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Professor Lee Cronin is trying to create synthetic life in a Glasgow laboratory – giving non-living materials such as sand, rock and metal the ability to divide and multiply like biological cells. If he succeeds he will have answered two of the biggest questions in science: how did life on Earth start? And could there be life on other planets? But Cronin has a problem – despite being a highly successful chemistry professor, people are beginning to question how realistic his theory is. And worse than that, he has publicly set himself a deadline, which has now arrived…
– Synopsis courtesy of Scottish Documentary Institute
Director: Valerie Mellon
Producer: Ruth Reid
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Stories and literature
Robert Frost’s poetic reflection on youth, as read in his unforgettable baritone
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Sex and sexuality
After a sextortion scam, Eugene conducts an unblushing survey of masturbation
14 minutes
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Language and linguistics
Closed captions suck. Here’s one artist’s inventive project to make them better
8 minutes
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Anthropology
Why are witchcraft accusations so common across human societies?
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Subcultures
Drop into London’s eclectic skate scene, where newbies and old-timers find community
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Technology and the self
A deepfake porn victim confronts the pain of having her likeness stolen and vandalised
19 minutes
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Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
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Chemistry
Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?
12 minutes
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Cosmology
Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse
11 minutes