In the next four years, we may very well have a better understanding of how –- and where — to live longer, healthier lives.
Quest Network, which produces interactive, standards-driven, online learning
adventures, is about to embark on what it calls four Blue Zones
expeditions.
Blue Zones are demographically confirmed longevity hotspots. The goal is to explore and try to discover the practices that help people
there live longer lives. The first expedition will take place Oct. 31 to Nov. 11 in Okinawa, Japan.
The aim of the Blue Zones expeditions is to identify and
explore over a four-year period the parts of the world where residents have
the longest life spans and to emerge with a cross-cultural “formula” for
healthy longevity, beyond genetic factors outside of our control.
Via satellite and what the company says will be a highly interactive Web site, the Blue Zones expedition team will connect with millions of people interested in healthy living.
The Web site will feature daily live-to-tape video segments
and written reports containing physical, biological and cultural clues that
may explain the region’s extraordinary longevity.
Miami-based Alienware, which started out as a direct sales
provider of high end PCs for game enthusiasts and has branched out in
recent years with notebooks and workstations geared to business and
professionals, will provide Quest with computers, including its Alienware MJ-12 7550i workstation and Sentia notebooks.
Based on the Intel
dual-core Xeon processor, the 7550i workstation will be used to help create
pre-production materials for the show, while the notebooks will be used in
the field to help with daily updates to the show’s Web site.
“I believe that the success of modern-day expeditions is a function of
how well they convey the sense of exploration and discovery,” said Dan
Buettner, founder of Quest Network and expedition leader, in a statement. “Our collaborative method
of exploring Blue Zones and deciphering their longevity formula will yield a
recipe to help Americans live longer and better.” Buettner will lead the
expedition.
Online participants will be able to direct the Blue Zones team of experts
trying to solve various mysteries, and votes will help drive certain
logistical and ethical decisions, according to Quest.
The first two-week
expedition will culminate with a final vote that allows the audience to
aggregate and rank lifestyle components to create a de facto formula for
longevity.
