Episode Information

In 1958, the French scholar Jean Rostand predicted the advent of bionic man, with enhanced capacities that could be repaired like a machine and would never grow old. With the discovery of the genetic code came the extraordinary possibility of one day mastering our own biology. Today, biologists are liberating themselves from the laws of evolution. They manipulate living matter, penetrate inside cells, intervene in their internal programming, activate, and modify genes. Genetics is the key to understanding human biology and the race to unlock its secrets is accelerating. We are witnessing the emergence of a revolutionary field in medicine—regenerative medicine—that may be able to reverse the aging process. But what about the ethical barriers? Could the unbridled quest to master our own biology be a race with no end? Is the ideal of perfect health an illusion? Perhaps one day we will succeed in warding off death, but somewhere along the way lies the risk of altering the very core of our identity.