Body Alchemy with Hugh Herr and Ana Rajčević
For millennia, the boundaries of our physical selves have been dictated by the slow, unyielding crawl of natural selection. Evolution designed the human hand, the leg, and the eye, leaving us to navigate the world within rigid biological borders. Today, however, a quiet revolution on the fringes of neural interfacing, bionic engineering and regenerative medicine is blurring the line between machine and organism—transforming the cyborg from a well-worn trope of science fiction into an imminent, lived reality.
Following presentations of their respective work, biophysicist Hugh Herr and artist-research scientist Ana Rajčević will sit down with Pioneer Works Director of Sciences Janna Levin to dismantle our assumptions about human anatomy. Herr approaches this frontier from the realm of extreme engineering, building highly responsive bionic limbs that fuse directly with human muscle and bone. Rajčević approaches it from the avant-garde, designing non-anthropomorphic robotic body extensions and relational design systems that look less like traditional prosthetics and more like evolutionary leaps.
This work begins with restoration—returning movement, touch, and function to bodies altered by injury or disease—but it does not end there. The implications stretch far beyond standard medical therapy. Together, Herr and Rajčević treat the human form not as a fixed biological condition, but as a malleable medium. Their collaborative research asks a radical question: What happens when the human brain is wired to operate an anatomy it was never built to control—like a soft, flexible appendage modeled after an octopus? When our nervous systems comfortably adapt to non-human forms, we are forced to redefine the very parameters of selfhood and agency.
Join us as we look past what our bodies were born to do and toward the alchemy of what we might choose to become.
Before and after the conversation, enjoy stargazing in the garden with the Amateur Astronomers Association (weather permitting).
Please note that seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
About the speakers
Dr. Hugh Herr is a pioneer of the Bionic Age. After losing both legs to a climbing accident, he engineered his own specialized prostheses to return to the sport at an elite level. Named a “Leader of the Bionic Age” by TIME magazine, he is a Professor at the MIT Media Lab, Director of the MIT Biomechatronics Group, and Co-Director of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics. His breakthrough innovations—including the EmPower ankle-foot prosthesis and novel mechanoneural interfaces that connect the human nervous system directly to synthetic computation—marry physiology with electromechanics to restore mobility and redefine the boundaries of the body. The author of more than 350 peer-reviewed publications and patents, Herr’s work aims to fundamentally transform the relationship between humanity and technology.
Dr. Ana Rajčević is an artist and research scientist whose work exists at the avant-garde intersection of anatomy, embodied design, and robotics. She is a Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where she leads Hybrid Embodiments research within the Biomechatronics Group, as well as a Distinguished Artist at MIT’s Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST). Over the past decade, she has driven groundbreaking investigations into chimeric embodiment — asking whether humans can inhabit non-anthropomorphic, animal-inspired body architectures, such as a neurally integrated, octopus-inspired robotic limb, that challenge traditional boundaries of human form and cognition. Her award-winning work has been exhibited globally, including at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Triennial, the Venice Design Biennale, and the Science Museum London.
Janna Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. A Guggenheim Fellow, she has contributed to our understanding of black holes, extra dimensions, and cosmology. She is the Founding Director of Sciences at Pioneer Works and the co-editor-in-chief of Pioneer Works Broadcast. She often contributes to news, documentaries, and radio, including as the presenter of the NOVA feature Black Hole Apocalypse on PBS and as a contributor to CBS, CNN, and NBC. She has authored books on black holes and the universe—Black Hole Blues, How the Universe Got its Spots, and Black Hole Survival Guide—as well as a PEN award–winning novel, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines. You can find her current writings in Higher Dimensions.
This program is supported by the Simons Foundation's Science, Society and Culture division.