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[electronic beeping]

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[static fizzling]

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[female narrator] September 2012.

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Under a parking lot
in the English city of Leicester,

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archaeologists find
a mysterious skeleton,

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its spine oddly twisted.

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DNA from the bones confirms

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these are the mortal remains
of Richard III, king of England.

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His funeral,
530 years after he was killed in battle.

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What's more, most portraits show him 
with dark hair and eyes.

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But his DNA reveals Richard III

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likely had fair hair as a child 
and blue eyes.

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Genetics can be full of surprises.

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DNA is the blueprint to life,

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the stuff that determines
nearly everything about you,

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from how you look
to whether or not you're a thrill-seeker.

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But that just takes up 1.2% of your DNA.

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Scientists still don't know
what's in the remaining 98.8%.

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Our closest evolutionary relatives,

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chimpanzees,

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share 96% of the same DNA as us.

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But we also share 
about 60% of the same DNA...

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-[chimpanzee screeches]
-...as bananas.

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The ability to read DNA

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is arguably one of the most important 
technological advances

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of the 20th century.

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But, in our rush to understand 
and manipulate DNA,

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are we sowing
the seeds of our own destruction?

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Are we unleashing
a real Frankenstein's monster?

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[growls]

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For centuries,

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humans have known that we get
more than our looks from our parents.

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But no one ever knew how.

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By the 1950s, biologists know

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that DNA exists
and that it contains the code of life.

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[man] This is a close-up 
of the DNA molecule,

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magnified more than 100,000 times.

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Unbelievable as it seems,

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we can transfer heredity
through the substance of DNA.

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Well, gee, what kind of stuff is DNA?

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[narrator] In 1952, 
when British chemist Rosalind Franklin

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uses X-rays to magnify DNA,

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she makes a startling discovery.

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DNA is actually shaped like a spiral.

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A year later,

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Franklin's photo lands on the desk
of James Watson and Francis Crick,

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who realize what they're seeing
is actually a double helix...

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which helps them work out
DNA's molecular structure.

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So what is this stuff?

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DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid.

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Let's break it down.

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Inside every cell in your body,

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in the nucleus, you'll find the genome,

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twenty-three pairs
of squiggly chromosomes.

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Half are from your mother,

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half are from your father.

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And each chromosome contains 
a folded-up spiral ladder strand of DNA.

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That ladder is made up
of just four molecular bases

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that always connect in pairs.

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Adenine and thymine,

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and then cytosine and guanine.

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And certain sequences of those letters,
what we call genes,

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tell the cell to create certain proteins,

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the molecules responsible 
for every function in your body.

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[birds chirping]

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DNA can be found in every living thing.

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But it's also incredibly complex.

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And it could end up
fundamentally changing

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our understanding of life

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if only we can unlock its secrets.

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In the 1960s,

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before anyone fully understands
how DNA operates,

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scientists get an idea.

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If they study families
that share a unique genetic trait,

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they should be able to locate
that trait on their shared chromosomes.

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Over the next few decades,

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geneticists start combing through
the DNA of families

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with inherited diseases.

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One example is Huntington's disease,

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a rare neurological disorder
that only shows up in adults.

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So parents often pass it down
to their children

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before they even know they have it.

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My daughter,
she's at risk from the illness as well.

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She's only 14.

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And hopefully, one day,
there will be a cure for her.

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[narrator] In 1983,

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researchers begin work on isolating
where the disease is on the genome,

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and they eventually discover

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a gene marker for Huntington's
on chromosome four.

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It means they can spot the disease
before its symptoms show,

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so adults can know if they're putting
their future children at risk.

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One of the many researchers

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rushing to isolate genetic diseases is

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British scientist Alec Jeffreys.

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But in 1984, he realizes something else.

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Certain stretches of DNA 
produce a pattern,

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rather like a bar code,
that's unique to each person.

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All it takes is a microscopic amount 
of DNA from any body tissue,

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and scientists should be able
to distinguish

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and identify that individual.

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He calls it "DNA fingerprinting."

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And it will revolutionize
the way crimes are solved.

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In the summer of 1986,

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the body of 15-year-old Dawn Ashworth
is found in a wooded area

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in Leicestershire.

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[man] Dawn was subjected
to a horrific sexual attack,

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and I have no doubt that the person
who committed that was

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a very sick-minded individual indeed.

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[narrator] What alarms the neighborhood 
is that, three years earlier, the body

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of 15-year-old murder victim Lynda Mann
was found just half a mile away.

