Michio Kaku: How to Reverse Aging | Big Think

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Michio Kaku on what makes a supergenius.

Enzymes like Telomerase and Resveratrol, though not the Fountain of Youth unto themselves, offer tantalizing clues to how we might someday soon unravel the aging process.
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MICHIO KAKU

Dr. Michio Kaku is the co-founder of string field theory, and is one of the most widely recognized scientists in the world today. He has written 4 New York Times Best Sellers, is the science correspondent for CBS This Morning and has hosted numerous science specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery/Science Channel. His radio show broadcasts to 100 radio stations every week. Dr. Kaku holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York (CUNY), where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, as well as New York University (NYU).
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TRANSCRIPT:

Michio Kaku: If you watch the "Big Bang Theory" on CBS television you see these clueless nerds who are doormats when it comes to the opposite sex, right. And you realize is there any basis in reality? First of all none of my friends are like that and all my friends are physicists, right.


Well there is a kernel of truth and that is some of these individuals may suffer from something called Asperger’s Syndrome which is a mild form of autism. These people are clueless when it comes to social interactions. They don’t look you in the eye, for example. And yet they have fantastic mental and mathematical capabilities. We think, for example, that Isaac Newton had Asperger’s. The greatest scientist of all time was very strange. He had no friends to speak of. He could not carry a decent conversation and yet here he was spitting out some of the greatest theories in the history of science. Calculus. The Universal Law of Gravitation. The Theory of Optics. And we think he had Asperger’s Syndrome.


Now Asperger’s Syndrome is a mild form of autism and in autism we have what are called savants. That is people that have an IQ of maybe 80 but have incredible mathematical and musical abilities. In fact, some of these individuals can hear one symphony and just play it by memory on a piano. Other people could be in a helicopter, have a helicopter ride over Manhattan, see the entire New York harbor and then from memory sketch the entire harbor. In fact, if you want to see it go to JFK Airport in New York City and you will see it as you enter the international terminal. So what is it about these people? Well, first of all a lot of them had injuries to the left temporal lobe. One individual had a bullet as a child go right through the left temporal lobe. Another person dove into a swimming pool and injured very badly the left temporal lobe. And these people wound up with incredible mathematical abilities as a consequence. And so what is it about their brains?


Well Einstein’s brain has actually been preserved. Einstein when he died had an autopsy in which case the pathologist stole the brain without permission of the family. He just realized that he was sitting next to something historic, took the brain, took it home with him, and it was sitting in a jar in his home for decades. He even drove across the country with the jar inside his trunk. And there’s even a TV special where you can actually see the cut up brain of Albert Einstein. And you realize first of all the brain is a little bit different. You can’t tell by looking at it that it’s so remarkably different but you realize that the connections between the prefontal cortex and the parietal lobe – a connection that is accentuated in people that do abstract reasoning is thickened. So there definitely is a difference in the brain of Einstein. But the question is did it make Einstein or did Einstein make this change of the brain?


Are champions born or are they made? That still is not known because people who exercise mental abilities, mathematical abilities, they can thicken that part of the brain themselves. So we know that people who do well in mathematics, brain scans clearly show that their brains are slightly different from the average brain. So in conclusion, we’re still children with regards to understanding how this process takes place. Tonight don’t go home and bang yourself on the left temporal lobe. We don’t know how it works. We just know that in a tiny fraction of these cases people with injury to the left temporal lobe, some of the become super geniuses.





Directed/Produced by Jonathan Fowler and Dillon Fitton

[jasoneyes]

I admire this man, truly. His curious imagination rivals no other.

[Shystichu]

This is all I want, I want to live for as long as possible, hell immortality sounds splendid to me. Why? Because I have an undying curiosity about the Universe around me, and I want to know how it will evolve. That includes our species, Earth herself, Mother Nature, etc. I want to see us go interstellar damn it!

[strangeperson]

Michio needs to live forever and continue to enlighten our minds forever! <3 :D

[woochoi]

Just know that he is a physicist, not a bio major. and the fact that he knows so many topics that are not in his field, its hella amazing

[elizdonovan]

Love this man for explaining in a way, in plain English, so that I can understand the concept he is explaining.
🌲🌝☘️

[RexinOridle]

It's not only about living longer, it's about living healthy while you last.

[Simplequestionsihave]

One thing I really love about Michio is that he's an optimist.

[guntarstannis]

I have just discovered your talks fairly recently, and they explain and deliver alot of above general information in a short and informative manner. Please continue these segments for you not only have the knowledge but concise presentation manner.
Thank you.

[deannpembrook]

Absolutely love this man, how fortunate are we to have his brilliant mind?

[yves]

Mr. Kaku - a big thank for this, and many other, enlightening talks.

[thegodphreaker]

when kaku's hair is no longer grey, we'll know hes stumbled on to something more than theoretical 

[kristoffersjboden]

1. Don't over-eat.
2. Sleep enough every day. Have a schedule.
3. Move at least an hour a day.
4. Be happy. Avoid unhappy thoughts.
5. Don't eat unhealthy.
6. Drink a little bit of red wine every day.
7. Don't be stupid.

[TheOrnt]

I learned more useful things from this video alone than I did in 15 years of school..
You're the best, Michio !

[kathypetty]

Thank you for sharing this. You always have good information.

[johnthefisherman]

Michio really did his homework considering this 11 years old. Brilliant person.

[LetsPlaywithBronies]

I'm dedicating my life to Biology and wanna study life. Age is very interesting and I'd like to live to see many things, nothing wrong with that :)

[MissChrissyM]

Michio i love you. I've learned much about telomeres and the consequences of cell division or mitosis. uve brought back to mind what i was taught in school eons ago :)

[wsmith]

I just love this man, thank you for being Mr. Kaku.

[UnforsakenXII]

After chemical engineering, this makes me want to get a masters in genetic engineering in order to find immortality.

[turbonbc]

Eat less calories, fast, meditate, exercise, eat more raw fruits/veggies, sleep, spend time in nature, lay off the screens and stationary lifestyle = Thrive.