Australian
Screen

an NFSA website


Catalyst – Nature, Nurture (2003)

Synopsis

Each year since 1979, the same group of people have been returning to Dunedin in New Zealand to be investigated for science.

This research into whether nature or nurture is responsible for our behaviour has made some extraordinary findings. And the reporter, Dr Jonica Newby, bravely offers herself for part of this research, with startling results.

Curator’s notes

An intriguing picture of cutting edge science, made accessible to the less scientifically minded. The program raises many unsettling moral issues about genetics and finds no simple answers. The courage of the reporter, Dr Jonica Newby, in putting herself forward for this scientific research, lays bare the moral implications.