Summary: Why are girls entering puberty at progressively younger ages? Why are the rates of heart attack, cancer, and adult-onset diabetes rising? This program examines growing indications that food affects our genes-a concept vitally important to the science of epigenetics. Viewers encounter a wide range of experiments, case studies, and historical evidence, including Dutch birth records and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Even as some governments and activists work to prevent human cloning, it can be assumed that, in a laboratory somewhere on this planet, scientists are moving closer to cloning a human being. This program offers an extraordinary and at times unsettling look at rapid advances in what is perhaps the most controversial area of genetic science. Both sides of the ethical debate over cloning are...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Our body is composed of billions of cells, but how does each cell know what to become? This program starts with the nucleus of a single cell and then explains the other components the cell needs to function: chromosomes, genes, DNA, and ribosomes. From hair color to height, our genes determine who we are. This program explores, through animated graphics, all of the basic genetic building blocks...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: When you look at a family photo, the resemblances, even across several generations, can be striking. What role do genes play, and why aren't siblings identical (and why are some)? This program explains how the formation of sex cells, from the first gamete to chromosome pairs, determines our genetic makeup. Deviations such as cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, achondroplasia, Klinefelter...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program offers an overview of genetics and cloning as they occur both in nature and in the laboratory while addressing the ethical and social implications of genetic engineering. Genes, chromosomes, and DNA are identified, and the process of cell fertilization is demonstrated. Identical human twins are presented as an example of naturally occurring clones. The synthesis of human insulin...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: How far should people be allowed to go in trying to have better babies? And whose definition of “better” should prevail? This Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Dateline NBC correspondent John Hockenberry considers the ethical dilemmas facing individuals and society that grow out of prenatal testing and genetic options that may be available in the future—such as cloning. Panelists include...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: How accurate is the term "identical twins"? Can a cell-for-cell likeness between two siblings really exist? And what does that say about the supposed uniqueness of each human being? This program examines the genetics, physiology, and psychology behind such questions as it presents fascinating real-world case studies of identical twin development. Viewers meet monozygotic twins raised apart and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: One of Australia's most distinguished scientists, Dr. Alan Trounson administered early IVF fertility treatments and is now an internationally recognized leader in stem cell research. In this extended interview, he reflects on a range of research techniques and genetics issues-including gene expression and epigenetics; real-world applications for genetics and epigenetics; triggering...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: From hydras to humans, every organism on Earth can trace its ancestry back to the first primitive cell. Will biotechnology one day create a cell outside of that family tree? This program looks at 21st-century genetic science and its search for the secret of life's creation. Background information highlights the Oparin-Haldane Hypothesis and its vision of a prebiotic soup as well as Stanley...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This clinical though often emotionally charged program challenges one of the most seductive and controversial ideas in all medicine: gene therapy. Scientists once thought its concept beautifully simple: remove the defective genes and replace them with healthy ones. Research was thought to advance when Dr. James Wilson determined that the best way to transport the healthy genes into the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Some of the most fascinating research in genetics today involves mutagens-physical, chemical, and biological agents capable of altering the structure of DNA. This program looks at the characteristics and behavior of mutagens and shows how they are prevalent in the world around us-for example, in the form of UV radiation, cosmic rays, and some radioactive isotopes, as well as synthetic chemicals...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Despite their shared genetic makeup, some "identical" twins don't appear identical at all-raising important questions about the role of environment in human development. This program explores several ways in which monozygotic twins grow and change on separate paths as well as the epigenetic, anatomical, and psychological factors involved. With the help of 4D scanning and CGI graphics, viewers...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Providing a balanced look at a highly contentious issue, this program takes viewers inside the scientific, religious, and philosophical debate over embryonic stem cell research. Divergent opinions and perspectives are presented by respected researchers, thinkers, and stakeholders-including renowned Australian geneticist Dr. Alan Trounson; Father Norman Ford, a prominent ethics commentator and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Imagine a future in which physical strength and assertiveness are the top-selling items on "baby menus." This program explores that possibility and other frightening implications of market-driven genetic engineering. Showing how the government-funded Human Genome Project has become highly lucrative for pharmaceutical companies, the video examines cases of exploitative gene harvesting in Iceland...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: PGD, or pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, allows doctors and parents to screen brand-new embryos for genetic diseases. This program illustrates the PGD process and what it implies-from lifesaving medical solutions to what many see as the Nazi-esque disposal of life. The experiences of couples considering or undergoing PGD are featured-including the story of Leanne and Stephen, who ignited...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although the impact of genetic research on human life is an ever-changing and often theoretical prospect, our current knowledge of the human genome already has direct, real-world applications. This program looks at several ways in which genetic breakthroughs have improved health care technology and enriched the study of human physiology. Case studies focus on DNA screening and its benefits-for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: James Watson and Francis Crick's 1953 discovery of DNA's double-helix structure paved the way for the astounding breakthroughs in genetics and medicine that marked the second half of the 20th century. How did they do it? Watson - a Nobel Laureate and former head of the Human Genome Project - opens TED2005 with the frank and funny story of how he and Crick hit upon the structure of DNA and then...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The emerging science known as "fetal origins" posits that an individual's physical and emotional health over the course of a lifetime is affected by what they experienced while in the womb. In this fascinating TEDTalk, science writer Annie Murphy Paul shares research that shows how much pregnant women pass on to their babies in utero - from the accents of their native language to food...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: The delicate interplay of hormones is responsible for all the events of reproduction. How many other body processes are controlled and coordinated by these chemical messengers becomes apparent in this program, which follows the role hormones play in response to a sudden emergency: the 'fight or flight' reaction.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Could we all be descendants of an Adam-like ancestor? And if he existed, who was he, where did he live, and what did he look like? This program uses sophisticated DNA testing methods to, in effect, trace humanity's family tree. Guided by renowned geneticist Dr. Spencer Wells, viewers learn about the primary tool that propels this quest for a common ancestor-the Y chromosome, which is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: The last few decades have seen a dramatic increase in cases of low sperm count, sperm abnormalities, and testicular cancer—while, in more than 20 industrialized nations, the male birth rate has steadily declined. This program examines the phenomenon and its likely cause: synthetic chemicals found in everything from common plastics to meat and dairy products. Investigating these so-called...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Testosterone-it affects a man's strength, sex drive, desire for status, and parenting skills. It even affects how long he will live. This program explores the science behind masculinity and the central role testosterone plays in male development. At Texas A&M, Dr. Gerianne Alexander tracks the eye movements of infants and the gender-based preferences they reveal. Further links between...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this TEDTalk, Alexander Tsiaras shares his spectacular visualization that realistically depicts the development of a fetus from conception to birth - marveling as much at the technology as at the miracle of life itself. Tsiaras, chief of scientific visualization in Yale's Department of Medicine, wrote the algorithms for the micromagnetic resonance imaging machine that makes the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Science is identifying new biological processes that determine a person's sex. How will these findings affect the transgender and transsexual community? This program explores the latest research into gender development and the medical, cultural, and legal issues at the heart of the "brain sex" school of thought. Showing how human genome research has shifted scientific focus away from...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006