All language subtitles for In Search Of s01e02 Super.eng

[Zachary Quinto]
Mankind has always been fascinated

by stories of incredible
superhuman strength...

of those who harness powers
beyond the normal human realm.

These legends and myths
date back thousands of years.

But do these superhumans
exist today?

What about the man who
summoned incredible strength

and bent the steel door
of a car with his bare hands?

[man]
I was able to save a man from a burning car.

I could see the interior
was completely filled with smoke.

I discovered that the driver
was actually trapped inside.

You could see the soles
of his shoes hitting the glass.

I knew I didn't have much time.

I bent the car door
with my bare hands until the glass shattered.

[Quinto]
How is it possible for an ordinary person

to become superhuman?

Does that mean superpowers
are within us all?

My search begins now.

My Name is Zachary Quinto.

As an actor,
I've played many supernatural characters

that blurred the line
between science and fiction.

I'm drawn to the unknown,
the otherworldly,

and those experiences
so beyond belief,

they call everything
into question.

I'm exploring some of
the most enduring mysteries

that continue to haunt mankind
in search of the truth...

wherever it leads me.

Throughout history
there have been countless stories and myths

describing people
with superhuman abilities.

From the ancient
biblical tales of Moses,

who parted the Red Sea
with his staff,

to the heroic
Roman god Hercules,

who killed a lion
with his bare hands,

legendary people
who have transcended what was ever thought

physically
or mentally possible.

But can anyone
become superhuman?

And how does one attain
these unexplainable powers?

Are you born with them?

Are these abilities developed through intense training?

Or do extreme circumstances
allow human beings

to tap into exceptional
strength or skill?

My quest is to uncover
the truth behind real-life superhumans.

Do they exist?

Where do their powers
come from?

And can we all
become superhuman?

Today I'm meeting with
56-year-old Air Force veteran Bob Renning,

a man who was able
to bend a metal car frame

with nothing
but his bare hands.

Why don't you talk me through
what happened that day?

My wife and I were coming back
from visiting some friends up at the lake.

And I happened
to notice a car.

And you could see the flames
actually rolling

under the vehicle
in the rearview mirror.

So we just kind of coasted over
to the side of the road.

And it was at that point in time
I realized that the driver hadn't gotten out yet.

The flames were starting
to come up above the roofline at that point,

and I just took off running
to the vehicle.

As I got up to it,

the interior was completely
filled with smoke.

Is it hard for you
to see this? Yeah.

Did your heart start
beating a little bit?A little bit.

Yeah.Yeah. 'Cause I hadn't seen
the vehicle after the fire.

Uh-huh.
Was it this badly damaged?

In the end,
was it a complete burnout?It was a complete burnout.

So he was here,
kicking at the window.Yeah.

Kind of wedged himself in here,
in the passenger seat,

and was kicking against
the glass on this side.

And it was when I got
to this point, I could see the soles of his shoes--

Right. Right....hitting the glass itself.

Did the car explode
in the end? No. No. No.

I don't think cars
explode all that often.

I think that's more
a Hollywood thing.

So that's why I think
they explode.

[laughing]Doesn't every car explode?

But they do burn
extremely fast.

You could hear,
under the hood,

you know,
some of the canisters--

some of the sealed canisters
popping off.Uh-huh. Popping--

And then did the flames spread
as you were getting--Yes.

more into the-- Yeah.Yeah.

We didn't have
a lot of time.

[Quinto]
On the charred frame of the SUV,

you can see the doorframe
that Renning bent with his bare hands.

You managed to get your fingers
into the top of the doorframe.

And behind here somehow.

So what was it like after?
After the experience?

I did end up with some nightmares. That was tough.

Actually had one last night.Oh, really?

It was a little tough
this morning,

coming up on the car
setting here beside the road.

Sure.It just was a little tough.

Looking back on it,
did you feel any kind of a wave of adrenaline?

Did you feel suddenly stronger
than you think you are?

