A people who live on a planet whose radiation slows ageing and keeps them young.
The Ba'ku are a peaceful people who settled on a planet within the Briar Patch, a region of space whose unusual radiation slows ageing and has a strong healing effect on the body. Physically they resemble humans, and many of them live far longer than their apparent age would suggest.
Their culture is deliberately simple. The Ba'ku chose to leave advanced technology behind, farming and crafting by hand and valuing calm, community and the unhurried passing of time. Their ancestors were originally travellers from another world who sought a quieter way to live.
They are the central people of the film Star Trek: Insurrection, in which Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew discover that Starfleet officers and the Son'a plan to relocate the villagers in order to harvest the planet's rejuvenating properties. Picard refuses to obey orders that would uproot them, and Data forms a bond with a Ba'ku boy during the crisis. The story raises hard questions about the rights of a small population when set against the benefit of many.