In Understanding Bone Growth Disorders, learn about a rare genetic condition that causes bones to grow abnormally dense. Follow Tim, a man with sclerosteosis, whose bones are 1.5 times denser than granite, which has both advantages and serious medical challenges. His experience with the condition provides insight into how our bones grow and what happens when that growth is excessive. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
In Some People Don't Feel Pain, Paul describes his unique condition. Paul was born with congenital insensitivity to pain, a rare genetic condition that prevents his brain from processing pain sensations. Explore how pain is created in the body, the risks associated with not feeling pain, and the science behind this rare condition. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
The article "7 Surprising Facts We Now Know About Neanderthals" from BBC's HistoryExtra is a fascinating look at the evolution and legacy of Neanderthals. Archaeologist Rebecca Wragg Sykes explains how these ancient humans were intelligent, adaptable, and left a genetic mark on billions of people today. The piece debunks old myths and highlights seven groundbreaking facts about Neanderthal life and culture.
In Understanding Sickle Cell Disease, learn about Sanaya, a young girl whose unique blood helps her avoid symptoms of sickle cell disease. By examining the presence of fetal hemoglobin in her blood, discover how hemoglobin functions in the body and how it can impact individuals with sickle cell disease. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
The article "The Last Days of the Neanderthals: When and Why Our Ancient Cousins Disappeared" from BBC's HistoryExtra explores how and why Neanderthals vanished from the Earth. Archaeological evidence and genetic studies point to multiple factors, including climate change, competition with Homo sapiens, and interbreeding. Despite their extinction, Neanderthal DNA still lives on in modern humans.
The article "Is Coffee in Danger of Disappearing?" from BBC's Science Focus explains how wild coffee plants are at high risk of extinction due to threats like climate change, pests, and deforestation. These wild plants are crucial for developing strong, disease-resistant coffee crops.
Tim Andrews had end-stage kidney disease, which means his kidneys had almost completely stopped working. Then he got a transplant from a very unexpected donor: a pig.
Your kidneys work like filters. They clean waste and extra water out of your blood, and that waste leaves your body as urine. When the kidneys fail, many patients go on dialysis. A machine filters their blood for them, usually for several hours at a time, a few times a week. Dialysis keeps people alive, but it’s exhausting and takes up a lot of time. Tim depended on it before his transplant. Or, more precisely, before his first transplant.
Tim’s new kidney came from a Yucatán miniature pig, a small breed named after a region in Mexico. The pig had been genetically modified, which means scientists changed some of its genes. These changes made the kidney more like a human one, so Tim’s immune system would be less likely to attack it. Normally, the body treats an organ from another animal as an invader and rejects it. Tim lived for almost nine months without dialysis, longer than any living person who had received a pig kidney before him.
Eventually, Tim went back on dialysis for a short time. Then he received a second transplant, this time a kidney from a human donor. Other people have received pig kidneys, but Tim was the first to go from a pig kidney to a human one.
Living with a pig’s organ might sound strange, but doctors see real promise in it. In the U.S. alone, around 90,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant, and there aren’t nearly enough human donors. Pig kidneys could one day act as a “bridge,” keeping patients healthy until a human kidney becomes available. Still, this isn’t a solution yet. Researchers are studying how long pig organs can last and whether they’re safe for many more patients.
“Beautiful on the inside” may be weirdly appropriate for bugs, considering the 3D map of the male fruit fly brain and nervous system more closely resembles a museum-worthy mosaic or a bowl of fruity cereal than the tiny nuisance you’re used to seeing flying around your apples. Scientists recently created this colorful detailed map by slicing and analyzing every nerve cell with an electron microscope — that’s a microscope that uses accelerated electrons instead of visible light to produce images that can be both extremely magnified and incredibly clear at the same time.
The same team previously mapped a female fly brain a couple of years ago and compared the male and female brains to see that roughly 95% of their brain wiring was similar, while about 5% differed.
But those small differences make for some big differences in behavior, including courtship, aggression, detecting competitors, and producing a “love song” by beating the wings.
It's not news (to these scientists, at least) that just two genes were linked to these behaviors, but comparing these 3D maps helped them learn more about the connection between those genes and the specific brain circuits producing the behavior.
