[6] He was admitted to the medical school at University College London, but transferred to a degree in evolutionary genetics,[6] including a project under Steve Jones studying stalk-eyed flies.

[13][14] He was awarded a PhD[2] in genetics in 2002 by University College London for research completed at the UCL Institute of Child Health at Great Ormond Street Hospital supervised by Jane Sowden.

[21] Among its topics, the first part of the book argues in support of the theory, first proposed by Thomas Gold, that life emerged not in primordial warm ponds, but in extremophile conditions in the deep ocean,[22] while the second part discusses synthetic biology – the use of genetic modification to create new organisms.

[29] He wrote editorials on diverse other topics, ranging from the overlap of art and science[30] to reviews of science-themed movies.

to University College London, where he is an honorary senior research associate in the division of biosciences and teaches courses on genetics and communications.

[44] In 2011 he presented, on BBC Four, The Gene Code,[45] a two-part series on the implications of the decoding of the human genome,[46] and his documentary, Science Betrayed,[47] detailed the story of the discredited link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

[6] He also appeared in BBC Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage, with physicist Brian Cox, physician and science writer Ben Goldacre, author Simon Singh, musician Tim Minchin, and comedians Helen Arney and Robin Ince, and with The Infinite Monkey Cage Tour, the live show based on the programme.

[52] Rutherford is a frequent guest on the Little Atoms radio chat show,[53] and he has also acted as a science advisor on programmes such as The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and the film World War Z.

In October 2024 the series returned as Curious Cases, still with Fry but Dara O'Briain replacing Rutherford as co-presenter.