Russian scientist injects himself with 3.5-million-year-old bacteria to try and live forever
While I’ve always been under the impression that RuPaul was the only individual who could truly live forever, there seems to be a scientist in Moscow who thinks otherwise. Anatoli Brouchkov, a geocryologist working at Moscow State University, has taken steps to try and extend his life past the normal human capabilities.
The scientist injected himself with a specific bacteria that happens to be 3.5 million years old. Brouchkov, who specialises in the field of permafrost, spoke with VICE a few years ago about his ventures, and why indeed he chose such a peculiar avenue to try and extend his lifespan.
According to Brouchkov, his decision to inject such an old bacteria into his system was based on the idea that he would then gain the bacteria’s resistance abilities. Known as Bacillus F, the scientist pulled the sample from the Mammoth Mountain in the northern Siberian region of Yakutsk in 2009.
The bacteria is believed to have been preserved under the ice for millennia, making it naturally the perfect ingredient for everlasting life, or that’s at least how Brouchkov sees things.
The question is, how does he feel now he’s injected it? Well, for those non-believers out there, the scientist claims to feel far less tired and more energised following the experiment. Moreover, Brouchkov has also claimed that he hasn’t had the flu in over two years. While there’s no way to verify this, it’s definitely an intriguing prospect.
The search for eternal life is no new concept, it’s a path a number of people have gone down many times before, including the world’s third-wealthiest person, Jeff Bezos. That being said, injecting yourself with a practically prehistoric bacteria is definitely doing the most. It’s slightly more committed than simply drinking green juice every day.
Bryan Johnson, for example, is a middle-aged man from the US who is actively trying to “become younger,” and achieve the physical health of an 18-year-old. Although he’s stopped doing so now because there were “no benefits detected,” Johnson went as far as to receive blood-plasma transfusions from his own teenage son on his quest to age backwards.
According to Bloomberg, the tech CEO is on the path to spending over $2 million this year alone on a host of medical interventions and tests aimed at helping him live longer. These experiments range from electromagnetic pulses to improve the muscles in his pelvic floor to a device calculating the number of erections he has per night. Thorough.