Researchers hope the same logic around connecting genes to brain wiring to behavior can eventually be applied to other animals and maybe even humans! This might help scientists investigate conditions with strong genetic influences, including schizophrenia and autism.
Most of our sub-par pictures just take up space on our phones and show off the insides of our pockets, but one blurry photo launched an almost two decades-long scientific endeavor.
A search that began with a picture of a tail in the trees eventually took researchers deep into Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo on a quest to find out exactly what kind of monkey they were dealing with. Using microphones, cameras and genetic testing, they gathered enough evidence to confirm that the animal is a distinct species, now named Colobus congoensis — the first time a monkey is being named after the Congo!
It belongs to a group of plant-eating primates that live high in trees and do not have thumbs, but the Colobus congoensis has some unique characteristics. It uses a roaring call that announces its presence through dense tropical forest and has distinctive pinkish-orange lips that researchers think could act as a visual signal, perhaps helping it attract a mate. It also gives you someone to blame if your sibling asks, “Who ate the last orange creamsicle?!”
Scientists still have a lot to learn about this monkey, but it seems rare and limited to a particular habitat in the central-eastern part of the country. Researchers hope that officially recognizing it as a separate species will help protect both the monkey and the environment it depends on.
In On the Hunt with Sea Lions, narrator Sir David Attenborough explores how the sea lions of the Galapagos Islands use the rough and barren coastline to their advantage, enticing their prey into a cove. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
In The Great Hammerhead Shark, naturalist Steve Backshall uses bait to entice great hammerhead sharks to swim near him. This video is excerpted from BBC's Deadly 60, an award-winning nature and adventure show for kids in which narrator Steve Backshall has one mission: to travel the globe in search of 60 of the world's deadliest animals.
In Meet the Spitting Cobra of Mozambique, naturalist Steve Backshall visits the Reptile Rescue Center to meet Don, a snake expert. Steve entices the snake to spit venom directly at him. He then explains how the snake uses venom and how its teeth and jaw help it shoot accurately. This video is excerpted from BBC's Deadly 60, an award-winning nature and adventure show for kids in which narrator Steve Backshall has one mission: to travel the globe in search of 60 of the world's deadliest animals.
In Understanding Bone Growth Disorders, learn about a rare genetic condition that causes bones to grow abnormally dense. Follow Tim, a man with sclerosteosis, whose bones are 1.5 times denser than granite, which has both advantages and serious medical challenges. His experience with the condition provides insight into how our bones grow and what happens when that growth is excessive. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
In Some People Don't Feel Pain, Paul describes his unique condition. Paul was born with congenital insensitivity to pain, a rare genetic condition that prevents his brain from processing pain sensations. Explore how pain is created in the body, the risks associated with not feeling pain, and the science behind this rare condition. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
The article "7 Surprising Facts We Now Know About Neanderthals" from BBC's HistoryExtra is a fascinating look at the evolution and legacy of Neanderthals. Archaeologist Rebecca Wragg Sykes explains how these ancient humans were intelligent, adaptable, and left a genetic mark on billions of people today. The piece debunks old myths and highlights seven groundbreaking facts about Neanderthal life and culture.
In Understanding Sickle Cell Disease, learn about Sanaya, a young girl whose unique blood helps her avoid symptoms of sickle cell disease. By examining the presence of fetal hemoglobin in her blood, discover how hemoglobin functions in the body and how it can impact individuals with sickle cell disease. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
The article "The Last Days of the Neanderthals: When and Why Our Ancient Cousins Disappeared" from BBC's HistoryExtra explores how and why Neanderthals vanished from the Earth. Archaeological evidence and genetic studies point to multiple factors, including climate change, competition with Homo sapiens, and interbreeding. Despite their extinction, Neanderthal DNA still lives on in modern humans.
The article "Is Coffee in Danger of Disappearing?" from BBC's Science Focus explains how wild coffee plants are at high risk of extinction due to threats like climate change, pests, and deforestation. These wild plants are crucial for developing strong, disease-resistant coffee crops.
Tim Andrews had end-stage kidney disease, which means his kidneys had almost completely stopped working. Then he got a transplant from a very unexpected donor: a pig.
