DNA

The Lost Tribes of Humanity

The Lost Tribes of Humanity

The Lost Tribes of Humanity: Alice Roberts explores recent discoveries in the study of human origins, revealing the transformation that has been brought about in this field by genetics. Traditional paleo-anthropology, based on fossils, is being transformed by advanced genome sequencing techniques. We now know that there were at least four other distinct species of human on the planet at the same time as us – some of them identified from astonishingly well-preserved DNA extracted from 50,000-year-old bones, others hinted at by archaic sections of DNA hidden in our modern genome. What’s more, we now know that our ancestors met […]

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The Gene - An Intimate History episode 2

The Gene – An Intimate History episode 2

The Gene – An Intimate History episode 2: Part Two begins with the story of the signature scientific achievement of our time: the mapping of the human genome. As scientists learn to read the genetic code, they grapple with the dangers inherent in increasingly sophisticated and easily available methods of intervening in the very essence of what makes us human, our DNA.     “The Gene: An Intimate History” brings vividly to life the story of today’s revolution in medical science through present-day tales of patients and doctors at the forefront of the search for genetic treatments, interwoven with a

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The Gene - An Intimate History episode 1

The Gene – An Intimate History episode 1

The Gene – An Intimate History episode 1: brings vividly to life the story of today’s revolution in medical science through present-day tales of patients and doctors at the forefront of the search for genetic treatments, interwoven with a compelling history of the discoveries that made this possible and the ethical challenges raised by the ability to edit DNA with precision.     Part One interweaves the present-day story of the Rosens, a young family on an odyssey to find a cure for their four-year old daughter’s rare genetic disease, with stories of the exciting discoveries of the early pioneers

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The Story of Science episode 5 - What Is the Secret of Life

The Story of Science episode 5 – What Is the Secret of Life?

The Story of Science episode 5 – What Is the Secret of Life? – The story of how the secret of life has been examined through the prism of the most complex organism known – the human body.     It begins with attempts to save the lives of gladiators in Ancient Rome, unfolds with the macabre work and near-perfect drawings of Leonardo in the Renaissance, through the idea of the ‘life force’ of electricity, to the microscopic world of the cell. It reveals how a moral crisis unleashed by work on the nuclear bomb helped trigger a great breakthrough

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