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In the early Noughties, Levinson convinced Google co-founder Larry Page to open a company with a blank chequebook and little pressure to return profit. This company would have one mission: achieve immortality.

On Sept. 18, 2013, Larry Page wrote to shareholders alerting them that Google had formed a new company focused on “health and well-being (and) the challenge of aging.” Apple’s chief Tim Cook congratulated Art at the time, describing him as “one of the crazy ones,” due to his fearless commitment to suspending old age when others scoffed.

Anti-aging has long been regarded as marketing nonsense, a preserve for cosmetic companies keen to convince women to buy moisturizers. The cosmetic anti-aging market was worth US$250 billion in 2016 and expected to reach US$331.41billion by 2021, according to Orbitz Research. How much could a pill that could stop death in its tracks be worth?

Scientists are coming around to the notion that age can be treated like a disease, rather than an inevitability, and some have suggested we may be able to find a way to switch it off. The World Health Organization even added “aging” to its terminology in February this year.

Calico was one of the first to jump on a trend that has piqued the interest of venture capitalists looking for a new market. Silicon Valley’s elite, who have grown up being taught that everything can be hacked, see no reason the same can’t be true of our bodies.

The symptoms of aging, such as white hair and memory loss, are caused by damage to our cells over time as they divide. This constant process starts in the womb but we are able to repair our cells up until about age 30. These changes are not consistent among the population. Some 70 year olds are weak and frail, while others stay fit. That’s what Levinson is interested in. Calico is looking for the magic pill to cure aging, thus eliminating the greater risk of conditions that loom larger with age.