Yes.You do?

Yeah.Yeah?

I find it really interesting

to think about
how much physical force

would be required
to do what you did.

Do you think you'd be able
to do this again?I don't know.

Uh-huh.I don't know.

I think it would be
intriguing to find out.

[Quinto]
Bob was able to bend metal with his bare hands,

summoning incredible strength
in a crisis.

But there's a group of people
who are able

to call on superhuman powers
whenever they choose.

Shaolin monks
of the Shaolin Temple,

which originated
in Hunan, China, in 1464 AD,

are capable of incredible
feats of strength.

These monks practice
one of the oldest

and most unique forms
of kung fu,

combining Zen Buddhism
and martial arts.

The most skilled of these monks are known as warriors.

In the case of a warrior monk,
who's able to tap into some of these abilities

and to push themselves past
what are normal human limits--

that person's
controlling everything.

It just takes a long time

and lots of training
to get there.

[Quinto]
I want to know more about their incredible strength,

so I'm meeting with
a 34th generation ordained Shaolin warrior monk

to uncover the truth
behind their ancient secrets.

If we're talking about
superhuman strength--

Yes....do you feel

like the things
that you've been able to attain in your life

are attainable by anybody?Yes.

Mm-hmm.
One of the defining characteristics

of the Shaolin line
is the physicality of it, right?Yes.

Tests of pain endurance?Yes. Yeah.

So, in addition to strength,
it's also about enduring pain.

Talk about your threshold
for pain.

You see the scar here?Yeah.

Which is, to be specific,
to endure--

Endure, yes. Yes....the burning

of-- is it nine incense?Yes.

[Shaolin monk]

[Quinto]
Uh-huh. How long do they hold each one?

[Shaolin monk]

Yeah.

Wow. Wow.

Yeah, sure.
That's how you became

a full-fledged
Shaolin monk, yeah.Yeah. Full, yes. Yes.

So it's not an easy path.No easily...

I'm also really interested in
how your body can endure pain,

and how different your body
and your brain actually are.

The abbot is clearly
able to endure

an incredible amount of pain.

But how does he do it?
We've seen that some people

become more powerful
in a crisis situation.

But has the abbot
actually trained himself

to summon strength
whenever he chooses?

To understand more,
I've asked the abbot

to show me one of the most
dangerous and painful

martial arts techniques:
the Shaolin Hard Qigong.

This is Abbot. Steve.Nice to meet you.

So, Abbot's
going to demonstrate

some pretty intense
physical feats.

I'm excited.
It'll be interesting to see

what data we actually get
from this.

[Quinto]
Under the medical supervision of Dr. Steve Young,

the abbot will be enduring
a blow to the head that would give most people a concussion,

or cause serious injury

by tearing the skin
or breaking the bone.

So, basically,
we're gonna measure what's happening inside the body.

As you get into
a certain meditative state,

your nervous system--
is it heightened, is it suppressed,

is it hyperactive,
or is it being subdued

so we can handle the pain
involved in this process?

We're using this device
that NASA uses.

One of the world's
best devices.

Just goes on the wrist?Just goes right on a wrist.

And, as it's on,
we'll be able to record, on the computer,

what's happening
to the nervous system.

[Quinto]
When you've done tests along these lines before,

have you done them on people
who are sustaining some kind of physical impact?

We used to do a lot
of MMA fighters.Uh-huh.

And so, punching things
and lifting things and training.

And so what we'd typically see
is a very heightened fight-or-flight response.

So you've never
done something like this in terms of measuring impact?

We don't know
what to expect

when it's applied
to a physical task.

All right. Shall we, uh--So how this will work is,

it's gonna go
on the left wrist.

So this is the solid--[soft thud]

That is a solid piece of wood...
[chuckling]

um, just in case anybody
was wondering.

Is there anything that you need,
Abbot, before you get started?

We need to turn on the--Oh, right.

I have to turn on the--Yeah.

