In the media, any mention of stem cells is meant to offer a beacon of hope for our health as a species. These cells carry the burden of holding promise for everything from antiaging, to curing neurodegenerative diseases to treating cancer. But what is the true potential of stem cells for the more immediate future as seen by scientists today? In what fields are we closest to realizing this potential? And what are the biggest, boldest questions that are being asked? In part one of this two-part episode, we sat down with Dr. Magdalena Götz, Director of the Institute of Stem Cell Research at the Helmholtz Center Munich and Chair of Physiological Genomics at the Biomedical Center of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University. Here, we cover the role of the neural stem cells that reside in our own brains, the use of exogenous stem cells in transplantation therapy, and how recent advances in genetic technologies can control cell fate, allowing us to then, potentially, control our own.