The Real Death Star

Three billion miles away a grand-piano-sized spacecraft is speeding through the outer solar system at nearly 1,000 miles per minute. After nearly a decade in space, the New Horizons space probe will have just 86 seconds to complete its primary mission: Discover the planet Pluto. This time-sensitive special will showcase the first quality pictures of Pluto that the probe will capture.

There are endless gruesome ways that the world could end; through nasty, natural disasters or because of some man-made abomination. From maniac killer robots and super volcanoes, to an alien invasion and mutant psycho humans, all options are covered in Ten Ways the World Will End.

Physicist Dr Helen Czerski takes us on a journey into the science of bubbles - not just fun toys, but also powerful tools that push back the boundaries of science.

Follow leading scientists around the world and to the edge of the universe on their quest to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the universe, the mysterious invisible “dark matter.”

Richard Feynman was a scientific genius with - in his words - a "limited intelligence". This dichotomy is just one of the characteristics that made him a fascinating subject. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out exposes us to many more of these intriguing attributes by featuring an extensive conversation with the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner. During the course of the interview, which was conducted in 1981, Feynman uses the undeniable power of the personal to convey otherwise challenging scientific theories. His colorful and lucid stories make abstract concepts tangible, and his warm presence is sure to inspire interest and awe from even the most reluctant student of science. His insights are profound, but his delivery is anything but dry and ostentatious.

Man has always sought to seek further afield. After the seafaring explorers of the 16th century, 21st century cosmologists today navigate more celestial oceans, with each mission providing an ever-broader and more impressive cartography of our surroundings. At the avant garde of modern technology, these strange travellers are actually immobile, and their vessels are powerful and spectacular telescopes, on the Earth or in space, constantly widening the limits of our knowledge and giving form to our dreams of infinity. From Hawaii to Australia, via South Africa and China, we set out on an incredible scientific and human adventure to visit the planet's greatest cosmic exploration centres to discover the new challenges involved in understanding the universe. A journey on Earth and in the heavens that will take your breath away!

This film consists of three parts. The first dramatizes the life of the founder of Soviet astronautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; the second describes the development of rocket technology; and the third visualizes the future with enactments of the first manned spaceflight, spacewalk, space station construction and humans on the moon.

How's it all gonna end? This experience takes us on a journey to the end of time, trillions of years into the future, to discover what the fate of our planet and our universe may ultimately be. We start in 2019 and travel exponentially through time, witnessing the future of Earth, the death of the sun, the end of all stars, proton decay, zombie galaxies, possible future civilizations, exploding black holes, the effects of dark energy, alternate universes, the final fate of the cosmos - to name a few.

SNIPERS: BULLETPROOF deconstructs and analyzes the little known sniper events that have occurred when no other course of action was possible. The people who planned the takedowns, or pulled the trigger, share their techniques and bring to light the many factors that had to be considered in each mission: terrain, wind speed, temperature, elevation changes... all are critical to taking out targets considered bulletproof. A sniper has one chance, one breath, to rise to the occasion and save the day... if they miss, there may never be another opportunity. As these never told before stories unfold, the viewer also learns about the high tech gear each sniper carries on their classified missions.

Margherita. La voce delle stelle

A short documentary interviewing a renown astronomer and astrophysicist.

A short documentary interviewing an astronomer.

A short documentary about an engineer in a Chilean observatory.

Prof. Jim Al-Khalili tackles the biggest subject of all, the universe. Through a series of critical observations and experiments that revolutionised our understanding of our world Jim guides us through the greatest cosmic detective story of all. He takes us from the beginning of the universe to the end time and answers the question: where did the universe come from and how will it end?

The Scorpions belong to the oldest land-based arachnides with over 1800 different species known to exist. Usually, they do not surpass the size of 10cm in length, but exceptions are know, such as the Emperor Scorpion (Pandinus imperator) which can grow up to become over 20cm in size. Scorpions are mostly active at night and hide away during the day. Take a look into the live of these amazing creatures!

Fascinating -- and unintentionally funny -- experiments at Austria's famed Institute for Experimental Psychology involve a subject who for several weeks wears special glasses that reverse right and left and up and down. Unexpectedly, these macabre and somehow surrealist experiments reveal that our perception of these aspects of vision is not of an optical nature and cannot be relied on, while the unfortunate, Kafkaesque subject stubbornly struggles through a morass of continuous failures.

Blue Peter presenters Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood want to learn more about the solar system so they challenge scientists Helen Czerski and Jem Stansfield to find out more. They look at how to make telescopes and rockets, and use a toilet roll to measure the distances between planets.

Dr Helen Czerski delves into the Horizon archive to chart the transformation of a little-known theory into one of the greatest scientific undertakings in history.

Four young Americans who've each suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury emerge from their comas at a New Jersey medical facility. Their eyes may be open, but now the real challenge for each of the patients, their families, their doctors and their therapists begins. Brain healing isn't predictable, we're told, and certainly is not guaranteed. So with each 'major' step forward that is observed (opening one's eyes, bending a thumb upon command, vocalizing a word, answering a question correctly) comes a sense of jubilant relief and hope from the families of these patients, but as we soon see, the more a patient progresses, the more difficult things can be for all involved. Moments of faith & hope contrast with disappointments & frustrations, moments of confidence with moments of doubt. It's difficult to watch, and unimaginable to have to ever live through.

Is building our own starship Enterprise possible? Will we ever travel between the stars as easily as they do in Star Trek? JJ Abrams' new feature, Star Trek Into Darkness, hits the screen in a golden age of scientific discoveries. HISTORY is there, giving viewers a deep look behind the scenes, on the set, and into the science–amazing new exoplanets, the physics of Warp drive, and the ideas behind how we might one day live in a Star Trek Universe.