[wrist device beeps]

So it went red,
and now it's on.

It's good?[computer beeps]

[exhales forcefully]

[yells]

[yells]

Okay.[Quinto]
Wow.

As you were
doing the movements,

I could feel the power.

It started as something
that was meditative,

but it became, very quickly,
something that was palpable

from even the distance
that was between us.

Yes.And this is, like,
very solid wood.

When you're meditating
in that manner,

is it just about
focusing your energy?

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

When you made contact,

it wasn't that the stick
was breaking over you,

it was that you were breaking
the stick, really.

That there was this explosion,
almost, in that moment.

Uh-huh.

Does it hurt?

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

There was a real power to it.

The physical expression of it-- that's the thing that's shocking to me.

You could feel the, kind of,
intensity of his power

as he was getting into
that Qigong movement.

And then when he broke this--
I mean, this is a really serious stick.

I mean, if you
broke this over my arm, you would break my arm.

Or if you did that over my head,
I would be... absolutely rushed to the hospital.

[yells]

What do we have, Steve?
What were you able to discern?

Yeah, so we've picked up
some very interesting data.

From the time that the abbot
started to prep,

we saw a calming
of the nervous system.

So he lowered his body
temperature significantly. Wow.In the beginning. Yeah.

That's a-- What kind of difference is that?

Uh, 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty amazing.

For most people,
it would be the reverse.Uh-huh.

If I was aut to hit you,[chuckles]

your nervous system
would spike up.

But, as you can see,
it can be consciously controlled.

The abbot was able to,
sort of, train his nervous system

to be in much more of a calm
state during the head break-- Uh-huh.

...uh, state.Do you know where,
on that line, the head break is?

Right about here.
Yeah.Oh.

So, again, you can see he was
decreasing his heart rate

right before the break,
and then it went up.There's kind of a spike

right after it, huh?
Wow. That's amazing.

Based on this data,
we can see that there's this response, through practice,

if you're able to control
the energy of your body

to get into
this much calmer state.

[Quinto] I'm shocked that the abbot was able to control his nervous system

in order to withstand
the intense impact of the wood staff.

[yells]

So what makes a superhuman?

Is it mind or body?

Or, in the case of the abbot,
is it both?

Could he have trained his mind
and have bones with superhuman strength?

The only way to find out
is to compare the abbot's body

to a normal person like me
in a lab.

[woman]
If I could have you take off your shoes, if that's okay?

So you're gonna--
Facing up. Correct.[muttering]

You're gonna lie down.
You're gonna lie down. Exactly.

Are you ready?[machine whirring softly]

So you're just gonna lie down.
And what I'm gonna do is,

I'm gonna make sure that you
don't hit your head.

And you can fall asleep
if you'd like, okay?

[machine whirring softly]

Zach, you're on the left.
Abbot, you're on the right.[Abbot] Yes.

This is what's called
your bone mineral density.

And that is
the densest of your bones. How strong they are, okay?

So, Zach,
you're 40 years old, right?Yeah.

I'm older than you, so--
so we're good.[laughing]

I'm still adjusting to my--
I'm relatively newly 40 years old.

[Dr. Volpe]
Your bone density total--

it's 1.451 grams
per centimeter squared.

And then, Abbot, for you,
you're a little bit older, right? So you're 51.

And so, where you stand,
yes, you are lower.

You're at 1.264.

That's a big difference when
you talk about bone density.

Now, are there any bones
in the abbot

that are particularly strong?

If we look at the density
of our heads,

mine's pretty high, right? [Dr. Volpe]
It is.

2.7. 2.73 grams
per centimeter squared.

Okay, so,
I have a dense skull.You do.

But, again, so the abbot

is at 1.6. Yes.

So, if I did

the exercise that the abbot did
this afternoon--

breaking that stick
on my head--

I feel like I would
just be in the hospital.

So is there a way
to explain the capacity

for him to be able
to do that?

