Through the Wormhole

- Season 4

(2013)

Scientists have hunted for a particle to explain how matter came to exist in the universe. In 2012 they found it - the Higgs Boson, the God Particle. But the discovery raises many questions. And what if we owe our existence something else?

What defines the beginning of a life? New 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.

We are all at the mercy of the Sun: someday, it will bathe us in a fiery, planetary holocaust. How can we survive the death of our star? The technology to move ourselves to Mars or another "Earth" sounds like sci-fi, but almost within our grasp.

By studying the non-humans in our midst, the evolution of human language, and the psychology of super-intelligent beings, scientists are learning how alien minds might function.

Every person who has lived was created from the genes of one man and one woman, but human reproduction is about to undergo a revolution. Technology is close to making children from two fathers, or two mothers. If this is the case, will sex become extinct?

Our minds store our entire lives, our memories and our deepest desires and our brains are biological computers. Could brain hackers someday be able to rewrite our thoughts similar to how computer hackers hack email?

From our smartphones to our cars, we have robots that live and work beside us. We are designing them to think and move on their own. Is it possible that these objects evolve to be smarter than humans or will we choose to merge with the machines?

Do we live in the "real world" or is it all in our mind? Our perception of reality is controlled by society. Thanks to "the optimism bias", we make unrealistic assessments about our own reality. Human senses capture only a small part of nature.

What if everything that has or will happen has already been determined? Until the discovery of quantum uncertainty, physicists were convinced free will does not exist. Now other scientists have stepped into the fray, arguing that free will is an illusion.

Is life the product of evolution or is it thanks to the guiding hand of God? Believers in Intelligent Design argue complex life could not have evolved randomly. Was life created by evolution, by God or both?