Series 3
Series Summary
Ecologist Professor Sue Hartley presents the 2009 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, about the epic 300-million-year war between plants and animals, and how that conflict has shaped us and the world we live in.
Recorded in front an audience of young people at the Royal Institution's historic buildings in central London, the five lectures are demonstration-packed, fun-filled events that bring to life a fascinating area of scientific knowledge. Hartley is only the fifth woman to present the lectures since they began in 1825.
Plants might seem passive, defenceless and almost helpless, but the lectures reveal that the exact opposite is the case. To survive over countless millennia, they've had to develop many terrifying and devious ways to defend themselves and attack their plant and animal enemies.
Video Links
Watch now on 4oD
Episodes (5)
-
Professor Hartley reveals how, despite animals' attempts to destroy plants by eating them, plants are winning the war.
Read more
-
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 essential nutrients…
Read more
-
Professor Hartley asks if talking trees are science fiction or reality.
Read more
-
Professor Hartley asks if humans are natural herbivores. How good are we at eating plants and overcoming their defences?
Read more
-
Professor Hartley asks what has gone wrong when herbivores get the upper hand and strip plants bare.
Read more
