Started by Michael Faraday in 1825, and now broadcast on national television every December, the Christmas Lectures are the UK's flagship science series.
Forming part of the British Christmas tradition for generations, the lectures have a different theme each year and are given by an expert in their field.
This year’s expert, Dr Alison Woollard, is a developmental biologist from the University of Oxford. Her three ‘Life Fantastic’ lectures will explore the frontiers of developmental biology.
Alison will answer some of the most profound questions about life itself:
- uncovering the remarkable journey from a single cell to a trillion-cell organism;
- revealing deep connections to our ancient fishy ancestors;
- and looking at how we age and whether we can change this process.
- Saturday 28 December: Lecture 1 - Where do I come from?
- Sunday 29 December: Lecture 2 - Am I a mutant?
- Monday 30 December: Lecture 3 - Could I live forever?
The lectures will also explore the serious ethical questions that stem from these discoveries. Should we tinker with evolution? Do we want to live forever? And should we be manipulating our own genes?
The 3 lectures will be broadcast at 8pm on BBC 4 as follows:
Alison will explain why every living thing eventually dies and what controls the ageing process. She will explore whether we could we ever halt this process and whether we can use this knowledge to improve or even extend life.
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