(7:19) H. Robert Horvitz has devoted much of his career to studying the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Only 1 mm long and containing fewer than 1000 cells, C. elegans has proved to be remarkably informative for studying many biological problems, including the genetic control of development and behavior and the mechanisms that underlie neurodegenerative disease.

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[Stock footage/images courtesy of the Horvitz Lab @ MIT, Elekta, Bob Goldstein/UNC, istockphoto, National Cancer Institute, pond5, Sputnik Animation, Virtual Worm Project (WormBase & CalTech)]