Is there life in your PC?
Cuckoos and their victims
The sight of a little warbler feeding an enormous cuckoo chick has astonished observers since ancient times. It was once thought that cuckoos were unable to raise their own young because of defective anatomy and behaviour, and so other birds were onl....
More details | Watch nowThe Science of Chillies
Can the wheat which grows in dry areas solve the food crisis?
Chiho describes her important work in looking for varieties of wheat which could help increase food production in arid areas.
More details | Watch nowGrowing gold-banded lilies with fungi
Tomoha describes her work in helping preserve this threatened species of plant.
More details | Watch nowWheat gets over global warming.
Nao describes her work in investigating the ways in which wheat can be made to cope with the higher temperatures expected from global warming.
More details | Watch nowSoil Recovery by Re-use
Aki decribes her experiments in improving soils using various buffering materials.
More details | Watch nowStream affect barnacles shell direction
An interesting look at how the direction of water flow affects shell growth in barnacles.
More details | Watch nowBacterial cell walls, antibiotics and the origins of life
TheĀ cell wall is a crucial structure found in almost allĀ bacteria. It is the target for our best antibiotics and fragments of the wall trigger powerful innate immune responses against infection. Surprisingly, many bacteria can switch almost effortl....
More details | Watch nowGreen Fluorescent Protein: Lighting up Life
The accidental discovery of this wonderful tool has changed the face of biology.
More details | Watch nowThe End of Disease
Understanding the Cell cycle
The biology of Striga
One of the major parasites is striga, a weed that sucks the juice and nutrients from cereal crops such as millet, sorghum and maize and causes great yield losses. A single striga plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. The seeds are so tiny....
More details | Watch now‘Witch Weed’ – breaking the spell
Striga (witchweed) is a parasitic weed that seriously constrains the productivity of staples such as maize, sorghum, millet and upland rice on some farms in Uganda.Ā Kilimo Trust supported this initiative to try and control its spread.
More details | Watch nowWhy the Preservation of the Rhino is Destroying our Planet
Is there a collision between conserving a single rare species and much wider habitat preservation.
More details | Watch nowGenetic control and the mammalian radiation
To grow tissues in our body two key types of DNA control how, where and when to build essential proteins. Recent comparisons of mammal genomes show that instructions coding how to build proteins are similar across diverse species. In contrast the gen....
More details | Watch nowTargeting the human kinome: cancer drug discovery
This lecture discusses how the discovery of the Philadelphia chromosome provided the first example of a link between cancer and a recurrent genetic abnormality. This chromosomal translocation, which results in activation of the Abl protein kinase, re....
More details | Watch nowHow embryos build organs to last a lifetime
All the organs of our body originate from small founder populations of cells which multiply into complex structures. ĆAdult stem cells are used to maintain organs throughout adult life and to repair or regenerate them after damage.Ć Focusing on the....
More details | Watch nowNeuroNavigation: how the brain represents the space we live in and finds our way around
Learning about new environments or locating ourselves in familiar environments are some of the most fundamental tasks that the brain performs. Information is not stored in response to biological needs such as hunger or thirst but on the basis of cogn....
More details | Watch nowFrom bench to bedside: KATP channels and neonatal diabetes
Whether you eat a whole box of chocolates or fast for the day, the pancreatic beta-cells ensure that your blood glucose level remains relatively constant by regulating the release of insulin from the pancreatic beta-cells. Diabetes results when insul....
More details | Watch nowGenetic fingerprinting: past, present and future
Alec Jeffreys presents the origins of DNA fingerprinting through to the latest developments and their social impact
More details | Watch nowProducing Biogas and Identifying Bacteria
Bacteria which adhere to plants have ability to produce gases such as hydrogen, methane or ammonia. These are called biogas. Biogas is recognized as new and clean source of energy. I wanted to know what kind of bacteria produce biogas. I isolated bac....
More details | Watch nowYakushima Research Programe 2012
This research was carried out at the Yakushima island, in Kagoshima, Japan, in July 2012.We looked at Yakushimaās (wild) plants and sea turtles to compare with Yokohamaās (city). We did two researches there, Line transect and Vegetation. In the L....
More details | Watch nowCloning
Why is cloning such hot science? What are the potential benefits? And are there other ways of achieving them? What are stem cells, and why do many scientists say that embryonic cells are required for this work?
More details | Watch nowNobel Lives
An audience with Nobel prize winners John Sulston FRS and Sydney Brenner FRS, who talk to Sarah Montague of BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, about their lives in science and their visions for the future.
More details | Watch nowIs biodiversity going the way of the Dodo?
Panel discussion with Professor Jonathan Baillie, Dr William Cheung, Professor Adrian Lister and chaired by Dr Susan Lieberman, as part of the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2011. Ā Right now one-fifth of the worldās vertebrates are classi....
More details | Watch nowNature’s glass: half-full or half-empty?
Andrew Balmford FRS is Professor of Conservation Science at University of Cambridge. Ā The worldās governments failed to meet their pledge of reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Wild populations, their habitats, and the benefits they pr....
