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Catalyst – Nature, Nurture (2003)

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The guinea pig

Original classification rating: PG. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Reporter Dr Jonica Newby, is about to discover whether she has a predisposition to depression. It’s a very real moment of tension for her and for us, as the nature-nurture debate becomes uncomfortably personal.

Curator’s notes

Fly-on-the-wall television at its best, as the reporter bravely puts herself on the line for science. The nature versus nurture debate hits another fork in the road as science proves yet again that we know very little about the workings of the human body.

The program’s use of the presenter to personalise the story has dramatised and focused what might otherwise have been a dry and abstract concept.

This is a typical Catalyst program in which science pushes us to rethink our most cherished beliefs, in this case, whether it’s nature or nurture that has most influence on our behaviour at any given moment.