NARRATOR: November 17, 2015, a
team of researchers from North
Carolina State University
and Rice University
unveil the first
motor-driven submersible
nano-machines ever created.
Molecular nanotechnology is
the idea of building devices,
machines at a molecular scale.
Nano refers to a billionth of
a meter so very, very small.
We're getting down
to atomic scale.
NARRATOR: Measuring
only 244 atoms across,
these miniature
robots are designed
to deliver specialized
medicines throughout the body
using the bloodstream.
Scientists have
created biobots
that are the first of its kind.
These tiny little
biohybrid semi-bots are
capable of travelling
through viscus
material through our bodies.
GRAY SCOTT: They take
submersible nano-machines
that can be controlled
with UV light.
And using the UV light,
they can control where
these nano-machines
take nutrients
and take medicines
into the body.
KEVIN WARWICK: As long as we
have a way of controlling them
from the outside, they can
move around very, very quickly,
perform a function.
If we're looking at operating
on a cancer, then potentially
they could do that operation
for you from within.
DAVID WILCOCK: This could lead
to huge advances in medicine,
in healing, leading
to nano-machines
that could actually heal
the wounds in our bodies,
close things up much faster,
repair damaged tissue,
extend our lifespan,
and literally
bring us into a new
level of human evolution.
NARRATOR: Transhumanists
believe our bodies will soon
be home to swarms
of nano-machines
that will both heal and
also warn of disease.
And some propose this technology
is advancing so rapidly that it
will not just be future
generations that will live tens
or even hundreds of years longer
but people who are alive today.
GREGORY STOCK: The possibility
of reversing human aging,
as opposed to just
slowing it down,
is not a very big stretch.
So if you understand
aging and the fundamentals
of the processes that
are leading to it,
it would be quite
possible both to slow it,
and it would also be
possible to reverse it.
GRAY SCOTT: An example
of this is a study
that has gone on at Harvard.
By reversing the
muscle tissue in mice,
we have actually reversed
the age in these mice.
And so if we can do that
in the laboratory setting,
it's only a matter of time
before we're able to reverse
our own aging process.
NARRATOR: Could millions
of microscopic robots
soon be swimming in our
bloodstreams, augmenting
our immune system,
and even reversing
the aging process entirely
as transhumanists believe?
Ancient astronaut
theorists suggest
that if such a
transformation does occur,
it may be a sign that we
are evolving to become
more like our alien ancestors.
As evidence, they point to the
Sumerian King List, a series
of stone tablets that are
believed to be over 4,000 years
old and record the reigns of
ancient Mesopotamian kings
that ruled for upwards
of 43,000 years.
WILLIAM HENRY: The Sumerian
Kings List was handed
down to humanity by the gods.
What's extraordinary is that
the reigns of these kings
last into the
thousands of years.
These people weren't
making allegorical
or metaphorical statements.
These were accurate
historical records.
