If I were a worm, I would rather be the long-lived mutant than the normal worm, that's for sure.

In the early '90s, we discovered mutations that could double the normal life span of worms.

Ageing is very exciting. But if I didn't work on ageing, I'd want to work on the brain. There are really cool techniques you can use now. And bioinformatics. The methods you can use for comparing large data sets - that's so powerful.

A big tree seemed even more beautiful to me when I imagined thousands of tiny photosynthesis machines inside every leaf. So I went to MIT and worked on bacteria because that's where people knew the most about these switches, how to control the genetics.

The idea that ageing was subject to control was completely unexpected.

You would think that UV just causes mutations, but it doesn't, you need a gene to be active for it.

Life's too short to not be around nice people.