Not Impossible

What happens when an engineer loses his legs in a mountain-climbing accident? In the case of Hugh Herr, he uses his brilliant mind to overcome his physical disability – and the result is a set of prosthetic legs like none ever seen before. Now Herr climbs at a more advanced level than he had before the accident – both literally and figuratively: His achievements have led him to the brink of discoveries on the future of human-computer interaction. Will we all be cyborgs one day? Hugh Herr says he has the answer.

Steve Keating and his team at MIT have taken 3D printing to a place it’s never been before – and hope to take it places NO one has ever been before. They have invented a 3D printer that can print an entire building, using no other “ink” than what it finds around it in nature – and they say it’s capable of printing buildings out of ice... on Mars. Host Mick Ebeling talks with The Amazing Mister Keating, and finds out why this machine is only the SECOND-coolest 3D project he’s ever done.

A special episode for the Fourth of July: After reporting on tragedy after tragedy, a TV journalist struggling with anxiety discovers a cure in technology prescribed by her doctor – and quits her job to devote herself to using that technology to help America’s war veterans. She and the doctor team up to enhance that technology – doing some of the nation’s first hard-science experiments on blending virtual reality and biofeedback – and soon this simple solution begins to have far-reaching implications in the treatment of psychological disorders for veterans, first responders, and those suffering from PTSD in all walks of life.

A deaf woman who becomes a world-famous solo percussionist, and a singer with perfect pitch who loses her hearing but still performs live, send the Not Impossible team on a quest to answer the question: How do deaf people experience music? And can we invent a technology to enhance that experience? The answer – a vibrotactile suit that sends music impulses all over their bodies – will change your perception forever of what it means to “hear.”

Cody is a fearless and sensitive 7-year-old boy diagnosed with a rare disease that is slowly robbing him of hearing and sight. The Not Impossible Labs team committed itself to finding a way for Cody to navigate the world. What they created – and built into a superhero costume -- allows Cody to feel what his eyes will soon no longer be able to perceive.

Day to day, we rarely think about facial control software unless it's to play silly games on our iPhones or Snapchat. But a crazy inventor and a rehab specialist developed a way to let people who are paralyzed with spinal injuries use it to surf the web, paint – do anything you can do on a computer. Just with a head tilt, a raised eyebrow, and… the kissyface.

When Johnny Matheny lost his arm to cancer he decided it was his chance to help others – so he volunteered to be the guinea pig in any project that came along. Little did he know what the government’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program had in store for him – and now he has become the first man to ever use their latest robotic arm, which he can control... with his mind. 

Photo Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

When producer Mick Ebeling met a paralyzed graffiti artist named Tempt, he made a promise that Tempt would one day paint again – and then wondered how he’d keep the promise. The results of the challenge reside in museums on both coasts – and the philosophy behind them launched Not Impossible Labs.

Two inventors -- one who created a cute little robot, the other who created an app to help kids learn to read -- take on the greatest challenge of their lives: Women are dying in Rwanda at an alarming rate – and they think they have an idea that could save them.

Erik Weihenmayer is an athlete, adventurer, author – and the only blind person to scale Mount Everest. Now he’s the first to test out a new device that raises a question at the very heart of how sight works: Do we see with our eyes, or with our brains? The answer to that question could change... everything.