Breakthrough

An unlikely alliance of an elderly English countess, a dethroned drug czar and ambitious young doctors in the U.S. and U.K. is reviving long-suppressed research into the therapeutic value of psychedelic drugs. Brain scans reveal medically supervised trips may reboot the brains of addicts … but are they powerful enough to break an opiate addiction?

An exclusive look inside the world of hackers, where good battles evil with the security of the world at stake. Cyberterror follows “white-hat” hackers on a high-risk mission to sneak inside and compromise bank computers and a “black-hat” ISIS hacker trying to recruit suicide bombers to attack a beloved tourist destination.

Bucking the medical system, maverick doctors have pioneered breakthrough cancer therapies. By supercharging T cells and coupling them with deactivated HIV, doctors in Philadelphia save the lives of stage 4 patients thought beyond hope. In France, genetic engineers create “universal donor” T cells that could revolutionize cancer therapy.

Small, cheap commercial drones are everywhere, and they are being used for anything you can imagine. Most people use them for good, but in the wrong hands, they could be weapons of mass destruction. The military and defense industries are looking for ways to defend against this new threat — and it all comes to a head in the two-week-long Game of Drones.

Nate Silver may be the modern-day Nostradamus, but tomorrow’s prophet is a computer. By finding hidden patterns in data, a new form of artificial intelligence predicts the future with incredible accuracy. But if we peer into the crystal ball, will we see a world where machines shape the future, leaving their creators far behind?

Every year, worldwide consumption of electricity grows, taxing our aging and vulnerable electric grids, leading to blackouts around the world — often with devastating results. Now, a small band of fearless engineers are making a dangerous trek across the high Himalayas to prove there is a better way to bring power to the people.

BREAKTHROUGH sheds a light on the world’s leading scientists to show how their cutting-edge innovations and advancements are changing our world.