UAlbany UAlbany Science Colloquium on Immortality
Author Stephen Hall Discusses the Promise and Threat of "Practical Immortality"

Contact: Lisa James Goldsberry (518) 437-4980

ALBANY, N.Y. (September 9, 2003) -- How far can life expectancy be pushed? How does biotechnology impact our lives? These and other hard questions will be discussed in a presentation of the University Libraries' fall Science Colloquia Series at the University at Albany. The series will begin on Thursday, September 18, 3-5 p.m., in the Standish Room of the Science Library with a presentation by Stephen S. Hall, a science writer who focuses on immortality as well as mortality.

Hall, an acclaimed chronicler of biomedicine, presses the hard questions. Who should make biotechnical decisions that change the course of human existence? Is it possible to know too much? In his most recent book, Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension (2003), Hall discusses these controversial issues.

Join the Science Library Colloquia and the Friends of the Libraries for this lecture and discussion. This event is free and open to the public. A catered reception and book signing will follow. Contact Science Librarian Gregg Sapp for more information: [email protected] or (518) 437-3955.

For two decades, Hall has written about contemporary science and its ethical and social implications. He describes the origins of biotechnology in Invisible Frontiers and cartographic approaches to scientific knowledge in Mapping the Next Millennium. He is a contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, and his scientific essays have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Book Review, The Smithsonian, Technology Review, and Science.

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