That's a great question,
because I think that goes to

specificity of the way you train
allows him to do that.Yes.

We don't work out
to allow ourselves to do that.

That is the biggest difference
of why, for example,Yes.

you and I
would hurt ourselves. Mm-hmm.

[yells]You've trained so much.

That's certainly a lot
of your mind over matter,

isn't it, Abbot?Yes.

[Quinto]
I'm definitely surprised by this.

I thought the abbot would have
an increased bone density.

He doesn't at all.
I'm 2.73, and he's 1.60.

Uh, yeah.
I mean, I don't know.

I think that's where
it really comes down to

the meditative focus

and the technique
that the Qigong allows him to harness.

But if it really is
mind over matter,

then why can't
we all be superhuman?

Or can we?

[Zachary Quinto]
I'm trying to understand how people become superhuman.

Some, like Shaolin monks,

can develop these powers
through years of conditioning their minds.

[yells]

We didn't have
a lot of time. But what about a seemingly

average guy like Bob Renning,

who used superhuman strength to pry open a burning car door?

Could he do it again?

And is that something
anyone could learn how to do?

Bob, this is Steve Young.Nice to meet you.

How much force
did he exert

when he bent the metal
on that car door?

We've taken a car
to an auto body shop,

and we have used a machine

to do the same thing
that Bob did

to the side of the car door.

[machinery whirring]

And we measured the amount
of force that it would take for that to happen.

So the actual number,
when we did this in an auto body shop

with a machine and measured it,
was 509.

That's intriguing.That's a lot.

[Quinto]
So what accounts for Bob's sudden ability

to pull that much weight?[gunshot]

Our experiment today
may help us find out.

A 1961 study showed
firing a starter pistol behind subjects

increased their strength
by ten percent.

Having participants shout
or grunt unlocked 15 percent more strength.

[shouts]

And hypnosis produced

a 30 percent increase
above the norm.

If we apply
these same types of jolts in a controlled setting,

can anyone harness the power
of superhuman strength?

And in Bob's case,
can he approach the strength he found

when he saved a man
from a burning car?

I've enlisted Dr. Steve Young
to find out.

So this is a force gauge.

A pretty accurate way
for us to measure how much force exertion is happening.

Okay. Okay.Other than being able
to measure

the force output,
we also want to directly measure

how hard, or how intense,
the muscles specific to this task

is contracting.

And so, we have a research-level
device by Delsys.

We'll be able
to stick this on the skin.

And we're gonna measure
the electrical activity

of the muscles
as he's pulling on the device

so we can see how hard
the muscles are working.

[Quinto]
All right. You feel ready, Bob?I'm ready. Let's try it.

Let's flatten your back
a little bit so we can protect your back.

Okay.And then when I say "go,"
pull as hard as you can.

Ready?
Go. Ready.

[grunting]

Very nice. Good. Rest.All right.

What'd we get to, Steve?280 pounds of pressure.

280 pounds of pressure. All right. That's impressive.

So you have some baseline readings now, right? Mm-hmm.

So should we start to implement
some stimuli to potentially help motivate Bob?

Yeah. I will verbally
encourage you. Okay.

Because there's some studies
and research showing that with verbal encouragement,

we can change your physiology
and heighten your ability--Okay.

...to be more like Superman.All right. Fair enough.

This is a maximum-effort pull.
And I want to make sure that you can get it

all the way up as fast as
possible, as hard as possible.All right.

So when you're ready, go.
Come on, Bob.

Pull, pull, pull.There it is.
Go, go, go, go.

Pull, pull.
Go, go, go, go, go.Go, go, go, go, go.

Go, go, pull![grunts]

All right.
Well, that's interesting.Yep. 380.

380. So that was 380 pounds
of pressure.

So a whole full
100 pounds more

just by some
verbal encouragement. Yes.

'Cause you guys yelled at me.[laughing]

We're now gonna introduce
the element of hypnosis.

