bristlecone pine tree growing in the White Mountains of California, which, at the time, happened to be the oldest recorded living being and is now nearing its 4,800th birthday. It was already hundreds of years old before construction of the pyramids in Egypt began. There’s an enzyme in the roots of bristlecone pines that appears to peak a few thousand years into their life span, and it actually rebuilds telomeres.68 Scientists named it telomerase.
