The Hobbit Enigma examines one of the greatest controversies in science today: what did scientists find when they uncovered the tiny, human-like skeleton of a strange creature, known to many as the Hobbit, on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003?
Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish, and more than 350,000 species of beetles. What explains this explosion of living creatures—1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million to go? The source of life's endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin brought forth his revolutionary idea of natural selection. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? To what degree do different animals rely on the same genetic toolkit? And how did we evolve?
In this two-hour special, NOVA captures the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools. Featuring trial reenactments based on court transcripts and interviews with key participants, including expert scientists and Dover parents, teachers, and town officials, "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" follows the celebrated federal case of Kitzmiller v. Dover School District.
An exploration of the link between science and beauty through the work of scientists at CERN, in Geneva.
For a few years now, scientists have known about the existence of another brain within our bodies. This second brain, or "brain down below" is none other than our stomach. The stomach's intelligence is a new avenue of research that is fascinating research teams the world over.
Every month, an estimated 200,000 Australians deliberately hurt themselves. They cut, scratch, burn and sometimes even break bones. It's called self-harm, and it peaks in teenagers and young people. The Silent Epidemic explores this dark and often secret behaviour, asking why more and more people are turning to self-harm as a way to cope with life. Interweaving their personal stories with scientific enquiry, The Silent Epidemic casts a unique lens onto what is fast becoming a problem that can no longer remain hidden. In response to the growing numbers, a group of Melbourne scientists are hunting for a radical solution to self-harm with a world-first experiment. The Silent Epidemic charts their progress: it is both a wake-up call, and ultimately, a story of hope. Written by Mark Hamlyn
Take a fascinating journey inside the bizarre world of a living human being with this compelling documentary from National Geographic, where microscopic cameras and other state-of-the-art technologies reveal perspectives that will blow your mind. Tracking the body of a female from infancy to old age, viewers will observe the digestion of a meal, the development of the cardiac system and other mesmerizing aspects of the body's inner workings.
A Cambridge geneticist dispels misconceptions about living with obesity and explores why the epidemic continues to expand across the UK and America.
This is a film that will give a voice to the science-minded moms - the women who are too often drowned out by the fear mongers, the shamers, and the CelebMoms. Through interviews with "science moms" who are on the front lines of this struggle, we’ll dissect the bogus claims of these celebrities one by one and explain in simple language what the science really shows about GMOs, vaccines, homeopathy, and any of these topics that are often in the headlines, yet even more often are misunderstood. We can’t change everyone’s minds, but we can make our voices heard. One mom at a time.
Experimental educational film reveals the emergence of some ideas of Biophysics in historical, philosophical and methodological aspects. The first film from the Biophysics Cycle (1982-1989).
David Attenborough takes us on a guided tour through the secret world of plants, to see things no unaided eye could witness. Each episode in this six-part series focuses on one of the critical stages through which every plant must pass if it is to survive:- travelling, growing, and flowering; struggling with one another; creating alliances with other organisms both plant and animal; and evolving complex ways of surviving in the earth's most ferociously hostile environments.
Join critically-acclaimed author and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and world-renowned theoretical physicist and author Lawrence Krauss as they discuss biology, cosmology, religion, and a host of other topics.
A documentary that explores the natural world of the sea, from the single-celled organism to more complex forms of life, OCEAN ORIGINS was originally filmed in the IMAX large format, which adds a crispness and clarity to the images. This documentary film seeks to examine the process of evolution by looking at the many creatures of the sea that can illustrate the way multi-cellular life emerged over the course of four billion years. OCEAN ORIGINS is a creative film that uses fascinating documentary footage to look at scientific theories and principles in an interesting manner
The Body Machine is a landmark special on the human body that shows us just how much, how many, how large, how strong, how fast - just how amazing the body really is. Utilizing impressive large-scale real-life stunts, CGI and strong character stories, the show makes the staggering scale of the inner workings of the body tangible. We will show you how far our blood travels in just one day - an astounding 19, 000 km - from Quebec City to Buenos Aires and back. You will see all the cranial fluid you produce in your lifetime laid out in front of you - all 26,280 pint glasses worth. And in just one day you will take 23,000 breaths - enough air to fill 7,714 helium balloons. You will see all this and much more.
Le Big bang, mes ancêtres et moi
While life expectancy is increasing in Western countries, cases of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and cancer are increasing, and the use of medication has exploded. Does this mean that in order to live to a ripe age we are condemned to swallow more and more drugs? What if there was another way? For half a century, in Russia, Germany and the U.S., doctors and biologists have been exploring a different therapeutic approach: fasting. The results are amazing. Soviet researchers have provided a body of clinical studies of exceptional health…only published in Russian, and thus unknown in the West. Young biologists from the University of Los Angeles have overturned conventional wisdom and used molecular biology to demonstrate the powerful effects of fasting. This research suggests a wide-ranging potential, which could include treatments for the disease of the century, cancer. If these scientists are right, maybe our approach to disease and treatment will need a rethink.
ET CONTACT: THEY ARE HERE documents the jaw-dropping stories of individuals from around the world who share similar accounts of extraterrestrial and otherworldly encounters. Producer and host Caroline Cory, who has her own extensive history with the supernatural, takes the viewers on an extraordinary journey to uncover whether these seemingly independent yet parallel reports may actually be scientific evidence of a greater phenomenon at work. Through a series of groundbreaking on-camera experiments on human DNA, and interviews with leading scientists, viewers will find themselves pondering the nature of their own reality or yet the true origin of the human species. ET CONTACT may ultimately show that the traditionally unexplained is, in fact, far more attributable to science than fiction. NOTE: This film has been released in some territories under the title: "Among Us".
This 90-minute documentary brings to life Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s international bestseller, “The Cloudspotter’s Guide”, which draws on science, meteorology and mythology for a magical journey through the world of clouds. It is no dry treatise on the science of nephology but a playful trip through the varied beauty and distinctive personalities of the ten principal cloud types From the ethereal cirrus to the terrifying cumulonimbus, the film tells the story of the short but eventful life of clouds and their importance to our planet. Find out how immense quantities of water can stay up in the sky for so long and how lightning and thunder are created.
A documentary about the 1999 discovery of a Mastodon skeleton in a Hyde Park backyard.
Three children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda compete in their country's national music and dance festival.