Professor Hartley reveals how, despite animals' attempts to destroy plants by eating them, plants are winning the war.
Animals only manage to eat around a fifth of the available vegetation and eating plants isn't as easy as it looks; they have developed ingenious ways to fight off their enemies, from poisonous chemicals to spines and stinging hairs.
Some of these weapons are useful to us - many of our most important medicines were originally discovered in plants - but others can do us serious harm. Even grasses, which look deceptively easy to eat, contain silica that makes chewing them like having sand in your sandwiches.
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Series 1 Episode 1 Ice People
To investigate how the body copes in Antarctica, Professor Peck hurls himself into a tank of ice-cold water to induce…
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Series 1 Episode 2 Ice Life
Antarctica is a continent of extremes. How do creatures cope with ice-covered, freezing waters? How could any organism…
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Series 1 Episode 3 Ice World
Thousands and thousands of miles of brilliant white. Millions and millions of tons of ice. But why is Antarctica a…
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Series 2 Episode 1 Blast Off
Blast Off explores our cosmic origins, how our star was born out of a cloud of gas and dust that itself had been…
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Series 2 Episode 2 Live from Mars
A lecture exploring the Red Planet, from what it looks like to whether it might harbour life, with the latest…
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Series 2 Episode 3 Planet Patrol
An exploration of the planets in our Solar System, from what they are made from to how they came to be so different.
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Series 2 Episode 4 Collision Course
A fascinating lecture charting what rocky traffic is lurking out in deep space, whether it might be a danger to us -…
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Series 2 Episode 5 Anybody Out There?
The final lecture explores where life survives in the most extreme places on Earth, to try and predict where else in…
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Series 3 Episode 1
Professor Hartley reveals how, despite animals' attempts to destroy plants by eating them, plants are winning the war.
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Series 3 Episode 2
The life of a herbivore is not a happy one. For a start, plants are the wrong sort of food for animals: they are low in…
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Series 3 Episode 3
Professor Hartley asks if talking trees are science fiction or reality.
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Series 3 Episode 4
Professor Hartley asks if humans are natural herbivores. How good are we at eating plants and overcoming their defences?
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Series 3 Episode 5
Professor Hartley asks what has gone wrong when herbivores get the upper hand and strip plants bare.
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