In the early 1970s, Janet Mertz and future Nobel Laureate Paul Berg helped spark a revolution in biology, only to confront a question no scientist had faced before: when you can rewrite the code of life, should you?

Stanford biologist José R. Dinneny is uncovering the hidden, dynamic world of plant roots — revealing how these mysterious explorers are as vital and wondrous as the living world we see above the soil.

Status: Available for screenings. A global exploration of the centrality of observation to science and the human experience. The film crosses multiple disciplines, as well as oceans and continents, to give audiences insight into the drive to expand knowledge and see our planet and universe from new perspectives.

Chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Along the way, we encounter scientific luminaries - including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists - who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

The scientific revolution called CRISPR gives humans the power to edit DNA, including our own. The implications are profound and infinite. Scientists are already curing diseases like sickle cell anemia. But how far should we go to change the fundamental nature of who we are as people?

Matt Meselson and Frank Stahl share how they devised the groundbreaking experiment that proved semiconservative DNA replication, what it was like to see the results for the first time, and how it felt to be at the forefront of molecular biology research in the 1950s.

Hawaiian microbiologist Kiana Frank takes us to a sacred fish pond and explains how traditional knowledge and microbiology can work together to help us understand how to care for and manage the land.

Charpentier and Doudna transformed science with their groundbreaking research on CRISPR. This film highlights their collaboration, the innovative experiments, and the inspiring process of scientific discovery.

Manu Prakash always yearned to know the why and the how of things. As a boy in India, he spent endless hours playing outside with animals and making flammable artifacts in an abandoned lab in the basement of his home. Having the chance to explore his surroundings with open-ended curiosity, he learned to find the sublime in the mundane. Today, as a world-renowned researcher and inventor at Stanford University, he continues to be inspired by these childhood lessons, and is creating low-cost tools to empower people around the globe to go on their own journey of science and discovery.

Evolutionary biologist Paul Turner researches how phages can be used against drug resistant bacteria. He offers a glimpse into a future where we can outsmart and ultimately overcome the resilient superbugs that threaten public health.

What does a redwood forest look like, and sound like, in the wake of a devastating fire? Walk through a fire-ravaged redwood forest with experts Beatrix Jiménez, Ian Bornarth, and Alex Jones. Their observations make visible the forces of destruction and regrowth throughout the redwoods ecosystem.

Scientists at a Neolithic dig site explore how the desire for innovation collided with a random mutation in wild wheat thousands of years ago — with consequences that rippled through history in ways early humans could have never imagined.

Climate change is the biggest threat to coral reefs. Can we use modern genetic tools as one method to help us understand coral biology and perhaps make corals more adaptive to climate change?

Dipti Nayak, Ph.D., explains how the mysterious microbes known as archaea are helping scientists rewrite the Tree of Life.

Learn evidence-based techniques and strategies to find and build productive relationships with your primary research advisors, thesis committee, and other mentors during graduate school. You’ll learn how to choose the right research lab for you, how to develop a detailed plan to complete your degree and meet your career goals, and how to build a mentoring network to support you along the way.

In this podcast, we interview a diverse set of scientists about advanced mentor-mentee relationship topics. Through these thoughtful conversations, we explore concrete strategies and approaches to address common, but challenging, issues you might encounter with your research mentor or Principal Investigator (PI).

The discovery that CRISPR functions as an immune system to protect bacteria against viral infection was made at Danisco, a company looking to improve yogurt production. Rodolphe Barrangou tells the story of his discovery, which laid the groundwork for the gene editing revolution.

Gregor Mendel’s experiments with pea plants laid the foundation for our understanding of genetic inheritance. In this video, Shirley Tilghman tells the story of Mendel’s studies and how his data led to an understanding of how the information within genes is passed from generation to generation.

What makes CRISPR-Cas9 such a groundbreaking genome editing tool? Hear from CRISPR-Cas9 pioneer Feng Zhang, Ph.D., who shares not only what makes the tool so unique but also his personal journey into science.

How can DNA repair itself after it’s broken? Learn about the homology-directed repair mechanism in this animated clip taken from the CRISPR-Cas9 documentary, Human Nature.

Trailblazing microbiologist Gemma Reguera introduces us to her favorite microbe, the electricity-producing Geobacter, and describes how her research opened the door to a new field of study: Electromicrobiology.

This free course guides you through the steps of creating and delivering a good research talk. You'll develop a detailed plan for your talk while learning techniques and strategies for delivering it in an engaging and effective way.

Scientists from a variety of backgrounds give concrete steps and advice to help you build a framework for how to design experiments in biological research. Learn strategies for successful experimental design, tips to avoid bias, and insights to improve reproducibility with in-depth case studies.

Biochemist Judith Simcox recounts her journey from battling cancer to rediscovering her passion for science, and becoming a mentor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

This course offers concrete tools and practical advice to help you navigate the most challenging aspects of developing and planning a research project. You'll learn how to ask a good scientific question, establish a clear plan of action, and seek advice along the way.

