Inheritance variation and evolution

The development of artificial selection in farming | Science of the Harvest

Stefan Gates reveals the ways in which plant breeders can speed up natural selection.

2: Born Equal? | Andrew Marr on Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Andrew Marr explores Darwin's impact on politics and society, including how the theory of natural selection has been ...

3: Life and Death | Andrew Marr on Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Andrew Marr discovers how Darwin's ideas are helping mankind to save life on earth from extinction. He explains Da...

1: Body and Soul | Andrew Marr on Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Andrew Marr explores how Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has taken on a life of its own far beyon...

Charles Darwin And The Tree Of Life

David Attenborough is a passionate Darwinian, and sees evolution as the cornerstone of all the programmes and series he has ever made. He...

The Tree of Life | Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

David Attenborough takes us on a journey through time from the first cells through to the complex animals that inhabit...

Gregor Mendel, Francis Crick and James Watson | Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

David Attenborough explores how the discovery of DNA provided further evidence for Darwi...

Evidence for evolution | Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

David Attenborough explores how the process of evolution produces such astonishing variety.

Natural Selection and Darwin's finches | Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

David Attenborough outlines Darwin's discovery of the theories of evolution and natural selection.

How fossils and living animals provide links between animal groups | Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

Passionate Darwinian David Attenborough looks at the evidence for ev...

Darwin | Bitesize Secondary

A selection of clips taken from BBC programmes about Darwin and evolutionary biology. The programme includes material on adaptation and natural s...

What contributions has The Human Genome Project made? | Dara O'Briain's Science Club

When the human genome was sequenced, it was heralded as one of the most significant even...

How many genes do we have compared to a banana? | Dara O'Briain's Science Club

Dara O'Briain explores how many genes humans have in common with mice, fruit flies, and bananas.

2: Unlocking the Code | The Gene Code

Adam Rutherford shows how decoding the human genome has led us to begin to understand the very process by which our DNA makes each one ...

1: The Book of Life | The Gene Code

Adam Rutherford explores how the entire human genome was decoded, discovering that every human carries the entire story of life on earth ...

5: What Is the Secret of Life? | The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion

How the secret of life has been examined through the prism of the most complex organism known...

Unlocking The Code | The Gene Code

Dr Adam Rutherford takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride as he explores the consequences of one of the biggest scientific projects of a...

Our genetic code | The Gene Code

The human genome is the total of our hereditary information, the complete list of every single one of the three billion bases in our DNA.

DNA Discovery | The Gene Code

How does the DNA code work?

The production of proteins | The Cell

An explanation and visualisation of DNA, RNA, and the production of protein, the process at the heart of every living cell on earth.

The first images of DNA | The Cell

Adam Rutherford explains how the work of scientist Rosalind Franklin produced the first images of the structure of DNA.

The structure of DNA | The Cell

Adam Rutherford explains and illustrates the structure of DNA, and the way its discovery revealed the secret of how genes are reproduced when...

The discovery of chromosomes | The Cell

Adam Rutherford explores how scientists used better microscopes and new chemical dyes to discover and name chromosomes.

Sickle cell disease | Storyville

Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease, caused by a single change in the DNA sequence.

10/05/2016 | Science Cafe

Adam Walton looks at the work of the National Centre for Mental Health in Cardiff, where scientists are exploring the question of whether genes aff...

Key parts of the cell | Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell

An amazing visualisation of the cell's structure, and how DNA works within it.

Clones | i-Science

Daphne and Barbara are so similar because they are clones, two people who have exactly the same genetic makeup. When their mother was pregnant, her fertil...

Chromosomes | Curriculum Bites

Schools science programme where topics in the double science curriculum are broken down into small chunks.

A new type of screening | A World Without Down's Syndrome?

Sally Phillips discusses a new, and far more accurate, type of embryo screening for Down's Syndrome with the profe...

Medical attitudes to Down's Syndrome | A World Without Down's Syndrome?

A mother of a child with Down's Syndrome gives a talk about problems with how the medical profession ...

Genome sequencing | A World Without Down's Syndrome?

Sally Phillips talks to Razib Khan, the first scientist in the world to fully sequence an embryo's DNA.

Dominant and recessive genes | Short Circuit

A simple, illustrated explanation of how dominant and recessive genes determine characteristics in animals.

Dominant and recessive genes | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explains DNA and dominant and recessive genes.

Gene therapy for cystic fibrosis | i-Science

Spec references J247: B6.3l J250: B6.3i. An example of a genetic disease, cystic fibrosis. Someone sharing their experiences of ...

Genetic switches | The Cell

Adam Rutherford meets the scientist Walter Jakob Gehring, who worked with a team of scientists to understand genetic switches.

The Gene Genie | Panorama

Jane Corbin on the race which is underway to discover the genes that determine people's suusceptibility to illness and disease. In America a ''brav...

Predicting the future | DNA Family Secrets

Geneticists can predict the future by testing for genetic anomalies that can cause inherited diseases, like huntingtons.

S4E6 | Bang Goes the Theory

Liz Bonnin looks at the controversial science of genetically modified crops in Hawaii, while Dallas tries to remedy Jem's dust allergy by making ...

Vavilov and the first seed banks | Botany: A Blooming History

Nikolai Vavilov’s work crossing plant varieties led him to establish the first seed bank.

Genetically Modified Papaya | Bang Goes the Theory

An examination of the need for, and the potential issues with, the genetic modification of papayas in Hawaii.

