Life, from cells to evolution
What living things are made of, and how they change over time.
5 lessons · about 60 min
The steps
- Biology & healthUp next
1. Cell
Discover the cell, the basic unit of all life: how prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells differ, what organelles do, how cells make proteins and divide, and how cells first came to be.
- Biology & health
2. DNA
Discover how the shape of the DNA double helix and one simple pairing rule let cells store genetic information, copy it accurately and use it to build proteins.
- Biology & health
3. Photosynthesis
Where does a tree's mass come from, and where does the oxygen we breathe come from? How plants, algae and cyanobacteria turn light, water and carbon dioxide into sugar.
- Biology & health
4. Evolution
How do species change over generations? Variation, natural selection, the chance of genetic drift, and the clues showing that all living things are related.
- People
5. Charles Darwin
Follow Darwin from a bored medical student to the author of the theory of natural selection. Discover how a ship voyage, a book on population and a surprise letter from Wallace shaped modern biology.