Google is taking another moonshot and getting into healthcare research and they're doing it with the help of an extremely high-ranking Apple employee.
Today Google announced it's launching "Calico," a company focused on "health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases." The initiative will be a long term "moonshot" project involving healthcare and biotechnology (Google basically wants to stop you from dying).
Since the company just launched, there aren't many details yet. The most interesting news is that the man running it is Art Levinson, the current chairman of both Genentech, another biotech company, and Apple. Yes, that Apple. Tim Cook even has a quote in the press release:
For too many of our friends and family, life has been cut short or the quality of their life is too often lacking. Art is one of the crazy ones who thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no one better suited to lead this mission and I am excited to see the results.
Levinson will keep his Chairman roles at Genetech and Apple while running Calico. That latter position he took after the death of Steve Jobs. According to Levinson Calico" is an abbreviation for the "California Life Company".
Source: Ars Technica
