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How has life become so varied?

Our natural world is spectacularly diverse, from the tiniest bacteria, to the tallest trees. But every living thing on the planet is descended from one organism we call the Last Universal Common Ancestor, or LUCA. We know this because all life shares the same fundamental biochemistry; our DNA is built from the same four organic bases. So what created the abundance of life forms?

Professor Brian Cox explores how life on Earth has become so varied. Using a cloud chamber to observe cosmic rays, he explains how they鈥檙e an important source of mutation that drives the evolution of life.

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7 minutes