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Sunday, January 6, 2013

A scientist studies immortal lichens


Anne Pringle

Robert Anton Wilson's prediction that physical immortality might arrive soon didn't work out well for him or the rest of us, but scientists continue to look at whether it's possible. Via the New York Times comes this article about a scientist at Harvard named Anne Pringle who is trying to figure out why lichens in the genus Xanthoparmelia appear to never age. (Despite my headline, they aren't always immortal. They can be eaten by other lichens or simply fall off a wall.) Dr. Pringle is a mycologist who, the Times article records, drives a Prius with a "Mycologists Have More Fungi" bumper sticker.

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