During the 1970s, Elizabeth Blackburn discovered something fundamentally important about life, uncovering the function of telomeres, which cap strands of DNA and protect chromosomes. She would go on to earn a Nobel Prize for her work in 2009. In this sprightly animated video from Nature, Blackburn recounts how a love of all living creatures – and especially the frequently overlooked, microscopic ones – inspired her curiosity and her work.
Forget space – the unknown worlds in pond scum are rich with life’s secrets
Video by Dog & Rabbit

videoBiology
What would it mean if we were able to ‘speak’ with whales?
65 minutes

videoBiology
For 3 billion years, life was unicellular. Why did it start to collaborate?
4 minutes

videoBiology
Dive deep into an egg cell to see how ageing reboots when a new life begins
2 minutes

videoMathematics
After centuries of trying, we’ve yet to arrive at a perfect way to map colour
20 minutes

videoHistory of science
Insect aesthetics – long viewed as pests, in the 16th century bugs became beautiful
8 minutes

videoHistory of science
How we came to know the size of the Universe – and what mysteries remain
26 minutes

videoArt
Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus
8 minutes

videoHistory of science
Meet the Quaker pacifist who shattered British science’s highest glass ceilings
14 minutes

videoHistory of science
Ideas ‘of pure genius’ – how astronomers have measured the Universe across history
29 minutes