The Sealab project, launched in 1969 off the shore of northern California, was the brainchild of a country doctor turned naval pioneer who dreamed of pushing the limits of ocean exploration like NASA did space exploration. The massive, 300-ton tubular structure was a pressurized underwater habitat, complete with science labs and living quarters for divers who would live and work there on the ocean floor for days or even months at a time. During the height of the Space Race, this daring program also tested the limits of human endurance and revolutionized the way humans explore the ocean.
The Sealab project, launched in 1969 off the shore of northern California, was the brainchild of a country doctor turned naval pioneer who dreamed of pushing the limits of ocean exploration like NASA did space exploration. The massive, 300-ton tubular structure was a pressurized underwater habitat, complete with science labs and living quarters for divers who would live and work there on the ocean floor for days or even months at a time. During the height of the Space Race, this daring program also tested the limits of human endurance and revolutionized the way humans explore the ocean.
2019-02-12
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Nearly 200 years ago, the train revolutionized our lives. It redrew the maps of states and nations, and changed concepts of distance and time like no other invention before. What visionaries imagined the development of the railroad? How did we get from the first chugging locomotives to the smooth giants of speed we see today? How does France's extensive rail network keep running smoothly, 24/7?
Over the centuries, explorers traded tales of a lost civilization amid the dense Amazonian rainforest. Scientists dismissed the legends as exaggerations, believing that the rainforest could not sustain such a huge population—until now. A new generation of explorers armed with 21st-century technology has uncovered remarkable evidence that could reinvent our understanding of the Amazon and the indigenous peoples who lived there. Using CGI and dramatic re-creations, National Geographic re-imagines the banks of the Amazon 500 years ago, teeming with inhabitants living in the Lost Cities of the Amazon.
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
The story of computers: from electronic tape and punched cards, to austere-looking robots.
A documentary about the past, present and potential future of the Digital Compact Cassette. Very few people know the true story about, the Digital Compact Cassette or DCC. Was DCC's audio compression the grandfather of all compressed audio formats today? Why did it have such a short life? Why didn't it become popular in more countries? The early termination of the format in 1996, leading to the rejuvenation in 2014 by Techmoan and later the DCCmuseum in countries that rejected the format before. Nearly 2 years of research allowed us to finally get the truth about DCC on camera, presenting DCC enthusiasts the past, present, and potential future of the format we love. This documentary is about the format, the creators, the decision makers, the musicians, the collectors, the geeks, and the audiophiles behind DCC.
Pop culture has become “Peep Culture”, where we’ve traded privacy for notoriety and, in the process, reinvented mass culture. But what does it all mean and how is it changing us? Hal Niedzviecki, a 38 year old husband and father, plunges into “deep peep”, with webcams exposing his every move and millions of potential internet viewers invited to watch and engage in the spectacle.
A whimsical yet serious-minded look into the future sponsored by the appliance and radio manufacturer Philco-Ford. In the "1999 House of Tomorrow", each family member's activities are enabled by a central computer and revolve around products remarkably similar to those made by the sponsor. Power comes from a self-contained fuel cell which supports environmental controls, an automatic cooking system, and a computer-assisted "education room".
A story about people whose lives are connected by typewriters. A meditation on creativity and technology featuring Tom Hanks, John Mayer, Sam Shepard, David McCullough and others.
Over the past few years, technology has improved our lives in so many ways. Now, some people, called trans-humanists, are taking the next logical step - they are fusing their bodies with digital implants to increase their abilities and expand their senses - they are becoming, in effect, real life cyborgs. How is life going to change for us all if some people have supernatural powers?
A cinematic exploration of the world of automated vehicles — from their technical history to the personal narratives of those affected by them to the many unanswered questions about how this technology will affect modern society. This documentary features interviews with industry pioneers and scenes with cutting-edge “AVs” in action around the world.
The biggest tech revolution of the 21st century isn’t digital, it’s biological. A breakthrough called CRISPR gives us unprecedented control over the basic building blocks of life. It opens the door to curing disease, reshaping the biosphere, and designing our own children. This documentary is a provocative exploration of CRISPR’s far-reaching implications, through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it, the families it’s affecting, and the genetic engineers who are testing its limits.
Do any areas of our lives escape surveillance any more? Citizens of the 21st Century are the focus of prying eyes, whether they agree to it or not.
Just how far can engineering go? This program explores the feasibility of constructing several extraordinary projects such as a Europe to Africa Bridge or a tunnel across the Straights of Gibraltar. Could engineers really construct a mile high skyscraper or floating ocean cities? State of the art computer graphics and real world scientists help to explain these technological dreams. Current engineering advances, like revolutionary new vacuum, make these engineering marvel's a distinct possibility!
Documentary presented by Professor Simon Schaffer which charts the amazing and untold story of automata - extraordinary clockwork machines designed hundreds of years ago to mimic and recreate life. The film brings the past to life in vivid detail as we see how and why these masterpieces were built. Travelling around Europe, Simon uncovers the history of these machines and shows us some of the most spectacular examples, from an entire working automaton city to a small boy who can be programmed to write and even a device that can play chess. All the machines Simon visits show a level of technical sophistication and ambition that still amazes today.
Host Grant Jeffrey discusses how technology and government activities are changing the way our information is handled. How is this shaping our lives?
Lurking under the sea is a global web of fibre optic telecommunication cables, the plumbing of the internet. It's how we talk, text and stream, connecting billions of people. These cables are also the frontline of a tech war.
Professor Jim Al-Khalili looks at how we have created machines that can simulate, augment, and even outperform the human mind - and why we shouldn't let this spook us. He reveals the story of the pursuit of AI, the emergence of machine learning and the recent breakthroughs brought about by artificial neural networks. He shows how AI is not only changing our world but also challenging our very ideas of intelligence and consciousness. Along the way, we'll investigate spam filters, meet a cutting-edge chatbot, look at why a few altered pixels makes a computer think it's looking at a trombone rather than a dog and talk to Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind and whose stated mission is to 'solve intelligence, and then use that to solve everything else'. Stephen Hawking remarked 'AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation. Or the worst'. Jim argues that AI is a potent new tool that should enhance our lives, not replace us.