Predict My Future - The Science of Us
Predict My Future reveals the answers to one of life's most fundamental questions; What Makes Us Who We Are? 43 years ago a New Zealand Medical School embarked on a remarkable project - the ultimate Nature/Nurture test. They decided to follow every one of the 1,037 babies born in the city of Dunedin between April 1972 and March 1973 for their entire lives. And they have. Those children have become the 1,000 most studied people in the world. For almost four decades every aspect of their health and development has been monitored - their genes, their growth, their physical well-being, their psychology, their emotional ups and downs, criminal convictions, successes, failures - the lot. The result is the Dunedin Longitudinal Study - the broadest and the most in-depth study of human beings in the world. The project has become the richest and most productive archive of human development - anywhere. It is truly unique - the study has retained an unprecedented 96% of its starting participants. It is re-writing the book on what makes us all human. 'Predict My Future' details the study's findings, and explores what they have to say about all our lives. This series has a global audience and is being screened across Europe, and in Australasia - with additional territories in negotiation.
- 2016-2016
- 1 season
- Documentary
Predict My Future reveals the answers to one of life's most fundamental questions; What Makes Us Who We Are? 43 years ago a New Zealand Medical School embarked on a remarkable project - the ultimate Nature/Nurture test. They decided to follow every one of the 1,037 babies born in the city of Dunedin between April 1972 and March 1973 for their entire lives. And they have. Those children have become the 1,000 most studied people in the world. For almost four decades every aspect of their health and development has been monitored - their genes, their growth, their physical well-being, their psychology, their emotional ups and downs, criminal convictions, successes, failures - the lot. The result is the Dunedin Longitudinal Study - the broadest and the most in-depth study of human beings in the world. The project has become the richest and most productive archive of human development - anywhere. It is truly unique - the study has retained an unprecedented 96% of its starting participants. It is re-writing the book on what makes us all human. 'Predict My Future' details the study's findings, and explores what they have to say about all our lives. This series has a global audience and is being screened across Europe, and in Australasia - with additional territories in negotiation.
Season 1 Episode Guide
4 Episodes 2016
Episode 1
The Early Years
44 mins
We focus this time on a child's early years and how their mannerisms and behavior may indicate what sort of adult they may become.
Episode 2
When Teens Run Off the Rails
43 mins
Troubled teens , why some go bad and others come right. What happens when young people run off the rails? Youth offending is very common, almost everyone does dumb things and many of us break the law. However youth offenders consist of two core groups; life present offenders (people who are going to continue offending regardless), and people who given the right conditions will return to become mainstream citizens.
Episode 3
When Genes Mix with the Wrong Environment
44 mins
The Dunedin Study has identified a fundamental developmental mechanism that completely rewrites the nature versus nurture argument. It is a genetic switch which is thrown by life events , nature loads the gun but nurture pulls the trigger. This chapter tracks the hunt for the mechanism using three specific examples - violence in men, depression, and cannabis induced schizophrenia.
Episode 4
Dirt Is Good, Dirt Poor Is Bad
44 mins
The final instalment looks at the effects of modern life and aging , how excessive cleanliness affects asthma and allergies, how poverty gets under the skin to cause lifelong damage, the physical effects of social isolation, and predicting mental illness and Alzheimer's by just looking at the back of people's eyes. Plus the latest research and where the research is going next.