????上個月，谷歌（Google）又做出了一石激起千層浪的驚人之舉：宣布成立Calico公司。這家“全新的公司將致力于改善人類健康，尤其是應對與衰老及其相關疾病的挑戰”。它將由基因泰克公司（Genentech）的前首席執行官阿特?列文森來執掌——列文森為了在谷歌的死對頭蘋果公司（Apple）擔任董事會主席，實際上幾年前就離開了谷歌董事會，而且今后他還將繼續擔任蘋果董事會主席，因此這個任命真是有點出人意料。

????但除此之外，就沒什么特別的消息了。于是上周我在硅谷挖掘了些消息，了解到了更多內幕。

????業內認為，Calico是比爾?馬里斯的創意。這位谷歌創投（Google Ventures）的執行合伙人一度在Investor AB投資公司擔任生物技術投資經理。據業內人士稱，馬里斯曾在仔細研究生命科學產業后發現，數以百計的公司都在致力于治療各種疾病或努力減少它們的危害。而所有這些努力的目標不是為了延年益壽，就是為了提高生活質量。

????但是，卻沒有一家公司在專門挖掘眾多疾病和死亡的根本原因。換句話說，我們都在不斷地老去，用更學術的方式表述就是，我們的機體是從細胞層面開始衰退的——這很大程度上要歸咎于基因物質的退化。

????既然現在整個基因圖譜都已破解，馬里斯開始思索，是否有可能研究導致衰老的基因層面的原因，同時研制出抗衰老的藥物（他的這一想法很大程度上是受與未來學家和谷歌員工雷蒙德?庫茨魏爾談話的啟發）。 比如，是不是能研究全球上千名健康的90歲高齡老人的基因圖譜？他們在基因上有哪些相似之處？或者他們長壽的秘密在于，影響多數人的致病因素并沒有影響到他們。就算這種研究最后沒能讓人延壽，但它可能至少能讓其他活不到這么高齡的人提高生活質量。

????于是馬里斯說干就干，開始四處募資，主要對象就是那些富有的公司高管和風險投資家們。其中一些受邀對象表示，馬里斯給他們講了一個向精靈許愿的比喻：如果一個精靈讓你許三個愿，那你第一個愿望肯定是能再許一百萬個愿。但是我們的現實生活卻恰似這三個愿望。我們并不知道自己的壽命是三天還是三千天，只知道總有壽終正寢的那天。如果你必須投資點什么的話，難道不應該是投資設法多活幾天（至少活得更有質量一點）嗎？

????馬里斯拜訪的這些人之中，有一位正是谷歌的聯合創始人兼特別項目總監謝爾蓋?布林，他對馬里斯的提議明確表示有意投資。但是隨著布林、馬里斯和谷歌首席執行官拉里?佩奇之間的談話逐漸深入，他們三人開始形成了一個共識，即最好的做法是用谷歌自己的錢（董事會后來也同意了）來支持這整個項目。關于谷歌準備砸多少錢，我聽到過好幾個版本的說法，但現在能肯定的是，我們目前談到的只是幾十億美元投資計劃的一小部分（也就是部分款項）而已。谷歌自己還未對此做出評論，不過很有可能它會在下一財季的收益報告（已經定于下周發布）中提到一些細節。

????Google (GOOG) last month made waves in the biotech world by announcing the formation of Calico, a "new company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases." It would be led by ex-Genentech CEO Art Levinson – a bit of a surprising move given that Levinsohn effectively left the Google board several years ago so that he could remain chairman at rival Apple (where he will continue to serve).

????Beyond that, nada. So I did a bit of digging while in Silicon Valley last week, and have learned much more.

????Calico is considered the brainchild of Bill Maris, the Google Ventures managing partner who once was a biotech portfolio manager at Investor AB. Sources says that Maris looked at the life sciences landscape, and saw hundreds of companies all focused on curing or minimizing various diseases and conditions. In all cases, the goal was either to prolong life and/or improve the quality of life.

????What didn't exist, however, were companies focusing on the root cause of so much of this disease and death. Namely, that we all keep getting older. Or, put another way, that our bodies begin to fail on a cellular level – largely due to degradation of our genetic materials.

????Now that the entire genome had been coded, Maris wondered if it was possible to actually study the genetic causes of aging and then create drugs to address them (a question that was heavily influenced by talks with futurist and Googler Ray Kurzweil). For example, what if you examined the genomes of thousands of healthy 90 year-olds from all parts of the world? What genetic similarities do they have? Or, perhaps, what happens to most of us that didn't happen to them. Even if this didn't result in longer life, it perhaps could at least lead to an improved quality of life for folks on the back nine.

????So Maris began raising money, largely from wealthy tech executives and venture capitalists. Some of those who got the pitch said that Maris gave a genie analogy (which I'll paraphrase): If a genie gave you three wishes, your first wish would be for a million more wishes. But our lives are like those three wishes. We don't know if it's three days or three thousand, but we know it's finite. If you have to invest in anything, shouldn't it be in trying to get more days (or at least more quality days).

????One of those Maris called on was Google co-founder and director of special projects Sergey Brin, who expressed interest in investing. But as conversations progressed between Brin, Maris and Google CEO Larry Page, a consensus began to form that the best course of action would be to fund the entire project off of Google's balance sheet (the board would later agree). I have heard various numbers as to the exact Google commitment, but for now can only really say that we're talking about a minimum of hundreds of millions (tranched out, of course). The company itself still isn't commenting, although it's possible that there will be some specifics in its next quarterly earnings report (due next week).