Seasons & episodes
S3 · E6Can We Resurrect the Dead? 2012-07-11 · 44 min
With cloning and genetic engineering, we can bring back extinct animals. But could we also bring back dead humans? Is it possible to keep our brains alive after our bodies have died? Could we rise from the dead in some strange new form? Can we - should we - resurrect the dead?
S3 · E7Can We Eliminate Evil? 2012-07-18 · 44 min
What drives some to torture and kill without remorse? Why do seemingly normal people commit acts of cruelty and violence. Researchers are exploring our inner demons, looking for ways to isolate and neutralize the source of evil in the brain. Is it really possible to change human nature?
S3 · E8Mysteries of the Subconscious 2012-07-25 · 44 min
Does your subconscious know more than you ever will, and is your conscious mind holding you back? Do thoughts control actions, or vice versa? Research shows that opening the subconscious may make people healthier and more creative. There are also dangers lurking in the dark recesses of the mind.
S3 · E9Will Eternity End? 2012-08-01 · 44 min
Many religious traditions have predicted that our world will come to an apocalyptic end. Scientists agree that Earth can't last forever, but disagree on whether the universe and time itself can ever disappear. Some may hope for eternity, but the possibility of never-ending time has mind-bending implications for the present.
S3 · E10Did We Invent God? 2012-08-08 · 44 min
Our belief in a God above explains all we can't understand. Where do religious beliefs come from? Some experts believe God may exist only in our brain, that we are wired to worship the supernatural and that faith in a higher power gives us an evolutionary advantage. Is it possible that God is really just a neurological accident? And does that make Him any less real? Did God invent humanity, or did humanity invent God?
S4 · E1Is There a God Particle? 2013-03-20 · 44 min
Scientists explore the effects of the Higgs Boson discovery, which validates the Standard Model in particle physics and solidifies the understanding of subatomic particles; highlights include an in-depth discussion of the Higgs field and mass.
S4 · E2When Does Life Begin? 2013-06-05 · 44 min
It is a debate that has raged for centuries’. Groundbreaking evidence reveals that inside all of us are traces of cells from our relatives, blurring the lines between one life and another. Technology is now giving birth to new life forms made of surprising components – from droplets of oil in a Petri dish, to conscious robots and to a new global internet-connected life form comprised of all humanity.
S4 · E3Can We Survive the Death of the Sun? 2013-06-12 · 44 min
We are all at the mercy of the Sun. Its glowing disc sustains nearly all life on Earth. But the Sun also holds a dark secret: someday, our aging, expanding star will bathe the Earth in a fiery holocaust. Everything we know will turn to hot, bubbling, plasma.
S4 · E4How Do Aliens Think? 2013-06-19 · 44 min
If the stuff of life is spread throughout the cosmos, then the universe could be teeming with aliens.
S4 · E5Will Sex Become Extinct? 2013-07-03 · 44 min
Every single person who has ever lived was created from the genes of one man and one woman. But human sexual reproduction, unchanged for millions of years, is about to undergo radical change.
S4 · E6Can Our Minds Be Hacked? 2013-06-26 · 44 min
Our minds store our entire lives, our memories and our deepest desires. Tell no one, and our thoughts remain our own. But our brains are biological computers. Computer hackers can tamper with our email.
S4 · E7Are Robots the Future of Human Evolution? 2013-07-10 · 44 min
We are in the midst of a revolution so insidious we can't even see it. From our telephones to our vacuum cleaners to our cars, we have robots that live and work beside us. And now we're designing them to think for themselves, giving them the power to learn to move on their own.
S4 · E8Is Reality Real? 2013-07-17 · 44 min
We are in the midst of a revolution so insidious we can't even see it. From our telephones to our vacuum cleaners to our cars, we have robots that live and work beside us. And now we're designing them to think for themselves, giving them the power to learn to move on their own.
S4 · E9Do We Have Free Will? 2013-07-24 · 44 min
What if everything that has or will happen in the universe has already been determined and we are unable to change our inevitable destinies? Until the discovery of quantum uncertainty, physicists were convinced free will does not exist. Now neuroscientists and geneticists have stepped into the fray, arguing that free will is an illusion thanks to the genes we are born with, the automatic processes working in our brains, and the conforming pressures of society.
S4 · E10Did God Create Evolution? 2013-07-31 · 44 min
What or who created all of the billions of species that have lived on Earth? Is all life the product of evolution as Charles Darwin proposed or was it the guiding hand of a higher power?
