Pull the udder one - it's Spider Goat! 'Playing God' #BBCHorizon

Horizon, Playing God - Tues 17th January, BBC2 9:30pm

Spider-goat, spider-goat. Does whatever a spider-goat does! can he swing from a web?...

In tonights episode of Horizon Adam Rutherford meets a new creature created by American scientists - part goat, part spider. It's super-power - to produce large quantities of spider silk.

Spider silk is one of the strongest substances known to man. Prized for its lightness, elasticity and strength it has an abundance of untapped potential from its use in the manufacture of aircraft and racing vehicles to bullet-proof clothing and artificial ligaments. Until now the supply of silk has been limited to a few spider farms. Not only a large investment for little return, but voracious spiders have the tendancy to eat each other.

This came to the attention of scientists working in the field of synthetic biology, a new field with a radical claim - to break down nature into a kit of parts which can be rebuilt however we please, like lego. They extracted a gene from an orb-weaver spider and popped it into the DNA that prompts milk production in the udders of goats. Hay presto, not 8 legged wool spinners, but spider-goats capable of producing large quantities of silk in their milk - with the added bonus that they didn't want to eat each other.

Synthetic biology is already being used to make bio-diesel to power cars, and biosensors have been created to detect a range of substances including viruses, bacteria, hormones and drugs. Other researchers are looking at how we might, one day, control human emotions by sending 'biological machines' into our brains. To some this is just a front for Frankensteinian genetic tinkering, the most striking of which hit the headlines in 2010 when American biologist Craig Venter, announced that he had created the world's first synthetic life form paving the way for more extreme forms of genetic modification.

This should be a fascinating film.

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Meet Spider Goat


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The End of the World? A Horizon Guide to Armageddon - BBC4

Thurs 12th May, 9pm, BBC4

I remember when Horizon was boring blokes in tank tops. This film continues the style of recent years in which trendy poster boys share their scientific passions. In this case it's Dallas Campbell of Bang Goes the Theory fame. He remembers growing up in the 1970s when 'Protect and Survive' leaflets were distributed to homes, providing government advice on how to survive a nuclear attack. It was the Cold War era, and the nuclear arms race had resulted in weapons with the power to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. The responsibility to unleash Armageddon rested on the shoulders of just a handful of men and in 1971, Horizon gained unprecedented access to their extraordinary daily lives. Dallas Campbell delves into the Horizon archive to discover how scientists have tried to predict an impending apocalypse - from natural disaster to killer disease to asteroid impact - and to ask: when Armageddon arrives, will science be able to save us?
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2 Horizon eps to watch 'Japan Earthquake' & 'Predators in your backyard'

Japan Earthquake: A Horizon Special with Iain Stewart

Watch on iPlayer (while you still can!)

Original TX: Sunday 27th March 2011, 20:00, BBC 2

Professor Iain Stewart examines the powerful geological forces that unleashed the devastating Japanese earthquake, and explores how the release of this power of the planet brought Japan to the brink of a nuclear meltdown.

He follows moment by moment how the earthquake was generated under the Pacific Ocean, travelled to the Japanese mainland, and the rare conditions that unleashed a tsunami. He also reveals the latest science behind earthquakes - from why we can't predict them, to what causes some of them to reach such power. Iain shows why our civilisation has developed such a dangerous relationship with earthquakes, and why millions of us continue to live in earthquake zones across the world.

Produced and Directed by  – Ben Lawrie and Tristan Quinn
Editor – Aidan Laverty

For further details, please visit the programme link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0101nq2

Horizon: Predators in Your Backyard

Original TX: 8th March 2011, 21:00, BBC 2

Across the world scientists are releasing predators, nature's ultimate killers, close to where people live. In Florida, a new population of panthers, feared as ambush predators, have been released near to the busy town of Naples. In the Italian Alps, bears have been reintroduced after they became virtually extinct, and now try to get into people's homes in the middle of the night. And in Yellowstone National Park, wolves have been brought back 70 years after they were exterminated. Horizon meets the scientists behind this radical scheme, and the people who now have to share their backyards with these dangerous predators.

