Short Films & Videos

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.