The Wonders of Life
Professor Brian Cox
What is Life?
This creature is a wonder of life. A voracious predator, this male has lived under water for nearly 5 months, feeding, growing, preparing for this moment. He's about to undertake one of the most remarkable transformations in the natural world. From aquatic predator… to master of the air.
The brief adult life of a dragonfly is amongst the most energetic in nature. Dragonflies are the most remarkable animals. You can see their incredible agility in flight just watching them skim across the surface of this pond. They can pull two and a half G in a turn, and they can fly at 15 mph, which is fast for something that big. They've been around on Earth since before the time of the dinosaurs, and in that time they've been fine-tuned by natural selection to do what they do – which is to catch their prey on the wing.
So, dragonflies are beautiful pieces of engineering. They are intricate, complex machines. But is that all they are?
Because once their brief lives are over, their vitality will be gone. And this raises deep questions. What is it that makes something alive? And how did life begin in the first place? So, what is the difference between the living and the dead? What is life?