Producer/Director – Nick Clarke-Powell
Editor – Aidan Laverty

For further details, please visit the programme link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zfp4m

Horizon: The Death of the Oceans?

Monday 4 October, 21:00, BBC 2

Sir David Attenborough reveals the findings of one of the most ambitious scientific studies of our time - an investigation into what is happening to our oceans. He looks at whether it is too late to save their remarkable biodiversity.

Horizon travels from the cold waters of the North Atlantic to the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef to meet the scientists who are transforming our understanding of this unique habitat. Attenborough explores some of the ways in which we are affecting marine life - from over-fishing to the acidification of sea water.

The film also uncovers the disturbing story of how shipping noise is deafening whales and dolphins, affecting their survival in the future.

Image: BBC

Producer/Director – Peter Oxley

Editor – Aidan Laverty

For further details visit the BBC website

Horizon: The Secret Life of the Dog

6th January 2009, BBC 2 9pm

We have an extraordinary relationship with dogs - closer than with any other animal on the planet. But what makes the bond between us so special?

Research into dogs is gaining momentum and scientists are investigating them like never before. From the latest fossil evidence, to the sequencing of the canine genome, to cognitive experiments, dogs are fast turning into the new chimps as a window into understanding ourselves.

Where does this relationship come from? In Siberia, a unique breeding experiment reveals the astonishing secret of how dogs evolved from wolves. Swedish scientists demonstrate how the human-dog bond is controlled by a powerful hormone also responsible for bonding mothers to their babies.

Why are dogs so good at reading our emotions? Horizon meets Betsy, the world's most intelligent dog and compares her incredible abilities to those of children. Man's best friend has recently gone one step further - helping us identify genes responsible for causing human diseases.

Producer/Director – Dan Child
Executive Producer – Andrew Cohen
For further details, please visit the programme link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pssgh

Horizon: How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?

9th December 2009: BBC2 9pm

In a Horizon special, naturalist and BBC broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough investigates whether the world is heading into a population crisis.
In his lengthy career, Sir David has watched the human population more than double from 2.5 billion in 1950 to nearly 7 billion today. He reflects on the profound impacts of this rapid growth, both on humans and the environment.
Yet, whilst much of the projected growth in human population is likely to come from the developing world it is the lifestyle enjoyed by many in the west that have most impact on the planet. Some experts claim that in the UK we use as much as 2.5 times our fair share of the Earth's resources. So finally, Sir David examines whether it’s the duty of each one of us to commit not only to smaller families, but change the way we live for the sake of all humanity and planet earth.

Director – Helen Shariatmadari
Executive Producer – Andrew Cohen
For further details, please visit the programme link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pdjmk

Pandemic: A Horizon Guide

BBC 4, Sunday 9th August, 22:00
In the wake of the swine flu outbreak virologist Dr Mike Leahy traces over 50 years of BBC archive to explore the history of pandemics - infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Inspired by the Horizon back catalogue, he tells the extraordinary story of smallpox - one of the most violent killers in history, the success of mass vaccination and the global politics of Malaria. Through the lens of television the programme charts our scientific progress from the early steps in understanding AIDS to the code cracking of SARS and deadly predictions of bird flu.

Each pandemic episode tells us something about the world - and our place within it. In his journey through the ages Dr Mike Leahy charts science's on-going battle with nature and questions which one is winning.
Producer/Director – Louise Bourner
Executive Producer – Andrew Cohen

Horizon: Jimmy's GM Food Fight

Tuesday 25 November, 9pm BBC TWO

Jimmy Doherty, pig farmer, one-time scientist and poster-boy for sustainable food production is on a mission to find out if GM crops really can feed the world.

'We need to double the amount of food we produce in the next fifty years to feed the world's growing population.'

Are GM crops the answer? Or are they a dangerous Frankenstein technology that could start an environmental catastrophe? To find the answers Jimmy is on a journey that will take him from the vast soya plantations of Argentina to the traditional Amish farms of Pennsylvania; and from the cutting-edge technology of the GM laboratories to the banana plantations of Uganda.