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UnDisciplined: Fisetin, Fungus and Frogs

This week on UnDiscipined, we're talking about extending life — how nature does it and how humans might do it. Grace DiRenzo investigates the way animals evolve to beat deadly natural chemicals. Laura Niedernhofer studies natural chemicals that might help us prevent aging and put off death. Together, we'll talk about Fisetin, frogs, fungus, zombies and immortality. 

Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something donned on him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be brutally depressing all the time. Today, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects by writing books about the intersection of science, human health and society, including the New York Times best-selling Lifespan with geneticist David Sinclair and the Nautilus Award-winning Longevity Plan with cardiologist John Day. His first solo book, Superlative, looks at what scientists are learning by studying organisms that have evolved in record-setting ways, and his is currently at work on another book about embracing the inevitability of human-caused climate change with an optimistic outlook on the future.