James Burke goes on a journey of discovery through the interlocking threads of knowledge running through history, using state-of-the-art CGI and virtual reality to unlock the power of his extraordinary imagination.

A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA and a future with genetically engineered people.

Dog pee, the Polaroid camera and rocket fuel lead to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence.

James connects the dots between Napoleon's toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer, a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.

James jumps in the sensory deprivation tank with a man who took LSD with dolphins to discover how syphilis in the French aristocracy kicked off a journey to the nanofabricator, a machine that can build anything, molecule by molecule, for free.