S5 · E1Is God an Alien Concept? 2014-03-05 · 44 min
Is God worshipped in other worlds across the cosmos? How might alien deities differ from our own? Have advanced aliens discovered everything there is to know about the universe, or are they too looking for answers? The answer may lie buried on Earth.
S5 · E2Is Luck Real? 2014-03-12 · 44 min
Do you make your own luck or does luck make you? We find luck, good and bad, in casinos, basketball courts, genetics labs and the subatomic world. It’s a journey that will radically revise your understanding of the laws of nature and the human brain.
S5 · E3Is Poverty Genetic? 2014-06-04 · 44 min
Are the wealthy just born in the right place at the right time? Are the poor victims of a system designed to keep them down? Or do physics and biology determine who is rich and who is poor? Throughout history, distribution of wealth is governed by hidden forces: DNA, environmental stress, patterns of human migration and even the laws of thermodynamics! Nature seems to demand winners and losers in life. But does this mean greed is king, and the rich can take what they want? Or is cooperation – between microorganisms, monkeys, and humans – more essential to survival of a species?
S5 · E4How to Collapse a Superpower 2014-06-11 · 44 min
With a little imagination, could a few terrorists sabotage a mighty nation? Perhaps even tear down modern civilization? The stability of the US, Europe, China, or any global power depends on high-speed digital communication. Our increasing dependence on digital devices and global interactivity may be placing us in grave danger. Scientists around the world are dealing with new threats such as body hacking, Trojan horse viruses, and brain-damaging Internet addiction. But what if the ultimate threat isn’t an attack on technology, but the technology? Could the final superpower be the disembodied mind of the Internet itself?
S5 · E5Does the Ocean Think? 2014-06-18 · 44 min
There could be an undiscovered species on Earth unlike anything we’ve ever known. Not in the ocean, but the ocean itself! Its body spans thousands of miles; its heart beats with a one-thousand-year pulse. It could even have an immune system capable of annihilating all other life on earth. Just as our bodies function through the interaction of water with individual cells, including bacteria and other microorganisms, the ocean’s residents might collectively form a super-organism. A recent discovery suggests the ocean is a living being capable of thought. If so, what is the ocean thinking about us?
S5 · E6Is a Zombie Apocalypse Possible? 2014-06-25 · 44 min
It is a nightmare that has stalked us for centuries: hordes of human beings transformed into mindless, cannibalistic monsters. Could this civilization-ending nightmare become reality? Scientists have discovered pathogens that turn insects into the walking dead. New strains of viruses are attacking humans every day. Mathematicians have calculated the likelihood of surviving a zombie virus outbreak: they’re not hopeful. Now neuroscientists are discovering how easy it is for us to lose conscious control of our bodies. Are we at risk of becoming puppets? If we were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, would we even know it?
S5 · E7Is Gravity an Illusion? 2014-07-02 · 44 min
We feel it every moment of our lives but for physicists, gravity is the longest running unsolved mystery of the universe. Why do all objects that have mass pull on one another? Cutting-edge theories are proposing unexpected answers: Gravity could be another force in disguise, a thermodynamic mirage, or even, a shadow of a hidden holographic universe. If so, the force that holds us to the surface of the earth, and holds the earth in orbit around the sun, may be a trick of the mind. We feel it, but it may not be real. Is Gravity an Illusion?
S5 · E8Will We Become God? 2014-07-09 · 44 min
Humanity’s potential seems limitless. But could we become as powerful as God? Scientific breakthroughs grant our species seemingly divine abilities. Biologists tinkering with DNA are figuring out ways to grow new life forms, while neuroscientists try to create artificial consciousness. Statisticians around the world are using big data to predict the future and computer scientists have discovered a “God algorithm” that could solve any global problem in an instant. But to truly become God, we not only have to be all knowing, but all being. Quantum physicists are figuring out how to teleport matter at the speed of light!
S5 · E9Is There a Shadow Universe? 2014-07-16 · 44 min
When we look up into the sky it appears we live in a universe that is filled with light. But scientists are now certain there is far more matter in the dark portions of our universe that we can’t see or touch. There’s something hiding in the shadows. Cosmologists agree that “dark matter” has helped shape our Universe, but now they need to figure out what dark matter is. What’s going on in this hidden world? Could it have formed its own dark stars, planets, and even life forms? Could this Shadow Universe threaten our world of light?