Nova scienceNOW: Can We Live Forever? (DVD)

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson will tackle one of science's major challenges in each episode framed as a simple question that ordinary people wonder and worry about. Neil will guide US as he explores dramatic discoveries and the frontiers of research that connect each central provocative mystery. Episode includes: 1) SHORT STORY - CAN MY CAR LIVE FOREVER? - Irv Gordon a retired science teacher from East Patchogue NY has managed to keep his 1966 Volvo P1800 going for four decades and over 2.7 MILLION miles. 2) BODY SHOP FOR BODY PARTS - Scientists are learning how to grow custom-made body parts - so they can help grow a new you when the old you - and your vital organs - start falling apart. University of Minnesota's Doris Taylor strips organs of their cells uses stem cells to reseed the organ quot;skeletonsquot; and watches as they start working right in front of her eyes. She has been able to do this with pretty much every organ in the body - in rats pigs and now even humans! Bob Langer's lab at MIT is using a cotton candy machine to make synthetic skeletonsquot; for blood vessels and other researchers are implanting tiny chips into dysfunctional retinas to help the blind see. 3) CAN WE SLOW DOWN AGING? - a gene discovered to prolong the lives of microscopic worms turns up in a group of exceptionally healthy elderly Hawaiian men. These remarkable 90-somethings repair clocks go bowling and even run track and field well into their tenth decade. This amazing discovery seems poised to take new biological theories about aging out of the lab and into our daily lives perhaps even facilitating the development of new life-extending therapies and drugs. 4) HUMAN HIBERNATION.

Nova scienceNOW: Can We Live Forever? (DVD)