Your kidneys work like filters. They clean waste and extra water out of your blood, and that waste leaves your body as urine. When the kidneys fail, many patients go on dialysis. A machine filters their blood for them, usually for several hours at a time, a few times a week. Dialysis keeps people alive, but it’s exhausting and takes up a lot of time. Tim depended on it before his transplant. Or, more precisely, before his first transplant.
Tim’s new kidney came from a Yucatán miniature pig, a small breed named after a region in Mexico. The pig had been genetically modified, which means scientists changed some of its genes. These changes made the kidney more like a human one, so Tim’s immune system would be less likely to attack it. Normally, the body treats an organ from another animal as an invader and rejects it. Tim lived for almost nine months without dialysis, longer than any living person who had received a pig kidney before him.
Eventually, Tim went back on dialysis for a short time. Then he received a second transplant, this time a kidney from a human donor. Other people have received pig kidneys, but Tim was the first to go from a pig kidney to a human one.
Living with a pig’s organ might sound strange, but doctors see real promise in it. In the U.S. alone, around 90,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant, and there aren’t nearly enough human donors. Pig kidneys could one day act as a “bridge,” keeping patients healthy until a human kidney becomes available. Still, this isn’t a solution yet. Researchers are studying how long pig organs can last and whether they’re safe for many more patients.
“Beautiful on the inside” may be weirdly appropriate for bugs, considering the 3D map of the male fruit fly brain and nervous system more closely resembles a museum-worthy mosaic or a bowl of fruity cereal than the tiny nuisance you’re used to seeing flying around your apples. Scientists recently created this colorful detailed map by slicing and analyzing every nerve cell with an electron microscope — that’s a microscope that uses accelerated electrons instead of visible light to produce images that can be both extremely magnified and incredibly clear at the same time.
The same team previously mapped a female fly brain a couple of years ago and compared the male and female brains to see that roughly 95% of their brain wiring was similar, while about 5% differed.
But those small differences make for some big differences in behavior, including courtship, aggression, detecting competitors, and producing a “love song” by beating the wings.
It's not news (to these scientists, at least) that just two genes were linked to these behaviors, but comparing these 3D maps helped them learn more about the connection between those genes and the specific brain circuits producing the behavior.
Researchers hope the same logic around connecting genes to brain wiring to behavior can eventually be applied to other animals and maybe even humans! This might help scientists investigate conditions with strong genetic influences, including schizophrenia and autism.
Most of our sub-par pictures just take up space on our phones and show off the insides of our pockets, but one blurry photo launched an almost two decades-long scientific endeavor.
A search that began with a picture of a tail in the trees eventually took researchers deep into Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo on a quest to find out exactly what kind of monkey they were dealing with. Using microphones, cameras and genetic testing, they gathered enough evidence to confirm that the animal is a distinct species, now named Colobus congoensis — the first time a monkey is being named after the Congo!
It belongs to a group of plant-eating primates that live high in trees and do not have thumbs, but the Colobus congoensis has some unique characteristics. It uses a roaring call that announces its presence through dense tropical forest and has distinctive pinkish-orange lips that researchers think could act as a visual signal, perhaps helping it attract a mate. It also gives you someone to blame if your sibling asks, “Who ate the last orange creamsicle?!”
Scientists still have a lot to learn about this monkey, but it seems rare and limited to a particular habitat in the central-eastern part of the country. Researchers hope that officially recognizing it as a separate species will help protect both the monkey and the environment it depends on.
In On the Hunt with Sea Lions, narrator Sir David Attenborough explores how the sea lions of the Galapagos Islands use the rough and barren coastline to their advantage, enticing their prey into a cove. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
In The Great Hammerhead Shark, naturalist Steve Backshall uses bait to entice great hammerhead sharks to swim near him. This video is excerpted from BBC's Deadly 60, an award-winning nature and adventure show for kids in which narrator Steve Backshall has one mission: to travel the globe in search of 60 of the world's deadliest animals.
In Meet the Spitting Cobra of Mozambique, naturalist Steve Backshall visits the Reptile Rescue Center to meet Don, a snake expert. Steve entices the snake to spit venom directly at him. He then explains how the snake uses venom and how its teeth and jaw help it shoot accurately. This video is excerpted from BBC's Deadly 60, an award-winning nature and adventure show for kids in which narrator Steve Backshall has one mission: to travel the globe in search of 60 of the world's deadliest animals.