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NOVA: Cracking the Code of Life Series

Lectures curated around NOVA: Cracking the Code that chronicles the race to capture one of the biggest prizes in scientific history: the complete letter-by-letter sequence of the human genome.

Related NPR Programs:

Human Genome Project Update
Who Owns the Human Genome?
Complete Human Genome Sequence Unveiled

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Stem Cell Research and Policy

George Q. Daley

November 19, 2004

George Daley and his team of stem cell rearchers from Harvard Medical School discuss the scientific and medical potential of stem cells, as well as the controversy and the impact of the recent election on stem cell policy.

Cloning and Stem Cell Therapy: Promise, Problem, Reality

Rudolf Jaenisch

Rudolf Jaenisch discusses how he has uncovered alternative methods to creating embryonic stem cells. As they struggle to grow human embryonic stem cells, biologists continue to face basic questions about how these cells work.

Stem Cells: Where Will the Road Lead?

George Q. Daley

A panel of experts meet to discuss the future of stem cell research. Few topics have touched so many areas as stem cell research. It has stirred politics, medicine, business, economics, and religion.

Inside a Stem Cell Laboratory

January 6, 2005

Ann Parson, author of the recently published The Proteus Effect: Stem Cells and Their Promise for Medicine, shares some basic information about stem cells and what the future holds for medicines based on them.

From Stem Cells To Cancer Cells

Fernando Camargo

October 21, 2005

Fernando Camargo discusses his research on how cancer arises, what can be done to stop it, and whether cancer is related to stem cells. The human stem cells found in our bone marrow have the amazing ability to develop into different types of cells such as blood or immune system cells.

Origins of Cancer Stem Cells

Robert Weinberg

Whitehead Member Bob Weinberg explores how researchers are looking into the origins of the cancer stem cell. Why is cancer so difficult to treat? The answer may be found in the cancer stem cell, a concept that scientists have only recently begun to explore.

Human Genome and Beyond

February 16, 2001

How Genomes and Other Forces are Changing Your Life

December 11, 2003

Juan Enriquez discusses his book, As the Future Catches You, which puts the reader face to face with a series of unprecedented political, ethical, economic, and financial issues, dramatically demonstrating the cascading impact of the genetic, digital, and intellectual revolutions of life.

Double Helix: The Script for Life

This is the first in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA in 1953.

Double Helix: Implications for Disease

Robert Weinberg

This is the third in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA.

Double Helix: Genomes to Biological Networks

This is the fourth in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA in 1953.

Edward Ball: The Genetic Strand

November 9, 2007

Edward Ball discusses his new book The Genetic Strand. Ball, a National Book Award winner and Georgia native, looks at the hard science behind DNA forensics, while examining his own mixed family history.

Our Bodies, Our Technologies

Raymond Kurzweil

Inventor and writer Ray Kurzweil lectures on the topics found in his his forthcoming book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. How close are we to a world in which the abilities of machines are indistinguishable from those of the species that invented them?

Tissue Engineering: Challenges of Imitating Nature

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic imagines a world where we could engineer living tissues to cure a disease, heal an injury, or fix a broken heart. Tissue engineering combines the principles of biology, engineering and medicine to create biological substitutes of native tissues.

From New Biology to Novel Therapies

Alfred Goldberg

January 27, 2004

Alfred Goldberg portrays the flavor and rewards of contemporary biomedical research and illustrates how the recent revolutionary progress in understanding living cells at the molecular level is leading to new therapies.

Using Reverse Engineering to Go Forward

James J. Collins

James J. Collins discusses his research, which focuses on developing techniques and devices to characterize, improve and mimic biological function. Dr.

Angela Belcher: Nature to Nanotechnology and Back

Angela Belcher discusses her work as a materials chemist with expertise in the fields of biomaterials, biomolecular materials, organic-inorganic interfaces and solid state chemistry.

Adding Years to Your Life

Leonard P. Guarente

Dr. Guarente discusses his research, which focuses on issues surrounding aging. Leonard P. Guarente has written numerous papers and books, the latest of which, Ageless Quest, was published in 2003.

IDEAS Boston Youth Summit: Dr. Amy Wagers

Amy Wagers talks about her research on defining the mechanisms that regulate the movement, growth, and regenerative potential of blood-forming and muscle-forming stem cells; and she discusses what led her to her current work. This lecture is presented by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.

America and the Progressive-Conservative Debate

William Kristol

October 30, 2006

William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, and John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress, debate the issues, from stem cell research to the war on terror, that define and often divide American politics today.

Inventing Modern America: Microwave to the Mouse

November 27, 2001

This lively panel, discussing Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse, celebrates the best of American ingenuity and inventiveness.