On Being

Program Details

• » Books + Music
• » Krista's Journal
• » Transcript
• » Credits

Hear the Music

» Show Playlist ¦ listen to full-length tracks of each song played in the program

Like-Minded Shows

» Stress and the Balance Within
Esther Sternberg shares her scientific insight on the mind-body connection.

» Listening Generously
Rachel Naomi Remen on the art of listening to patients and other physicians.

About the Image

In her lab at the University of Minnesota, Doris Taylor points to a "bioreactor" that contains a beating, regenerated heart.

Unheard Cuts

» Unedited Interview with Doris Taylor (mp3, 93:43)

SoundSeen (our multimedia stories)

"Bioreactors + Building Hope" [video, 4:17]
See elaborate architectural glass bulbs with tubes feeding suspended rodent hearts — one lifeless with old cells; another one stage farther, a pale "scaffold" ready for stem cells to be injected; and finally a regenerated heart pink, pumping, alive and beating on its own. Also hear the story of the man with a heart disease that told Taylor she is "building hope."

"Surprising Beauty: Holding a Pig's Heart" [video, 4:41]
Doris Taylor shows Krista a pig's heart and liver that have had their cells removed.

Pertinent Posts

» The Timeliness of Telomeres

Three scientists were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on telomeres — a term that came up in our interview with Doris Taylor. She explains that just as stress can shorten telomeres, they have the potential to be lengthened and extend life.

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Voices on the Radio

Doris Taylor
Taylor is the director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.