A genius born in the turbulent times with great talent and profound knowledge, he rises from a commoner to a legendary figure in the officialdom after two decades of struggle.
In his view, ageing is about the accumulation of damage, and is not under tight genetic control. Sirtuins will, he says, probably be but a small part of a more complicated picture.
In other words, the arguments both for and against government funding of the arts are as many and, and as varied as the individual styles of the artists who hold them.
This allows users to hear and understand speech in noisy environments, without needing to lip-read, and even to hear and appreciate music in many cases.