Holt, Sarah

What will it mean when most of us can afford to have the information in our DNA, all six billion chemical letters of it, read, stored and available for analysis? This program reveals that we stand on the verge of such a revolution. Meet a cancer patient who appears to have cheated death and a cystic fibrosis sufferer breathing easily because scientists have been able to pinpoint and neutralize the genetic abnormalities underlying their conditions.

The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script carved on monuments and painted on pottery and bark books. This program highlights the ingenious breakthroughs that cracked the code, unleashing a flood of dramatic new insights about the ancient civilization.