# To solve old problems, study new species

- Institution: TED
- Department: TEDxKC
- Speaker: Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado
- Year: 2016
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Biology, Medicine and health, Earth and environment, Teaching and learning
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/alejandro_sanchez_alvarado_to_solve_old_problems_study_new_species)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

Nature is wonderfully abundant, diverse and mysterious -- but biological research today tends to focus on only seven species, including rats, chickens, fruit flies and us. We're studying an astonishingly narrow sliver of life, says biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, and hoping it'll be enough to solve the oldest, most challenging problems in science, like cancer. In this visually captivating talk, Alvarado calls on us to interrogate the unknown and shows us the remarkable discoveries that surface when we do.

## Lectures

1. [To solve old problems, study new species](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/alejandro_sanchez_alvarado_to_solve_old_problems_study_new_species/fb7a44e367d6), 13 min (TED's player)