Real Alpha
Watch modeSubscribed

Moonshots · 2 min · Oct 17, 2026

The organ-preservation prize targets six-month storage

Peter DiamandisHost

Founder, XPRIZE

Co-founded Singularity University and founded Zero-G; co-wrote the books Abundance and Bold.

About this segment

XPRIZE's biostasis competition aims to keep organs viable for six months, beyond today's hours-long window. Teams will test preservation and re-transplantation in pigs.

From “Flying Tesla Car, Robot Brains Halving in Cost Every 3 Weeks, and Why Incentives Decide AI Alignment”, Oct 17, 2026. Watch the full episode

“you have to actually harvest the pig organs, put them in a biostasis, and then some number of months later, pull them out”
Peter Diamandisat 54:15 · Moonshots54:15

Takeaways

  1. The stated target is six months of organ storage.
  2. Teams will preserve pig organs and later test transplantation.
  3. Longer storage could give organs more time to find a match.
Watch 2:18 from 52:28

In this episode

Full episode
  1. 17:27Robot task costs fell 84% in two months6:51
  2. 36:11Prizes reward solving the problem, not credentials6:23
  3. 1:08:39AI alignment starts with what models learn6:32
  4. 29:18GPT-6 handled research-level physics problems for about $3 each5:57
  5. 1:15:08AI labs should teach values from the start5:24
  6. 45:42XPRIZE can surface teams investors would overlook3:53

  7. 52:28The organ-preservation prize targets six-month storage2:18

  8. 1:27:24The Abundance Prize targets $1,000 monthly essentials for a family3:17Up next

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

  1. 52:34

    And the winner of Visioneering this year, we should mention that. Yes, yes. The Biostasis, Organ Biostasis Prize, which is exciting for so many people. We had people in the audience who were recipients of organ transplant, and they all talked about how difficult it is for someone, either for themselves or a loved one, waiting, waiting for that match to come in and whether it comes in in time and saves a life.

  2. 53:03

    And we also know that when we harvest an organ, the life of that organ is very, very limited. To make sure that we can get that organ to a recipient that is able to receive it is very... The kidney waiting list is, you know, on the order of 100,000. And then there's, you know, for hearts, liver, lungs as well, very long lists. And so the idea is, you know, when an organ gets harvested from a donor, so I'm a, you know, I'm a donor, got my license plate, but it may be that my organ donations at some distant time in the future, you know, don't have a match right there.

  3. 53:42

    But if they can be put into biostasis, it could be cryogenic biostasis or metabolic stasis, they can stay on the shelf until it's a recipient matches. Yes. I think our target is six months right now to get it to be six months. I think right now is that maximum two weeks? No, no. I think maximum right now it's hours. Hours. Yeah. It depends on the organ. Yeah. And so, you know, Martine Rothblatt's done some amazing work to be able to put them into a system that circulates fluid through it and keeps it alive.

  4. 54:13

    But if you want to get to solve the organ donation problem, and this competition is going to be done in pigs, you have to actually harvest the pig organs, put them in a biostasis, and then some number of months later, pull them out, re-transplant them in, and having the pig be viable. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, this was Sebastian, one of the competitors. Yes. Through Singularity. Yeah, Sebastian.