Description
Does it amaze you that yeast is your very close relative? That you possess roughly the same number of genes as a mouse? That you are 99.9% genetically identical to every other human? ABC Nightline correspondent Robert Krulwich lends a lighthearted touch to genetic science in this provocative two-hour NOVA special that takes you inside the amazing, complex and contentious race to decode the human genome.

The Human Genome Project was born in 1990, when an international consortium of labs set out to sequence all 3 billion letters of our DNA, predicting they’d finish by 2005. Halfway through their schedule, controversial scientist and entrepreneur J. Craig Venter threw the genome world into turmoil, when he announced his for-profit company Celera could finish the job in just two years. Francis Collins, leader of the publicly-funded effort, and MIT’s Eric Lander were among the scientists who answered Venter’s challenge. The result made history and laid the foundation for a remarkable future.

Armed with this powerful information, medical pioneers are in the midst of astonishing breakthroughs that will change medicine as we know it. Will you get cancer, arthritis, or Alzheimer’s? The answer lies in your genetic code—but the question is: Do you want to know? And will these new discoveries eventually lead to cures?

On one DVD5 disc. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.

Amazon.com
The work of geneticists who have labored for years to map human DNA is the subject of this offbeat yet highly informative documentary from the PBS series Nova. Host Robert Krulwich, a correspondent for ABC Nightline, visits with scientists who explain, in terms understandable to laymen, the enormous challenges faced and overcome by scientists working on the Human Genome Project. The value of the research effort is underscored with visits to families affected by inherited diseases that could someday be eradicated, and even legal matters such as research patents and potential privacy issues are also covered intelligently. The race between government researchers and private biotech firms is detailed, and at appropriate times host Krulwich is able to inject some good-natured humor into this excellent documentary. --Robert J. McNamara

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 5 reviews)

Very educational

I teach a college class on the Human Genome Project and always use this as my intro. It gives a good generic background in layman's terms, and then I can easily refer back to it later in class, as "remember in the movie you saw...". I recommend it for ninth grade or older audience, including adults.

August 13, 2008

Cracking the Code of Life

You have heard the term, "talking heads?" Well, this is the personification of that term. I bought this DVD for a genetics class I teach. It is a long video with a great deal of wasted time on very little.

My students hated it.

May 17, 2008

How Nature Works - Cracked Wide Open

This is an exceptional documentary about the mapping of the human genome and its implications for humanity. Well structured and presented in laymens terms, helps to make Cracking the Code of Life an important addition to understanding Evolution.
May 12, 2007

Great movie

I am a high school Biology teacher and every year I show this film to my students as an introduction to our study on Genetics and Heredity. This is a great film that illustrates how the Human Genome Project began and examines the potential ethical dilemmas as well as potential benefits the completion of this project may have for society. Rarely can I show a "science" film and have so many students afterwards agree that it really was fascinating. In fact given its 2 hour length we can't finish it in one sitting and they beg me each day "Can we finish that movie today?" This movie stimulates some fascinating conversations in my classroom, and as a teacher, who could ask for more?
February 06, 2007

Very simple

Very simple. I expected a better contribution in the field of science per se; and i found that is oriented to ethics. Regards, Madya Ayala
January 04, 2007

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