Brave New World with Stephen Hawking : Season 1

The team showcase breakthroughs in technology and engineering that are creating a new generation of machines. Mark Evans fuses his brain with a computer in Switzerland to test a new breed of machine. Kathy Sykes hits the streets of San Francisco to have the ride of her life as she experiences the future of transport in a driverless car. In Italy Jim Alei-Khalili comes face to face with a remarkable, baby-like robot called iCub, which learns like a child. Joy Reidenberg discovers the

The experts examine how scientists are fighting for our survival by battling the world's big killer diseases. Biologist Aarathi Prasad joins virus hunters in the jungles of Africa, Robert Winston sees first-hand how the surgeons of the future could be robots, capable of operating round the clock, and Richard Dawkins investigates the way brain disorders might one day be treated using laser light and genetically modified brain cells. Anatomist Joy Reidenberg discovers two possible solutions to

The experts explore how 21st-century technology is shaping our future by changing the way we live, the way we communicate and our perception of the universe. Physicist Kathy Sykes explores how our mobile phones can give experts access to our every habit and action: a brave new world in which it's hard to keep a secret but where urban planners can build cities around our needs. Designer Max Lamb witnesses the dawn of a new era in manufacturing where lasers are printing objects in 3D, and

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how the world's largest laser could help answer global fuel needs. David Attenborough helps to collect the DNA of an elephant for a project that aims to save all the planet's endangered species from extinction. Mark Evans discovers how to grow pork in a Petri dish.

The experts look at the different amazing break throughs that are transforming the resilience and strength of the human body.