Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Against the Odds

The story of how we're made. Michael Mosley looks at our middle weeks in the womb - when we become an individual. Produced in partnership with The Open University.

In episode two, Michael Mosley tells the story of our middle weeks in the womb - when we become an individual. At 8 weeks we all appear to be the same, but in the next stage of our development an incredible series of transformations takes place that makes each of us unique. Our instantly recognisable faces finish forming, we become left or right handed and our skin takes on its colour. Inside, we are developing our own bespoke immune system and as our brains are being organised, our personalities start to form. It's even believed that our feelings about sex and gender may be established long before we are born. Told through a series of surprising, moving and inspirational human stories, the show discovers that the path to becoming ourselves is mind-bogglingly complex - that there are an infinite number of possibilities that makes each of us unique.

Produced in partnership with The Open University.

59 minutes

Clips

Music Played

  • Ibo Combo

    Ti Gacon

  • DJ Dolores

    Nordestina

  • Ju Ju

    Mariama Trance

  • The Chemical Brothers

    Left right

  • Leftfield

    Storm's end

  • Salif Keita

    Yamore

  • Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Nocturne in B Flat minor

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Michael Mosley
Executive Producer Helen Thomas
Executive Producer Jonathan Renouf
Series Producer Gideon Bradshaw
Director Helen Sage
Participant The Open University

Broadcasts

Order your FREE OU Poster

The Open University delves deeper into the process of human development in the womb.

Why do you like certain foods?

Find out if it might be down to your mum's pregnancy diet