[rhythmic ticking]

Go ahead and close your eyes.[rhythmic ticking continues]

And take a deep breath in
and deep breath out.

I'd like you to imagine
there are numbers appearing right in front of you,

from 200 backwards,
all the way down.

Going deeper, relax.

198. All sounds fade away.

Completely fade away.
198, 197, relaxed.

63, down...

Every fiber and cell.

One, two, and three,
and four, and five...

Open your eyes.

And welcome back.

All right?Yeah.

You know what to do?Mm-hmm.

[grunting]

[grunts]

[Quinto]
That got us to 390.

That was a full hundred pounds more-- Yeah.

...that you exerted
on that day.How you feeling?

You good?
Okay. Yeah.

[Quinto]
Okay, so we have one last test that we're gonna do.

Again, when I say "go,"
you're gonna pull as fast and as hard as you can.

Okay.
All right.Okay.

Are you ready?Yep.

[horn blares]Go!

[horn blares]Go!

[grunting]

[Zachary Quinto]
I'm on a quest to determine whether anyone

can evoke mysterious
superhuman strength.

With the help
of Dr. Steve Young,

we're doing an experiment to
see if an average guy like Bob

can recreate
the strength he found

when he bent a burning car door with his bare hands.

[grunting]

[Dr. Young]
400 pounds of pressure.

[Steve laughing] [Quinto] All right. So we're getting there.

Yeah.

[Quinto]
So the first was 280.

Then verbal encouragement was 380.

And then adrenaline spike was four?

A little bit more
than a 30 percent increase from baseline.

That's a lot.That's cool.

Do you wanna take a look
at the electromagnetic data as well?

Yeah.

The muscles were forced
to work much harder

through the adrenaline,
the verbal encouragement, as well as the hypnosis.

This gives us a clear indication
that each of those variables

played a part in changing
the dynamic of your exertion and your strength levels.

It was
the adrenaline stimulus--

[horn blares twice]Go! Go!

...that generated
the greatest response in you

and got you the closest--

what you did on that day
at 509 pounds.

I guess I should
give this a pull, right? Just to see--

see where I fall
on the spectrum.

[inhales, exhales deeply]

[grunts]

320. That's lame.

It wasn't on fire,
so what can I tell you?

[laughing]

[horn blares]Go!

[Quinto] With the help of shock stimuli,

this test confirmed that Bob
was able to draw upon

superhuman strength,

just like he did
the day he saved the man

from the burning car
in response to a crisis.

But does that mean that Bob,
or anyone for that matter,

can become superhuman
whenever we want?

Some experts believe
the answer is yes.

People can be trained
to learn how to harness these kinds of abilities.

Lots of examples
we can come up with are the extreme ones

that are due to huge dumps
of adrenalin into our blood

that allow us
to not feel some of the pain,

and allow us to have
stronger muscle contractions.

Being able to achieve,
sort of, superhuman abilities

comes down to people's ability
to will themselves through pain...

and push beyond
what would normally be thought humanly possible.

We can do more
than we think we can.

We just have to push ourselves
and have the determination to do it.

[Quinto]
I've seen how certain people become superhuman

through years of training...[yells]

while others
harness their power in a moment of crisis.

But what about people
who exhibit superhuman traits from the day they were born?

Like 38-year-old Steve Pete,

who has an incredibly
rare condition

seen in a tiny fraction
of the world's population.

I was born without
the ability to feel pain.

So I've no sense
of physical pain.Wow.

Being shielded from pain
allows him to do things

that would be impossible
for the rest of us.

So what's it like?
Can you describe the experience

of not having the sensation
of physical pain?

A lot of endurance and stuff,
'cause you can just run for hours and hours--

Is that true?Yeah.

Do you run out of breath?

Oh, yeah,
I run out of breath. Okay.

But my body doesn't hurt.

A lot of people would probably
look at that

and think that's, like,
a superpower, right?

Yeah. I've lived with it
my entire life, so it's just normal.