More details | Watch nowThe Zoological World of Edward Lear
Clemency Fisher is Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at National Museums Liverpool. Edward Lear is most famous for his Nonsense Rhymes, such as āThe Owl and the Pussycatā and āThe Quangle Wangleās Hatā, but he was also a talented zoological art....
More details | Watch nowNerve tissue engineering
Research staff explain how they are developing nerve guidance channels for repairing peripheral nerve injury
More details | Watch nowFibroblasts and Oesophageal Cancer
Does the anatomical source of fibroblasts affect their behaviour within a 3D composite model of oesophageal adenocarcinoma invasion?
More details | Watch nowLighting up cells
A presentation about fluorescing cells by a Senior Lecturer in Bionanotechnology in the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield
More details | Watch nowThe cuckoo egg mystery
Everything we touch is dirty!
Pandemic Influenza: one flu over the cuckoo’s nest
Where do the pandemic influenza viruses come from and why did experts fail to predict the severity of the 2009 pandemic? However to date, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza has been much less severe than the 1918 Spanish influenza.
More details | Watch nowCloning, stem cells and regenerative medicine
Extraordinary opportunities to study the molecular mechanisms that cause inherited diseases are being provided by new methods of producing stem cells. Hear about not only the potential value of these new methods, but also how their development was pr....
More details | Watch nowOur genomes, our history
Genetic differences between humans reflect the fundamental processes, such as mutation, recombination and natural selection, which have influenced our evolutionary history. Now that we can chart the genomes of many individuals, we are finding many su....
More details | Watch nowCape Gannets
Study on Cape Gannets, a new prey for quickly adapting Great White Pelicans on Malgas Island, South Africa. First observed in 2008. Result of indirect human involvement; Cape Gannets should be reconsidered for conservation management.
More details | Watch nowBody Fuel for Long Distances
In my geoset project I will be discussing the effects of nutrition in long distance endurance. Topics include saturating carbohydrate stores before a race, the Krebs (citric acid) cycle, the effects of dehydration and hyponatremia, and replenishing y....
More details | Watch nowMammalian biodiversity: past, present, future?
Beautiful and charismatic, mammals are biodiversity icons. But a quarter of mammalian species are now threatened with extinction, as ecosystems reel under the impact of a growing and ever more demanding human population. This lecture explores the his....
More details | Watch nowThree score years and then? The new biology of ageing
Ageing is the single greatest challenge facing our society today. Recent breakthroughs have demonstrated that it is possible to combine a long life with the absence of age-related disease. Scientists at the forefront of this research will explain the....
More details | Watch nowGenetic fingerprinting and beyond
Professor Jeffreys will describe how DNA typing can be used to solve casework and will review the latest developments, including the creation of major national DNA databases that are proving extraordinarily effective in the fight against crime.
More details | Watch nowThe Music of Life
This event at Sheffield University formed part of a series on Arts-Science Encounters. Stories from The Music of Life related by Denis Noble are interwoven with performances of relevant pieces of classical guitar music by the world-class performer, C....
More details | Watch nowThe great ideas of biology
Three of the ideas of biology are the gene theory, the theory of evolution by natural selection and the proposal that the cell is the fundamental unit of all life. A fourth idea is that the organization of chemistry within the cell provides explanati....
More details | Watch nowPlasticity of the brain: the key to human development.
How do our genes program the complexity of our brains? Why is human culture so much richer than that of the Great Apes? And how has human cognitive achievement continued to accelerate, when our genetic makeup has changed very little over the past 100....
More details | Watch nowThe breakdown of macro-nutrients
Presentation on the breakdown of macro-nutrients. The chemical decomposition of macronutrients, which includes carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids.
More details | Watch nowMitochondrial DNA Testing
Neurochemistry
A presentation on neurochemistry - the effects of drugs and nutrition are also discussed.
More details | Watch nowThe Neuroscience of Music
The origins of flowers
Flowers are such a ubiquitous and familiar part of our modern world that it is easy to take them for granted. But as Darwin recognized, the exquisite details of their structure and appearance have been shaped by evolutionary processes over millions o....
More details | Watch nowIs the Great Barrier Reef on Death Row?
Professor J.E.N Veron, the former Chief Scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and widely regarded as the world's leading authority on coral reef ecosystems, presents the effects that climate change is having on coral reefs.
More details | Watch nowDeep sea discoveries
Recent underwater images show that the deep sea realm of the British Isles is nothing like the monotonous expanse of mud that many people imagine. Spectacular coral reefs, once thought to be restricted to the tropics, are now known to occur in the ch....
More details | Watch nowEvolution and Creationism
Dr Adam Rutherford investigates the idea that the teaching of evolution is being threatened by a rise in creationism amongst religious students.nRutherford speaks to the former Director of Education at the Royal Society, Reverend Professor Michael Re....
More details | Watch nowPlatypus Genome
The duck-billed platypus is a truly unique animal; a monotreme with almost no close relatives alive on earth. Scientists just had to take a look at that genome and here they discuss their findings.
