Shareholders' Equity, Preferred and Common Shares (Details)		1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2014 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Oct. 31, 2015 USD ($) Investor $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) Shareholder $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($) Investor shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) $ / shares shares
Preferred Shares [Abstract]
Preferred shares, shares authorized (in shares)					2,000,000	2,000,000
Preferred shares, issued and outstanding (in shares)					0	70,000
Promissory notes | $					$ 363,000
Number of common stock issued for exchange of each common stock held of other company as per option agreement (in shares)					1
Common Shares [Abstract]
Common shares, authorized (in shares)					125,000,000	125,000,000
Common shares, par value (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 0	$ 0
Common shares, issued (in shares)					94,894,140	83,121,698
Common shares, outstanding (in shares)					90,421,554	78,227,756
Treasury stock (in shares)					4,472,586	4,893,942
Equity ownership percentage					20.00%
OncoCyte Corporation [Member]
Common Shares [Abstract]
Shares distributed to shareholders (in shares)					4,700,000
Shares conversion ratio					20
Reduction in equity method investment | $					$ 712,000
Equity ownership percentage					57.80%	76.50%
Taxable gain | $					$ 7,400,000
Decrease in equity method investment					18.70%
Series A Preferred Stock [Member]
Preferred Shares [Abstract]
Preferred shares, issued and outstanding (in shares)					70,000
Cummulative preferred dividend, percent					3.00%
Conversion price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 4.00
Conversion ratio					12.5
BioTime Common Stock [Member]
Common Shares [Abstract]
Number of shares sold (in shares)	9,431,398	1,600,000	2,607,401	5,000,000	175,000	5,545,160
Proceeds from sale of shares | $	$ 29,400,000	$ 5,100,000	$ 8,600,000	$ 12,500,000	$ 615,000	$ 17,400,000
Number of investors | Investor				2
Number of shareholders | Shareholder			3
Price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	$ 3.12	$ 3.19	$ 3.29
BioTime Common Stock [Member] | Asterias Biotherapeutics [Member]
Common Shares [Abstract]
Number of shares sold (in shares)				5,000,000
Proceeds from sale of shares | $				$ 12,500,000
Number of shares purchased (in shares)				5,000,000
Number of investors | Investor				2
BioTime Common Stock [Member] | OncoCyte Corporation [Member]
Common Shares [Abstract]
Number of shares sold (in shares)		246,356
Proceeds from sale of shares | $		$ 771,094
Number of investors | Investor		1
Price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 3.13
BioTime Common Stock [Member] | Certain investors [Member]
Common Shares [Abstract]
Number of shares sold (in shares)		6,530,612
Proceeds from sale of shares | $		$ 20,400,000
Price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 3.13