How old were you
when you realized that this was something that you--

Oh, very young.Very young?

Yeah. I was an infant, so...

So your parents must've
noticed it before you did.

Yeah.
And do you know how they first--

I chewed off a good portion
of my tongue.

Oh, wow. And didn't have
any kind of-- Obviously had no reaction to it.

No negative response
to it, yeah.

So is there a name
for this condition?

It's called congenital
insensitivity to pain.Okay.

And it's caused by this one gene
called SCN9A.Okay.

This gene encodes
an important protein on the neuron

that seems to be
really important in sending the signal

that says pain. Okay.

And, in your case, Mom

has one defective gene,
one good gene.One good gene.

And so does Dad.Dad-- same thing.

So the randomness of this,
like, is crazy.

It really is. There are maybe
100 people in thrld--

Less.Less than a hundred?

Probably about 40.Wow! That's insane.

[Quinto]
I was shocked by the rarity of the condition.

He doesn't know
when he's in pain,

so he pushes himself past

what would be
a conventional threshold.

When I twist my ankle,
I don't feel the pain,

but I can feel, um, like,
certain bones rubbing on both.Wow.

Breaking a bone is something
that happens quite frequently

when you're born
with this condition.

Probably throughout
my entire life,

I've had probably
about 70 or 80 broken bones.

Wow. And I fractured
three vertebrae.

I didn't exactly know
what was going on with my body.

All I knew was I was having
some discomfort

in my lower back,
so I went and saw a doctor,

and my doctor said,
"Have you been in a car wreck recently?"

I said,
"Not that I'm aware of."

They're like, "Well, you got
three fractured vertebrae."

It wasn't until
a couple months later

that I remembered
we were out sledding,

and I went and jumped
on the inner tube, and I scorpioned.

And that's the only thing
I could think of that would've caused that injury.

Sounds like
that could've been-- Yeah.

Wow. So--
So, your body

has evolved differently
because you have no sensation.

I mean, see, it is--
it's like a rabbit hole.

Steve's body and brain
seem to communicate

in an entirely different way
than most people.

And we already know the abbot
was able to control his body

through years
of training his mind.

So does being superhuman
all come down to the power of our minds?

The only way to know for sure
is to look deeper within the brain itself,

so I'm putting the abbot,
Steve Pete, and myself

to the test
at Jefferson Hospital.

We're very excited
to have you here.

We're going to be
looking at your brains.

This is an unusual group
of three people

that I don't think have ever
been studied altogether

in this kind of way.Right.

[Dr. Newberg] We're gonna get each one of you into the scanner separately.

We're going to do something
called a cold pressor test,

where we're basically gonna
put your hand into a bath of ice water,

designed to elicit
a lot of discomfort and pain.

And then, with the abbot,

we're also going to
have you meditate in a way

of helping to control
your response to the pain.

I was thinking maybe it would be
an interesting experiment

to see if I tried
to regulate it.

I understand that you have
a little bit of a meditation practice.

Comparatively a little,
but, yeah. Yeah, right.

It's an experiment,
so, you know,

it's kind of like
walking on the moon, you know?

We don't know
what we're gonna see.It's a mystery.

It is a mystery.
Exactly.Mystery.

And we start to unravel it
little pieces at a time.

Zach, come with me.

[beeping]

Whoa. Okay.

[laughter]

[Dr. Newberg]
We're good? Okay.[MRI whirring]

The best way that
this scan works is that

you wanna get
repetitive sampling,

and you wanna be able
to see what's happening multiple different times.

And what we're looking at
are changes in blood flow.

Every time he takes his hand
out and in, it's registering

the difference
between those two states.

It gives us a chance to see
what his brain looks like

when he's experiencing pain
versus when he's not.

[man]

[Quinto on speaker device]
Yeah.

Great.

He doesn't describe himself
as being an expert meditator.

He's going to do
the best he can.

