Future Fantastic - Season 1

Tonight Gillian Anderson, who plays Agent Dana Scully in The X Files, investigates the growing number of encounters and abductions throughout the world which have been attributed to alien life forms, and asks if the reports are the result of vivid imaginations or if the truth really is out there.

Scientists are already talking about developing robots that are stronger, faster and more intelligent than humans. Soon, robots will be able to teach and repair themselves, and even evolve without human help. But where will it all end?

This week, Future Fantastic reveals the adventures of time and space travel that may be just around the comer. The space age was founded on rocket technology developed during the Second World War. Now, scientists are working on the technology which could make journeys at almost the speed of light, and even time travel, a real possibility. The first anti-matter particles have only just been discovered, yet an anti-matter engine is already in development. Plus, a look at the remarkable breakthrough that could turn the science-fiction fantasy of time travel into reality.

This week's programme looks at some of the classic science-fiction dreams of super-fast transportation. Nasa is already investigating whether flying cars are about to take off. Long-distance travel in the future might mean a nerve-wracking journey at 25 times the speed of sound. Could the ultimate science-fiction gadget - the teleportation machine - become the last word in human transportation?

A look at the fantastic future in store for the human body, as scientists at an American university are currently working on what may be the first step towards "bionic" humans. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, the doctor's dream was to build a superhuman, not a monster. In future, his counterparts may well succeed in building a superior human being with extraordinary surgical and genetic procedures.

Invisibility, telepathy, limitless energy and antigravity are four of science fiction's oldest concepts - and, seemingly, four of its least plausible.

But scientists around the world are re-examining these phenomena: the reality of invisibility could be under 20 years away; the US Air Force is investigating antigravity; the secret services have studied telepathy; and a physicist has pioneered an experiment producing more energy than it consumes.

The invention of the television has transformed 20th-century society, but scientists are now working on ideas which make the crude escapism offered by the TV seem very tame indeed. Future Fantastic meets the pioneers who are using technology to create artificial experiences.

Currently in development are a mind interface which could allow people to navigate cyberspace with their thoughts alone, a brain scanner which could record a person's sensations and emotions for playing back later into another person's mind, and a memory chip which could be directly inserted into the human brain.

In 1969, when the first man stepped on to the surface of the Moon, science fiction seemed to be coming true. Scientists now believe that mankind is on the verge of a new era of space colonisation, with settlements on the Moon and Mars becoming a realistic possibility within the next 100 years.

The last programme of the series investigates man's desire to live forever. Genetic engineers are already working hard to isolate the genes responsible for ageing in humans in an effort to increase man's lifespan from decades to centuries. Meanwhile, some choose to freeze themselves after death in the hope that future societies will be medically advanced enough to repair their damaged bodies.