Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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For smallholder farmers in Kenya, a single pest can mean the difference between a harvest and starvation. This episode follows the devastation caused by the African Armyworm, a caterpillar that can destroy an entire field of maize in just two days. We meet the farmers who are powerless against this plague and the dedicated scientists working tirelessly to fight back. It is a story of agricultural vulnerability and the painstaking research happening thousands of miles away to provide the beginnings of a solution.

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Only one scientist in thousands wins a Nobel Prize. Far fewer ever become household names. In this fascinating series, Brian Trueman looks at the work of scientists whose names are relatively unknown outside their own very specialist fields.

This film was first broadcast: 1981

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