So, presumably,
he may not really be able

to suppress the pain as much.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow. That's interesting.
[chuckles]

Actually, his heart rate
was much higher during the pain stimulus.

Wow.

Very low. Wow.
That's interesting. [chuckles]

All right. Yeah. We're good.
You can take him out.

[Zachary Quinto]
I'm looking deep inside the mind

to see if a brain scan
can reveal the secrets

to becoming superhuman.

What differences will we see
when we compare

an average person like me

against those with
superhuman abilities

like the abbot...[yells]

and Steve,

a man who was born without
the ability to feel pain.

Does being superhuman
all come down to mind over matter?

You actually did very well.
You, uh-- You may really be Mr. Spock.

Oh, maybe.[laughing]

So this is my brain.This is your brain.
You have a very nice brain.

It's all in good shape?It's all in good shape.

All right.
There's a top view.

As if we're slicing through--
You know,

going slice by slice,
all the way down.

Those are my eyes. What?There's your eyes.

These are the lenses
that are inside of your eyes.

Oh, my teeth.And your teeth.

So let's take a look
at the impact of the ice water test.

So here now, you put your hand
into a bath of ice water,

designed to elicit
a lot of discomfort and pain.

And the colors
represent activity.

When you see
areas of activity,

that means that an area
got turned on.

So this is the first time,
when I wasn't meditating.This is the first one.

Without meditation.
As you can see here,

you have a fair amount
of activity in the sensory area.

I mean, all of this area
in here lit up. Uh-huh.

Now, what's interesting is that,
in contrast,

you tried meditating,

and you actually wound up doing

a very good job
at reducingInteresting.

the amount of inflow
into these sensory areas of the brain.

All right. I mean, there's a few

little scattered areas here,

but there really isn't very much. Wow. All right.

So I should keep... meditating.Meditating.

Absolutely.
All right. So let's see what we get

from the abbot and from Steve.From the expert-- Yep.

Steve, welcome.
We're gonna get you into the scanner.

We're going to do a couple
of initial scans to just see where your brain is.

[whirring]

[Quinto]
Steve's genetic condition doesn't allow

the message of pain
to travel all the way to his brain

and fire off receptors
in his spinal column.

So we're gonna
be able to see it?Yeah, the colors start to form.

So there's no color,
then there's no sensation?Exactly.

[Quinto]
I want to know what the abbot feels

and how his brain processes,

um, or doesn't process
the pain sensations.

[Dr. Newberg]
If you are as good a meditator as the abbot,

how much of
a difference is there between his baseline state

and then the meditation state?

That's very interesting.Oh.

Wow. It's hard to tell yet
what that means.

We're gonna take everything,
we'll put it all together,

and we'll present everything
to all of you.

[Quinto]
Some people develop their superhuman abilities,

some people are born with them,

and others exhibit powers
in a crisis situation.

But the scary thing is,
someday scientists

may be able to engineer
superhumans,

and that day may be soon.

One thing human beings
have learned over time

is that their best intentions
often go awry.

We're not always
that good of knowing

what the downside is
of our technologies.

Over 1,000 Russian athletes

can be identified
as being involved

in manipulation to conceal
positive doping tests.

[Dr. Paul Root Wolpe]
Whatever technology we develop in order to help people

can potentially also be used
to harm people.

We can increase
people's physical strength.

We can increase
people's attention with psychotropic drugs.

We can change our physiology
so that someone can do things they couldn't do before.

For example,
there's a Japanese mechanism

that you can put
on the side of the head that completely disrupts

the ability to walk or move.

These technologies
are extremely powerful,

and therefore really susceptible
to being misused.

So the question
of human enhancement is:

what are the limits?

We're just at the beginning.

Right now, we can't
go into developing embryos

to fix a broken gene.

We can't create clone armies
of soldiers in laboratories.

We don't know how
to hack the brain yet,

but I do think that
someday that will come.

[Quinto]
It's amazing to think

that we may be
looking at a future

where we can actually
engineer superhumans.