Fire is a force for destruction, but also of rebirth. This lesson is at the heart of Fire Among Giants, an intimate and cinematic look at a world famous redwood forest in the wake of the most destructive inferno on record.

The ancient redwoods of California's Big Basin State Park, resilient to fire for centuries, faced an uncertain fate after the 2020 wildfire. These accompanying podcast episodes to our short film, Fire Among Giants, explore the profound impact of the fire through the eyes of three forest experts.

Dr. Mónica Feliú Mójer heads home to Puerto Rico to explore how her culture, community, and identities have shaped her work as a scientist and science communicator.

Dr. Tshaka Cunningham is a molecular biologist and a Black man of faith. This short film explores Dr. Cunningham’s personal and professional identities, and how they unite to help him promote community health through personal genomics.

In The Century of Biology, noted bioethicist R. Alta Charo ponders the ever-shifting interrelationship between humans and nature. The power of CRISPR and genome editing fundamentally reshapes the realm of the possible, as humans can manipulate life with precision on the molecular level. What we will do with this power is a question that far exceeds the limits of biology and touches on what kind of future we hope for, or fear.

Researchers are harnessing the power of the human immune system to create new treatments for diseases such as cancer. In this video, meet Christopher Rudd, Ph.D., a scientist whose seminal immunology experiments led to the development of cancer immunotherapies.

Status: Actively Fundraising. Two Black graduate students came to UC Berkeley expecting a progressive institution that welcomed diversity. They found something different. This launched Valeria King and Khansaa Maar on a search for context and solutions to confront the challenges of being Black in STEM.

Status: Actively Fundraising. For centuries, mariners have come across a mysterious natural phenomenon where the ocean suddenly glows as far as the eye can see. Scientists now assume it is bioluminescence, but how and why remains a mystery because no researcher has been able to study them in real time. We follow a team dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the “milky seas.”

How do you take ownership of your career and plan for the next steps? This course will provide you with skills to create an actionable plan and prepare you to achieve your desired career goals using the Individual Development Plan (IDP) as a framework for career planning.

Mentoring Up is a free, 3-week course that helps science trainees build stronger mentoring relationships through self-awareness, communication, and planning. Learn how to identify your mentoring needs, work collaboratively with advisors, and grow a supportive mentor network for your career.

When done right, public engagement involves intentional and mutually beneficial interactions between scholars and a range of audiences resulting in positive societal change. This course will teach you key principles and strategies to practice effective public engagement.

We introduce the essential services forests provide to humans and the planet, and the many ways in which climate change is threatening the health and productivity of our forests. The researchers in the film present a few solutions that stakeholders are considering to make forests more resilient to these threats, including the use of biotechnology.

We look to the story of the American Chestnut as an example of how scientists are trying to bring a once-abundant tree back from near extinction through genetic engineering. We also consider the budding genome-editing technology CRISPR Cas-9 as a more precise tool with great promise but also great uncertainty.

Status: Actively Fundraising. A love letter from people to trees rooted in science, history, and culture against a backdrop of a rapidly warming climate. Humans have relied on trees for energy, shelter, sustenance, and inspiration. Now, around the world, “tree people” are working to understand and save these ancient species before it’s too late.

Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez’s research on pigeons, like her life, is one of charting an original path. Her experiences as a Mexican-Italian-American woman, professor, artist and mother have provided her with fascinating and unusual perspectives to study the biology of parental behavior. And in so doing, she is redefining what it means to be a scientist.

When an infectious disease outbreak happens, medical workers and public health officials mobilize, but there are also teams of researchers that snap into action. Dr. Tracey Goldstein and Dr. Koen Van Rompay are both actively involved in different initiatives to find answers surrounding the COVID-19 epidemic.

There is ample evidence that race can be a major factor in health outcomes. But racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in clinical and biomedical research. In this series, Dr. Esteban Burchard talks about the consequences of this underrepresentation and what does it mean for equity in research and medicine.

Neuropathologist Virginia Man-Yee Lee, Ph.D., challenged prevailing stereotypes about what a Chinese woman could accomplish to become a leader in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disease research. Learn about her journey in this short film.

The expansion of lungs for oxygen exchange is facilitated by lung surfactant. The groundbreaking discovery of this substance was made by Dr. John Clements. In this video, Clements details his scientific journey, touching on his early research, the resistance he encountered in the field, and the discovery of lung surfactant, which has saved millions of neonatal lives.

Evelyn Witkin provides a historical perspective on how working at Cold Spring Harbor (CSH) shaped her scientific career and led to the discovery of the SOS DNA damage response in bacteria.

The process of choosing a postdoc lab that satisfies both your personal and professional needs is often not very clear. But choosing the ‘right’ postdoc is one of the most critical choices you will make in your academic career. This course will guide you through your postdoc search, applying for your postdoc, and leaving your PhD lab.

This course is aimed at enhancing PhD scientists’ understanding of foundational business concepts to prepare those who want to start their own labs, and inform scientists who want to go into industry.