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Do they have a serial killer on the loose?

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Detectives give Dr. Jeffreys

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DNA samples recovered from both victims,

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and he proves 
their suspicions are correct.

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It's the same man.

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[man] You can seen that the patterns
in this track and this track

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are, in fact, identical.

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And therefore, it led us to the conclusion

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that this semen has originated
from the same man,

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and therefore,
the two murders are connected.

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[narrator] But to investigators' surprise,

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the sample doesn't match the suspect
they already have in custody.

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[man] You can see that the pattern
from his blood stain is

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quite different from that...

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got from the semen that was taken
from the vagina swabs from both girls.

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[narrator] So police 
start collecting DNA samples

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from over 5,000 men living in the area,

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until they finally find a match.

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And Colin Pitchfork 
becomes the first person

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ever to be convicted 
based on DNA evidence.

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DNA fingerprinting becomes
the greatest advance

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in forensics since actual fingerprinting.

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By 1990, the use of DNA in police work

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explodes all around the world.

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Since it was launched,

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America's national DNA index of criminals,
called CODIS,

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has helped 
in more than 465,000 investigations.

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The chances of two unrelated individuals
matching is one in 30 billion.

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That's almost four times
the world's population.

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CODIS contains
nearly 14 million offender DNA profiles.

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As of October 2019, 367 convicted people

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have been exonerated through DNA.

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Throughout the 80s,

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even before scientists fully understand
how it works,

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DNA is already proving useful
for uncovering disease and solving crimes.

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But to really understand DNA, in 1990,

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scientists embark on one 
of the most ambitious projects ever,

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creating a map of the human genome.

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It's no small feat.

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The human genome contains 
about 3.2 billion base pairs.

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If you wrote out the entire sequence,
it would fill 800 copies of the Bible.

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If you stretch the DNA in one cell
all the way out,

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it would be about six feet long.

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But all the DNA
from the 37 trillion cells in your body

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would stretch across the solar system
and back again.

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The effort to map the genome will end up
costing around $2.7 billion.

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Not so expensive 
for the secret to all of life.

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Americans spend at least ten times more 
on pizza per year.

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But even as some geneticists
are struggling to decode DNA,

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others don't want to wait.

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They decide to start manipulating it.

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Take a gene from one living thing
that has the trait you want

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and insert it into the DNA 
of another living thing

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during reproduction.

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And voilà, you've artificially engineered
that genetic trait.

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The technique proves especially good
at boosting the efficiency of food crops.

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[man] It will be possible to grow crops 
that have no cholesterol in the oil.

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We'll be able to grow crops
with higher vitamin content.

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[narrator] In 1994, geneticists make
a backwards copy of the gene

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that ripens tomatoes

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and create new tomatoes
that don't ripen too quickly.

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Other crops are modified
to be genetically resistant to pests.

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They're called
"genetically modified organisms,"

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GMOs.

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And soon, they're everywhere.

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As of 2018,

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the top five countries growing GMOs
in terms of crop area

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are the United States, Brazil, Argentina,

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Canada, and India.

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Twelve countries in Africa
are now testing crops

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that have been modified
for drought tolerance,

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saline tolerance, and enhanced nutrients.

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In the US, up to 92% of corn is
genetically engineered...

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and 94% of soybeans.

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Estimates are that more than 75% 
of processed foods on supermarket shelves,

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from soda to soup to condiments, 
have some genetically altered ingredients.

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But as people begin to realize

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the extent to which their food 
is genetically modified,

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there are concerns.

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What exactly are we eating?

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Some of this, likely,

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comes from soy
which has been genetically modified.

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So what's the big deal,
genetically modified? Well, we don't know.

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[woman] There's no scientific consensus
as to whether these foods are okay or not.

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And yet we are putting them 
into infant formula,

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something we give to babies 
from the first day of their lives.

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And yet they contain ingredients
that have never been tested for safety.

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[narrator] For now, there is 
no scientific evidence

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that swapping out a plant's genes
makes food harmful in any way.

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But simply interfering with nature

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at such a basic level
makes people nervous.

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Are geneticists messing with forces
they don't fully understand?

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-[bleating]
-When scientists start tinkering

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with the DNA of animals,
the debate intensifies.

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In 1996, Scottish scientists

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take the nucleus
of a white-faced sheep's udder cell

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and inject it into the egg cell
of a black-faced sheep,

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then implant the egg
into a surrogate mother.

