#849: Dr. Michael Levin — Reprogramming Bioelectricity, Updating "Software" for Anti-Aging, Treating Cancer Without Drugs, Cognition of Cells, and Much More

The podcast explores the role of bioelectricity in biology, diverging from the traditional DNA-centric view. Dr. Michael Levin, a distinguished professor of biology, discusses experiments involving salamanders and flatworms, demonstrating how manipulating bioelectricity can influence regeneration, birth defects, and even cancer. He argues that living tissues possess a form of intelligence, storing memories in electrical networks, and that these memories can be rewritten to alter physical traits, sometimes across generations, without DNA modification. The conversation touches on the potential for humans, with applications in birth defect repair, limb regeneration, and cancer suppression by electrically reconnecting cells to restore their intended functions. The discussion also covers aging, suggesting it may be linked to cells "forgetting" their purpose, and delves into the nature of cognition, proposing it may predate and extend beyond life itself.