The game’s afoot! Many powerful people—from world leaders to Silicon Valley billionaires—have been whispering about the possibility of living forever via organ replacement. But is their dream a reality, or is it still in the realm of sci-fi? Mangesh learns about Vladimir Putin’s longevity obsession from an exiled Russian journalist, spends an illuminating afternoon with a white-hat hacker, and meets a scientist who’s rebuilding brains, one cell at a time. Finally, he tracks down the co-founder of a mysterious start-up that’s rumored to be doing things no one ever thought possible… until now.

• Read Proekt’s coverage of Putin’s health, and Foreign Policy on death rates for Russian soldiers 
• Read Nakoa Po’s Sundial Therapeutics Substack
• Support your local library
• Visit R3 Bio’s website, and read coverage in Wired and MIT Technology Review

Special thanks to Azadi Records and Bliss Samsa for their beautiful tracks, and Botany for the score. 

Episode collage art by Vahini Shori.