More details | Watch nowWhale Evolution
The marine mammals known as cetaceans originated about 50 million years ago in south Asia, but their terrestrial ancestor is something of a mystery. Hans Thewissen and colleagues now provide the missing Eocene piece of the jigsaw.
More details | Watch nowNobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan
Venki Ramakrishnan was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 'studies of the structure and function of the ribosome', the cell's protein-making factory. In this interview, he talks about his surprise at winning the prize, and what it meant to....
More details | Watch nowDavid Attenborough on Darwin – Part 1
British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough presents his views on Charles Darwin, natural selection, and how the Bible has put the natural world in peril in an exclusive interview for Nature Video.
More details | Watch nowThe Wild, Wild World of the Florida Panhandle
D. Bruce Means gives a presentation of the ecological and biological diversity of the region around the Florida panhandle. Dr. Means gave particular attention to the unique climate and environment of the area. He lists the region as one of six biol....
More details | Watch nowRecent Developments in our Understanding of the Biology of the Octopus Family
Sheeva Yazdani presents on the biology of octopuses (octopi?) and recent developments in our understanding.
More details | Watch nowThe Development, Treatment and Future of Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria.
Branden Anglin presents on the development, treatment and possible future of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
More details | Watch nowThe Role and Species of Beetles Worldwide
Vinnie LaBarbera presents on the role and species of beetles worldwide, including some slides of his own work at the FSU Biological Sciences Department.
More details | Watch nowUsing magnetics to repair nerve damage
A novel method of guiding nerve growth after accidents and traumas. Microscopic magnetic beads can be used to give direction to nerve re-growth.
More details | Watch nowRemarkable Creatures – Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species
A lecture given as part of the Origins 09 series at Florida State University to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species'. Sean B. Carroll is a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of Wisconsin-M....
More details | Watch nowDarwin’s Four Great Books
A lecture given as part of the Origins 09 series at Florida State University to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species'. Now in his 80th year, Alabama-born Edward Osborne (E.O.) Wilson has long enjoyed a reputation as ....
More details | Watch nowMax Perutz Interview – 2
The concluding part of an interview with the 1962 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.
More details | Watch nowNuts and Bolts of the Mind
Susan Greenfield conducts us on an exhilarating tour of brain. A brief fascinating historical introduction is followed by a discussion on our present, admittedly limited, understanding of this amazing organ. Members of the group handle (and dissect) ....
More details | Watch nowIn the Oceans
Satellite, ship survey and computer modelling studies of the workings of the marine environment are used explore present fish supplies worldwide. The desperate need for global 'farming' strategies necessary to ensure that the Oceans can continue to p....
More details | Watch nowFlight in Birds and Aeroplanes
John Maynard Smith, one of our most eminent evolutionary biologists and scientific communicators originally trained as an engineer and spent the war years designing aircraft. He describes the way that flight developed in the animal kingdom. The fossi....
More details | Watch nowStructural and Mechanistic Studies of Ion Channels
In this interview MacKinnon, Nobel Prizewinner in Chemistry, 2003, discusses Max Perutz and then his own research. He says his course into science was quite sequacious and he really didn't start science until he was about 30 as he had a strong intere....
More details | Watch nowPredicting Personality
To what extent is our personality dictated by our genetic makeup? Groundbreaking new research in the fields of genetics and MRI Scanning are only now making it possible to tackle these questions, and the results are sometimes surprising. What makes u....
More details | Watch nowThe End of Evolution?
Have advances in modern medicine put an end to evolution in humans? If not, how is the human race evolving?
More details | Watch nowFred Sanger – Father of Molecular Biology
Fred Sanger is often considered the father of modern molecular biology, and is one of the few people to have been awarded two Nobel prizes. Working in Cambridge he developed a new chromatographic method for determining amino-acid end-groups. His n....
More details | Watch nowJohn Cornforth
Video of John 'Kappa' Cornforth who was born in Australia, and has been profoundly deaf since his teens. He moved into the field of organic chemistry at Sydney University where he met his wife Rita. Together they moved to Oxford and had a profound in....
More details | Watch nowEdmond Fischer
Winner of the Nobel Prize 1992 in Medicine / Physiology together with Edwin G. Krebs 'for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism'
More details | Watch nowEntomologist
Rob Hutchinson is an entomologist and one of the top mosquito experts in Europe whose work assesses the risk of Malaria returning to UK. He has developed a great interest in mosquito biology and did a masters degree at the School of Tropical Medicine....
More details | Watch nowPlague-carrying crayfish
The Origin of Life
In modern organisms, there is a division of labour between two kinds of molecule: DNA, which stores and transmits genetic information, and proteins, which do all the work. They are connected by the 'genetic code', whereby DNA specifies what kinds of ....
More details | Watch nowUsing Algae to Help Solve the Energy Problem
Review of world energy problems and their possible solutions; A novel use of algae to produce bio-diesel.
More details | Watch now