ENCORE: Your Immune System—A Primer, Part 1

Pulitzer Prize-winning NY Times journalist Matt Richtel is author of “An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System.” The book traces the history of our understanding of the immune system and reviews cutting edge strategies for addressing our current epidemics of autoimmunity, allergy and cancer. Richtel introduces us to the immune system—it’s a delicate balance of forces designed to protect us from invaders while checking over-exuberant Immune responses. How do white blood cells—neutrophils, B-Cells, T-Cells Natural Killer cells, macrophages, eosinophils and other specialized cells cooperate to orchestrate the immune response? Why is there now a mismatch between the immune systems we evolved with and our modern environment? How is getting sick actually part of being healthy? What roles for diet, sleep, and stress reduction in keeping our immune systems balanced? Richtel previews breakthrough strategies for harnessing the immune system to treat cancer and HIV. Are age-related changes in immunity inevitable consequences of “planned obsolescence” that places limits on human longevity? Click HERE for part 2.