But what about the people
we've already met?

And what could the results
of our pain response test

reveal about the power
of their superhuman minds?

It's very exciting to be able
to compare all three of you,

because you all have
different ways of experiencing pain.

These are each
of your brains.

Now, this was
the first pain scan.

This was the first time
that you guys were all

putting your hands into
the ice water bath.

The area that we're
really looking at,

which is demonstrated best
on Zach's brain,

is right here
in the sensory region of the brain.

You have the brightest
and the largest red area,

because you probably
perceive the pain the most.

But, to me,
what's very interesting is,

you tried a simple
meditation practice,

and you actually, you know,
did a very impressive job

at starting to suppress
the pain response.

I find that so fascinating.Absolutely.

Now, Steve,
you don't feel pain,

but you do feel,

so there's a little bit
of activity.

There's, like, a very
tiny little ditzel.

I think that that's reflecting, basically,

that you felt
that you were putting your hand into the ice,

and maybe you felt
a little cold.

But it wasn't really eliciting
a lot of response,

which is kind of what we know
of your condition.

Now, this is the abbot.

In some senses,
you were the most interesting.

Abbot, you have nothing
going on in there. Look at that.

This is Abbot's brain.You're on the right.

[Dr. Newberg]
This is you. Yep. And one of the things

that I thought was kind of
fascinating about this

was that the brain
didn't even change that much from,

you know, the first scan
to the second scan.

[Quinto]
Wow.

I don't really think Abbot
can help it.

I think his mind
is so evolved and developedYeah.

that it's just where it is,
right? Right.

I mean, maybe his brain
is kind of in a different state, you know, all the time.

It really reinforces
the power of mind over matter.Yes.

Our brain is able
to find a way

to allow our body
to get to a different level.

You know,
to be superhuman.

[Quinto]
I've seen extraordinary examples

of superhuman abilities...

[yells]

and now I've harnessed
these powers

within my own mind.

You, uh--
You may really be Mr. Spock.

One, [Zachary Quinto]
Throughout this journey, But can I

I've seen how different people
can become superhuman,

whether through training,
genetics, or a crisis situation.

It all comes down
to the delicate connection

between our minds
and our bodies.

I can teach you
how to be a warrior.

Now it's my turn.
I wanna know

if the abbot can teach me
to become superhuman.

Okay. All right. Let's try.So-- All right.

So, now breathe up.Mm-hmm.

Hold breathing.

And release.
All the way down to the belly.[exhaling]

Through your nose.
You breathe in.

All the way down.
Wave up.

[indistint]
And scoop.

And breathe now.

Raise up to the sky.
Breathe in.

All the way down.
Breathe.

So like a gentle--
So, one here. One,

two, and then--

After two, you can, uh...

[indistinct]

Okay.

Huh?[laughs]
Okay.

So practice by yourself
a few seconds now. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. More up.Yeah.
[exhales]

Okay. Correct.[exhales forcefully]

[exhaling forcefully]Okay.

Okay. Confident.

Okay, now breathe.Uh-huh.

Stay here.Mm-hmm.

Now stay, wait for me.

[yells]

Now, grab it here.

One...

two...

[exhales]

Okay. Ready?

Three. Go!

Okay.[chuckles]

Okay, so--

So you learn
how to break stick.Yeah. All right.

We-- Wow.Yeah.

I have no pain.That's amazing.

I mean, that's... crazy.

I really did feel
connected to him

when I broke the stick
over his arm.

I didn't know if I would feel
capable of doing it,

but then, in the act of it,
I felt a kind of trust.

Obviously I've never
done this before, so--

That's incredible.[mutters]

There was a real power to it

that allowed me to do it.

While the supernatural powers

within our minds and our bodies remain a mystery,

there is something more
to human potential

than we ever thought possible.

Wherever their powers
come from, superhumans are out there,

and maybe within us all.

But how far
we will take those powers

remains unknown.

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