The Gene: An Intimate History

Name: The Gene: An Intimate History
Released: 2020-04-07
Rating: 8
Cast: David Costabile, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Edward Wild, Audrey Winkelsas

8.0

April 7, 2020

1 Season • 2 Episodes

Ended

Documentary

Overview

“The Gene: An Intimate History” brings vividly to life the story of today’s revolution in medical science through present-day tales of patients and doctors at the forefront of the search for genetic treatments, interwoven with a compelling history of the discoveries that made this possible and the ethical challenges raised by the ability to edit DNA with precision.

Cast

David Costabile

Narrator (voice)

Siddhartha Mukherjee

Self

Edward Wild

Self

Audrey Winkelsas

Self

Episodes

1. Dawn of the Modern Age of Genetics

April 7, 2020 • 115m

Part One interweaves the present-day story of the Rosens, a young family on an odyssey to find a cure for their four-year-old daughter’s rare genetic disease, with stories of the exciting discoveries of the early pioneers in genetics. This episode also tracks the dark period in human history when a little genetic knowledge was used to justify terrifying human experiments.

2. Revolution in the Treatment of Disease

April 14, 2020 • 115m

Part Two begins with the story of the signature scientific achievement of our time: the mapping of the human genome. As scientists learn to read the genetic code, they grapple with the dangers inherent in increasingly sophisticated and easily available methods of intervening in the very essence of what makes us human, our DNA.

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