO and co-founder of Klang Games. He is also a visual, performance and film artist, exhibiting internationally over the years. His short films have been screened at numerous festivals including Cannes. As a fashion designer, he created over a dozen collections for his brand MUNDI.

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