Inheritance variation and evolution

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...

02: 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...

01: 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 beyo...

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...

06: The Human Race | Bellamy Rides Again

Having examined the earth's life-support systems, David Bellamy turns his attention to the human beings who depend upon them. Every ...

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...

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.

S03E05: South | Local Heroes

Adam Hart-Davis continues his search for unsung heroes of science when he cycles around the south of England. On a stop-off in Surrey, he uses a...

03: 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 D...

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...

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.

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...

The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature | Storyville

The biggest tech revolution of the 21st century isn't digital, it's biological. What will CRISPR mean for human evolu...

05: 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 know...

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...

01: 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...

A World Without Down's Syndrome?

Documentary about Down's syndrome and the ethics of pregnancy screening, exploring the thinking around the proposed new screening test and i...

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...

The ethics of genetic screening | A World Without Down's Syndrome?

A genetics expert talks about the ethics of screening and a Down's Syndrome activist talks about how to pr...

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.

Playing God | Horizon

Adam Rutherford meets the spider-goat, created by scientists and the product of a new field of research - synthetic biology.

02: Predictor | How to Build a Human

A look at the veracity of scientists' claims that they are on the verge of being able to predict our futures by analysing our genes and ...

02: 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...

Chromosomes | Curriculum Bites

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

42500 | 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 affect m...

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.

Sickle cell disease | Storyville

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

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...

DNA Discovery | The Gene Code

How does the DNA code work?

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

IVF | How Science Changed Our World

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

Embryonic stem cells | i-Science

Stem cell research raises ethical issues, which makes some people uncomfortable about it, in spite of the potential benefits.

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

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

The genetic modification debate | Science Britannica - Learning Zone

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

2010-2011: 07: Panda Makers | Natural World

Wildlife film following The Chengdu Research Base project in China, which aims to breed 300 pandas and then start introducing the...

S03E15: East Midlands | Local Heroes

Adam Hart-Davis cycles to Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire to find out about this week's heroes. They include Frank Whittle, who inven...

Dolly: The Sheep That Changed the World

Documentary telling the story of the scientists who created Dolly, the sheep that changed the world.

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...

02: Predictor | How to Build a Human

A look at the veracity of scientists' claims that they are on the verge of being able to predict our futures by analysing our genes and ...

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...

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 ...

03: 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 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...

S04E06 | 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 makin...

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.

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...

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.

03: The Will to Win | Human Instinct

He explores the drive to succeed, looking at how different chemicals are released into the brain when we win or lose, and learning about...

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

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

01: A Confusion of Names | Botany: A Blooming History

Timothy Walker reveals how the work of Carl Linnaeus, Phillip Miller and John Ray unlocked the mysteries of the plant k...

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 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 ...

03: The Meaning of Beauty | Human Mutants

*Contains graphic images and nudity* Leroi uses cutting-edge genetics and embryology to explore what it means to be normal and why ...

02: The Dangerous Womb | Human Mutants

*Contains graphic images and nudity* Armand Leroi explores the making of the human form in the womb,using cutting-edge genetics and em...

01: The Mystery of Growth | Human Mutants

*Contains graphic images and nudity* Armand Leroi looks at how we grow and what happens when that growth mechanism goes wrong.

04: Natural Born Heroes | Human Instinct

In this last programme, Professor Robert Winston discovers why we do so much for friends and family, and will even risk our lives fo...

01: Born To Survive | Human Instinct

A series in which Professor Robert Winston examines human instincts and patterns of behaviour. In this edition: instincts for survival i...

04: 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 continent...

05: 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.

03: 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...

02: 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 huma...

01: 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 unde...

03: Mendel and the Pea | The Six Experiments That Changed The World

From Galileo to Einstein, from Faraday to Mendel: modern scientists try to recreate the seminal experimen...

03: 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 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.

06: 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 includ...