Why We Die

Join C’mere Til I Tell Ye and biologist and comedian Simon Watt for a curious, funny look at life’s biggest mystery: why do we die?

“I’m gonna live forever”, sang Irene Cara in Fame in the 1980s. “Who wants to live forever?” countered Queen a few years later. “You and I are gonna live forever” insisted Oasis in 1994. It seems that pop singers can’t agree on it, but can we / should we live forever? Is immortality something to be desired or dreaded? Surely death, along with taxes, is one of the only two certainties we can rely on in life, as Benjamin Franklin famously quipped?

Simon explores the surprising science behind why we die, and what the alternatives might be. Along the way he will tell us about an immortal jelly fish, the world’s slowest bacteria and the trip Darwin took to a séance.

Part of C’mere Til I Tell Ye, a Science Week festival exploring the science hiding in everyday life.