Genetics: Greatest Discoveries With Bill Nye Analysis

Upon watching the science documentary Genetics: Greatest Discoveries with Bill Nye, I could recall the many topics that were discussed by the scientists, specifically geneticists, in the film. Out of many, Gregor Mendel’s laws of inheritance and the study of DNA and RNA were the concepts I was most familiar with. However, a plethora of ideas that were brought up in the documentary became topics of interest. For individuals with lactose intolerance, I had no idea it was due to a gene’s failure to produce an enzyme. Who knew advances in genetics and medicine would be credited to one virus, bacteriophage? Although there was familiarity towards specific ideas, the documentary provided thorough explanations of how each concept came to be; I realized that science was a field of research, discovery, and application.

Although I knew some of the ideas that were brought up, I never bothered to ask the question, “How?” For example, I learned that we inherited characteristics from our parents, specifically in our genetic makeup. However, I never acknowledged the basis of this fact, one that was possible through the crossbreeding of peas. Also, DNA and RNA were no strangers, because they were imparted in my previous science courses. Yet, I had no clue about Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase’s work with bacteriophage or James Watson and Francis Crick’s study of the DNA’s double helix structure. One thing was for certain—if I was to learn about an idea, it was best to also learn how that idea came to