Artificial selection | Short Circuit

The breeding of racehorses with desirable characteristics is an example of artificial selection.

Variation, inheritance and the work of Mendel | Botany: A Blooming History

How pioneer botanists opened the door to a new branch of science - plant genetics.

Selective breeding | Countryfile

For thousands of years we have been selectively breeding farm animals to make them more and more productive. But in recent years there has b...

Robert Bakewell | Countryfile

Adam finds out about his farming hero, Robert Bakewell. Back in the 18th century, Bakewell introduced the concept of selective breeding into fa...

3: Hidden World | Botany: A Blooming History

Timothy Walker looks at how pioneer botanists unlocked the patterns found in different types of plants and opened the door to a ...

The genetic modification debate | Science Britannica - Learning Zone

Brian Cox explores the science behind the genetic modification of plants, and the ongoing debate around ...

Can Science Make Me Perfect? with Alice Roberts

Anatomist Alice Roberts embarks on a quest to rebuild her own body from scratch, taking inspiration from the very best design...

The perfect human? | Can science make me perfect? With Alice Roberts

What evolution has provided us with is a human body that works as a whole package: you can't replace ind...

What is a gene? | The Gene Code

In the 1980s in Britain, the search to link diseases to specific genes began by focusing on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Brave New World | Storyville

There are many moral and ethical concerns about the extent to which science should utilise our knowledge of genetic engineering.

Programmable protein | Storyville

CRISPR could potentially help people with inherited diseases, such as sickle cell disease, in the future.

Discovering the holy grail | Storyville

A yoghurt company discovered their holy grail, which just happened to be CRISPR: a microbial immune system.

Engineering the genome | Storyville

Gene therapy, is contoversial, complex, yet valuable science.

The Gene Race | Horizon

Two teams of researchers, one in US, one in UK use radically different genetic techniques in the race to find an effective treatment against cystic f...

Consultation announced on gene editing | Farming Today

The government are going to hold a consultation in the autumn on whether to allow gene editing. Charlotte Smith hears ...

Selective breeding and the 'Green Revolution' | Botany: A Blooming History

Norman Borlaug used selective breeding techniques to improve wheat production in Mexico. He produc...

IVF | How Science Changed Our World

Professor Robert Winston meets families who benefitted from breakthrough's in research which lead to IVF treatments.

The Beasts Within | Walking with Beasts

A look behind the scenes at the making of the series on prehistoric mammals. TV special effects show how Man's dextrous hands & expre...

Triumph of the Beasts | Walking with Beasts

The incredible story of how mammals took over from the dinosaurs as the largest, fastest and fiercest creatures on Earth.

Mammoth Journey | Walking with Beasts

Last in the series follows a herd of mammoths as they make their way south for winter, running a gauntlet of ice-age hunters including ...

Sabre Tooth | Walking with Beasts

This episode follows the progress of a Smilodon called Half Tooth. Smilodon was the largest of all the sabre tooth cats which roamed South ...

Next of Kin | Walking with Beasts

We travel back 3 million years to Ethiopia, where Australopithecus, one of the first upright apes, lived in danger of being hunted by sabre...

Land of Giants | Walking with Beasts

25 million years ago in the Oligocene Epoch lived the Indricotheres. Weighing 15 tonnes and standing 7 metres tall, they were the larges...

Whale Killer | Walking with Beasts

36 million years ago mammals ruled the world. It is in the sea, however, that the most monstrous mammals can be found.

New Dawn | Walking with Beasts

The series following on from Walking with Dinosaurs. begins 49 million years ago. The world is heavily forested and birds rule the planet, pre...

Vavilov and the first seed banks | Botany: A Blooming History

Nikolai Vavilov’s work crossing plant varieties led him to establish the first seed bank.

Why can we classify species? | Botany: A Blooming History

Timothy Walker explores how Darwin's Theory of Evolution influenced 19th century botanists' understanding of how an...

The first hybrid plant | Botany: A Blooming History

Thomas Fairchild was the first to artificially cross two plant species and produce a new hybrid plant. This brought him i...

The standardisation of names | Botany: A Blooming History

Timothy Walker looks at how Carl Linnaeus came up with his new naming system for plant species, and how it set the ...

Variation and defining species | Botany: A Blooming History

Timothy Walker looks at John Ray's discovery of variation, and how it formed the basis of our understanding of pl...

The first classification of plants | Botany: A Blooming History

Timothy Walker explores the beginnings of the classification of plants.

Variation, inheritance and the work of Mendel | Botany: A Blooming History

How pioneer botanists opened the door to a new branch of science - plant genetics.

5: A Great Gamble | Human

Around 12,000 years ago, as the Ice Age finally thawed, humanity made a dramatic shift - abandoning nomadic life for permanent settlements.

4: Discovering the Americas | Human

During the height of the Ice Age, one of the coldest times humanity has ever known, Homo sapiens steps into the last habitable continents...

3: Last Humans Standing | Human

Shocking new insights into the demise of modern humans' sister species, the Neanderthals, Homo sapiens's possible role in their downfall and ...

1: The First of Us | Human

The extraordinary story of how the human species, Homo sapiens, first emerged, where the discoveries of recent years are revolutionising the under...

2: Into the Unknown | Human

Following early Homo sapiens's ancestors as they step out of Africa and venture into the wider world, heading into areas inhabited by other human...