Mar 24
Belcourt Theatre Nashville, TN
TicketsDr. Kristopher Burkewitz
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University
Seconds— Stretching Our Seconds: Fantasies and Realities from the Biology of Aging
Program Description
Life is short, as we often say. But from humanity’s earliest days, we have imagined ways to stretch it longer. Today, the science of aging is real, and research is revealing how we might be able to influence the biological aging process. Following John Frankenheimer’s SECONDS, where middle-aged Arthur Hamilton is reborn as a younger man, this talk will separate the science from the science fiction through discussion of our fundamental understanding of how and why animals age, and what modern biology is revealing about our ability to modify that process.
Film Synopsis
Banker Arthur Hamilton hires a company that gives the wealthy and dissatisfied new faces and lives to place him into a new existence as Tony Wilson, an artist who lives in Malibu. Given a manservant to help him adjust, he soon finds that adjusting will be the least of his worries.
Rock Hudson is a revelation in this sinister, science-fiction-inflected dispatch from the fractured 1960s. Seconds, directed by John Frankenheimer, concerns a middle-aged banker who, dissatisfied with his suburban existence, elects to undergo a strange and elaborate procedure that will grant him a new life. Starting over in America, however, is not as easy as it sounds. This paranoiac symphony of canted camera angles (courtesy of famed cinematographer James Wong Howe), fragmented editing, and layered sound design is a remarkably risk-taking Hollywood film that ranks high on the list of its legendary director’s achievements. (Criterion Collection)
About the Speaker
About the speaker: Dr. Burkewitz has studied the biology of the aging process from multiple angles throughout his training and career, ranging from telomere biology (B.S., University of Miami) and environmental stress responses (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University) to the effects of nutrient signals and dietary interventions on lifespan (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health). His current research continues to focus on the molecular genetics of aging, and specifically on how the inner architectures of cells can determine susceptibility to age-related dysfunction or disease. Apart from his research, he’s mostly found getting his second helping of childhood through his two young kids.
This event is part of the National Evening of Science on Screen. Learn more.