Even rich geeks can't escape the Grim Reaper

New York

SILICON Valley's best and brightest earned fortunes by solving complex problems. Now many are turning brains and wealth towards conquering death. Applying an engineering mindset to health issues may benefit humanity, but it's more likely to burn capital than discover the fountain of youth.

Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Oracle's Larry Ellison are worth over US$250 billion combined, according to Forbes. They and other Silicon Valley success stories are ploughing money into startups researching ageing and a myriad of conventional illnesses. That partly explains why investment in life-science startups is on track for a record year, according to the National Venture Capital Association, with particularly large growth in early-round fundin…