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One hundred and fifty days later,

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the surrogate gives birth
to a white-faced lamb,

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an exact genetic copy of the mom
who donated her udder cell.

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Dolly the sheep is an instant celebrity,

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the first mammal cloned

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from an adult cell,
a genetic twin to her mother.

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If scientists can successfully clone
a sheep like Dolly,

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-then what about other forms of life?
-[bleats]

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The question is now being asked,

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00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,480
will they ultimately be able 
to clone human beings?

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[narrator] The same technique
does prove successful for cloning monkeys,

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but what about humans?

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It'd be one thing to modify the genes
of a baby with a deadly disease,

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but will people start designing
their children,

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making sure they have a higher IQ

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or a certain eye color?

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Scientists can now take cells

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from a human embryo 
smaller than a pinhead,

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and use them to grow 
genetically identical healthy body organs,

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ones that could later replace sick ones.

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[cameras clicking]

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00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,960
But meddling with human embryos 
proves extremely controversial.

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The use of, uh... uh...

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embryos to clone...

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is wrong.

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[stammers] We should not, 
as a society, grow life...

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to destroy it.

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[narrator] Human cloning
is flat-out banned

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in more than two dozen countries, 
but not the US.

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00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:08,400
And the debate rages on.

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00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,480
Meanwhile, 
after a full decade of research,

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geneticists finally present the world 
with their first draft of a map

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of the entire human genome.

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[applauding]

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President Bill Clinton makes
the announcement.

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With this profound new knowledge,
humankind is on the verge of gaining

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immense new power to heal.

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Genome science will have a real impact
on all our lives.

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And even more 
on the lives of our children.

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[applauding]

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[narrator] It quickly accelerates 
new findings.

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Genes are isolated
with links to type 2 diabetes,

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cardiovascular disease,
schizophrenia, and more.

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In a page out of science fiction,

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people can now find out

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if they're likely to get certain diseases
before they happen,

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and they start acting on it.

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[crowd shouting]

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In early 2013, actress Angelina Jolie

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announces her decision
to have a double mastectomy.

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A defective BRCA1 gene

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puts her at an 87% risk
of developing breast cancer.

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The procedure reduces the odds to 5%.

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I've been very happy just to see
the discussion

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about women's health expanded,
and that means the world to me.

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And-- and after losing my mom
to these issues, I'm very grateful for it.

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[narrator] With celebrities 
raising awareness,

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more people start wanting to know
about their own DNA,

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what diseases might be lurking there,

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and what it might tell them
about their genetic past.

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In 2015, 23andMe, 
named after the number of chromosomes,

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becomes the first FDA-approved company

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to sell genetic testing
directly to consumers.

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DNA home kits become
gift-wrapped bombshells.

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Some discover long-lost siblings.

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Many people, excited about the technology,

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start uploading their genetic profiles

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to sites that allow you to search
for long-lost relatives.

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It introduces another thorny issue...

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privacy.

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[indistinct chatter]

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Law enforcement agencies quickly see
the potential of this new DNA development

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-to catch more criminals.
-[siren blaring]

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In early 2018,

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California homicide detectives upload
crime scene DNA of a suspect known

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as the Golden State Killer.

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Searching nearly one million profiles,

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they get hits on several distant relatives
of their suspect.

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The matches are enough
to lead them to a name,

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Joseph DeAngelo.

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And that April,

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the 72-year-old former police officer
is charged with the murders of 12 people.

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[man] It was always gonna be DNA 
that solved this case.

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There's gonna be discussions 
about privacy

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and public nature of these databases,
like there is on everything. That's fine.

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Those are discussions
for other people to have.

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Um, our need is to solve crimes.

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[narrator] But it raises 
difficult questions:

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What if scientists discover
a genetic predisposition

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for criminal activity,

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and the authorities decide to act on it?

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What if government agencies 
start rounding up people

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with a particular undesirable trait?

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Your DNA holds all your secrets
about your past and your possible future.

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What might your employer do,
or your future significant other,

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if they knew your predisposition
to certain diseases?

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00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:01,880
What if we start discriminating 
against people

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for their unseen genetic traits?

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We may have opened this Pandora's box

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before fully understanding
the consequences.

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And let's not forget that 98.8%
of the genome we still don't understand.

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Manipulating DNA could give us longer,
healthier, and even more enriching lives,

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but it could also launch us
into a dark new era.

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Humanity's curiosity can take us
to some dangerous places.

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With genetics, our endless quest
to know more and to control our lives

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may just take us a step too far.

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[electronic music playing]